The Sawyer House – Mentor, Ohio
The Daniel Sawyer House, also known simply as the Sawyer House at 9470 Mentor Ave., Mentor, Ohio came tumbling down early April when it was demolished after standing for nearly 178 years.
The Federal Style home was built for the family of Daniel Sawyer in 1843; not long before Mentor was formally established in 1855. The home was constructed from nearly 400 tons of hand cut Berea sandstone block. These blocks were the majority of what made up the 2-foot-thick walls of the historic house.
Sawyer & Early Mentor Settlers:
Sawyer was born the son of early pioneers Benjamin and Polly Sawyer. The family, along with some extended family members, arrived in Mentor during the early 1800s. Prior to their arrival, the township was home to the following families: Jared Ward, Moses Parks, and Hosmer, and Ebenezer Merry. Ebenezer, his wife Miss Charlotte Adams, and his brother Hosmer were a few of the first to settle in the area after arriving on a 12-day journey made by horseback from Avon, New York. With them were also Judge Austin and Mr. Wright, whom they met in Buffalo during their journey. The land where they had made their settlement was designated the Merry tract.
Hosmer Merry stayed in Mentor for four years, eventually returning to New York for just one year before coming back to Mentor. In 1807, he married Sarah Frank, and in December 1810, sold his Mentor farmland to Joseph Sawyer, son of Benjamin Sawyer, and moved to Milan, Ohio.
It wasn’t until 1814 that Benjamin Sawyer would come into the picture, when Ebenezer Merry would sell his land to him. Part of this land would later become the very place they would build their home. After selling his land, Ebenezer also moved to Milan near his brother, where he later died on January 2, 1846.
Mentor Becomes a Place to Get Away:
During these early years, most of the land in Mentor remained farmland as most residents owned and operated agricultural businesses. During the 1830s, the area even served as a getaway for Clevelanders looking to escape the crowded streets of grungy, gloomy downtown life clouded by industrial haze. People traveling from Cleveland would rest and relax atop Little Mountain, which was a popular destination as the most scenic place in the area. Travelers would rent a room at the Little Mountain House, which was the first resort hotel in the area, built in 1831. In later years, they changed the name to Lake View House as they incorporated more modern conveniences, such as an indoor bowling alley and observation platform for guests to view Lake Erie. Some pieces of these former structures still remain scattered along the top of Little Mountain, including one structure tucked between a crevice.
The Sawyer House is Built:
In later years, Benjamin would pass down his land to his children, William, Daniel, Joseph and Isaac. Joseph Sawyer is said to have built the first sawmill in Mentor, though the location and exact date are unknown. It was most likely on the land he had received from Hosmer Merry.
In 1843, Daniel built his family a new home on their farm, which would be the one seen in these photos, formerly at 9470 Mentor Ave. Later in Sawyer’s life, the home and farm were passed down to his daughter Lulu during the early 1900s. Daniel’s brother Joseph, along with Daniel’s daughter and her husband, would continue to operate the farm until 1923 when Lulu decided to sell the home to Elmer Schultz. Originally Twin Maples Farm, Schultz converted it to the new home of Wayside Gardens, and would operate his business here until 1978, when it was sold to the Colpetzer-Woods firm. Once acquired, the home was renovated.
Numerous Owners:
Just before moving their operations to the Daniel Sawyer house, together, salesman Jan Jacobus Grullemans and grower Elmer Schultz introduced the Regal lily in 1922. At the time nobody had realized just how easy these were to grow, and during this time, Grullemans and Schultz profited largely from selling them. Wayside Gardens had become known as the highest quality growers in the area. Their operation once occupied space on both sides of Heisley Road, stretching from Jackson Street to south of Mentor Avenue.
From 1978 until the late 1980s, Colpetzer-Woods Consulting Company used the building for their offices. In 1989, it was converted into Phil Ribs Restaurant, and multiple establishments have come and gone since that time.
The Sawyer House is Abandoned:
The building had sat vacant since 2016 after the closure of Local Tavern; the final business to occupy the building.
There had initially been plans to move the structure to a new location where it would then be preserved. Unfortunately, due to incredibly high costs to do so, the plan was deemed out of reach. While other ideas floated around, the building had remained for sale should anyone have decided to step in with the necessary capital to carry out preservation efforts of any kind. Again though, with such high costs, nobody wanted to step in and take on such a project.
It’s unfortunate to see it go, but the fact remains that even if someone had stepped in with quite a large amount of money ready to take on the project, the restoration costs of the dilapidated building would be largely prohibiting for the rest of the preservation to even begin to take place. Just to move the property would have cost near $750,000, and that’s not including everything else that would need to be taken care of. Disassembling the stone very carefully to keep as much intact as possible was a route that cut that cost and was seen to be a much greater possibility. Thankfully, much of the stone was able to be saved through careful efforts by knowledgeable teams working on the demolition.
Much of the older wood was salvaged for projects, and the stone was given to the city and transported to a storage facility. They were able to recover 29 pallets of stone which will be put to use on some to-be-determined projects.
