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811 Lexington Avenue

PhotosLegacy Version

General Information

No:   811  
Street:   Lexington  
House Name:     
Historic Plaque:     
Owner Info:   N  
Built:   1959  
Sec:   22  
Subdivision:   Sibley  
Lot:   17-19, pt 16 & 20  
Architect:     
Cont/build:     

Description:    2 story brick & siding, gable roof.    
Original Use:   Residential  
Current Use:   Residential  

CHANGES:
As Built:   Y  
Added To:   N  
Subtracted From:   N  
Replaced:   Y  

Description Of Changes:   This is evidently the 2nd house built here - see Girton information in Stories 1 & 2 below and on 1930 & 1940 Census  
Deeds
Shows earliest property ownership records

Stories:

Story 1: Marie Stoecklin remembers the Jessie C. Girton family living in a house here in the 1940s and 50s. It was an old house with dirt floors and no plumbing. They had 4 children. They planned to build a new house and excavated for it, leaving a pile of dirt there but never built the house.The Stoecklin's lots on Miami Avenue backed up to some of the Girton's land on Lexington. The Stoecklins didn't move to Terrace Park until 1941, when their house was built. See Story 2 for the early part of the story.
Story 2: Here's a slightly different story from Dick Werner in June 2010 about the Girtons on Lexington Avenue. Dick lived across the street at 808 Lexington and must have heard his parents tell this story before he was old enough to make his own observations. Evidently in the late 1920s the Girtons wanted to build a home in Terrace Park and bought land to do so in 1927. They must have been a well to do family because they started out building a 3 car garage with an upstairs and digging a large foundation for the house. They had lived downtown in Cincinnati (although I can't find them there in the 1920 Census) and had evidently already sold that home. Then the stock market crashed and they must have lost enough money that they couldn't continue building the house so they moved into the garage and never built the house. They grew a garden and lived fairly crudely. Mr. Girton had a couple Model Ts and an old Chevrolet (perhaps the reason for the 3 car garage, which was very unusual at that time). Mr. Girton worked in town (the 1930 Census says he was a Lumber Estimator) and oftentimes during the winter time he couldn't get his battery started to start the car. So he'd stand out in the middle of Lexington Avenue and wait for the milkman to come by with his truck to push him. This happened with great frequency and the milkman couldn't get by because Mr. Girton would just stand right out there in the middle. The Girtons finally sold the land to Harry Werner in 1958. He built 811 Lexington in 1959, which sold to Robert W. & Marjorie M. Gilmore in 1960.
Story 3: Parents of Bob Gilmore lived here: great uncle & aunt (Bob & Marjorie) of the Manly, Cutler and Gilmore girls.
Story 4: Tom Anderson died on Father's Day, 21 June 2015, of a stroke. The family had been living for many years in Birmingham, Alabama.
Story 5: Laurie Heffner's father, William Bennett Heffner, Sr., was born in 1922 in Columbus OH and died 28 May, 2015 in Cincinnati OH. (More information at the TP Historical Society.)