308 Marietta Avenue
PhotosLegacy VersionGeneral Information
No: 308
Street: Marietta
House Name: Sears Martha Washington
Historic Plaque:
Owner Info: N
Built: Y
Sec: 23
Subdivision: Sibley
Lot: 1-6 Pt 12
Architect: Sears
Cont/build:
Description:
A Sears house "The Martha Washington", similar
plan as the original 724 Yale. Model
years 1921-26. (page 325 in Houses by Mail)
2 stories, siding, gambrel roof with full dormer. Description in 2011:
"6 bedrooms, 4 baths, fabulous granite/cherry kitchen, 1st floor master
suite, barn converted to garage, office, screened porch."
Original Use: Residential
Current Use: Residential
CHANGES:
As Built: Y
Added To: N
Subtracted From: N
Replaced: Y
Description Of Changes: An earlier house at 308 Marietta was destroyed by fire in the early 1920s. This 1921-1926 Sears house, The Martha Washington, replaces that house. Helen Barnett (215 Oxford) remembers being allowed to go watch the fire. (Look in records of TP Fire Dept to find date of fire) 2002 - permit for Clark & Barbara Howland to build a new bath, sitting room and bedroom on the 1st floor (Keffer, contractor, Jane Yancey, architect).The Martha Washington appears in Sears catalogues 1921, 1922 & 1926.
Shows earliest property ownership records
Stories:
Story 1: For many years Toni Sommer had a nursery school here attended by many local children.Story 2: George W. Sommer was born 11 January 1870 and died 25 October 1951, Craver Funeral Home. His wife, Rose L, died 10 September 1935, Monroe (Evans) Funeral Home. Both are buried in Section 15 of Greenlawn Cemetery, Milford OH. William Lewis Sommer died 8 July 1987, aged 88 years, buried St. Andrews, Milford OH.
Story 3: This Sommer family for many years also owned a lot at the Wooster Pike end of Western Avenue (407). When Chuck Rockel was Mayor of Terrace Park, Lillian S. Atchley, next door at 409 Western had quite a controversy with the Sommer family about whether this was a buildable lot. She writes an entire letter concerning the history of the lot, which includes the fact that quite a bit of the original lot was removed when Wooster Pike was widened in 1939. See letter on file at TP Historical Society.
Cindy Cattanzaro, Sears researcher, agrees that this is a perfect match to the Sears Martha Washington, but not documented.