Three

CENTURY HOMES

In 1976, the Fairview Park Historical Society started to recognize significant century homes with a plaque. To qualify, the house cannot have had extensive alterations so that it retains its historical status. The following are the first 10 houses to get this designation. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

John Place Spencer was the first in his family to settle in the area. His older brother Benjamin Spencer followed, building this farmhouse on Spencer Road (now 5167 West 220th Street) in 1831. When his wife, Sally, died in 1840, he sold the house and built another down the road. Moses C. Baker eventually acquired this house, and it was part of the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to Canada. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

Having remarried in 1850 to Diana, Benjamin Spencer built this house at 4924 West 220th Street in 1866. Their daughter Minnie married the son of James and Almira Eaton. They lived here with their sons and her parents. Minnie’s reputation as a great cook brought people here from afar for chicken dinners every Sunday in the early 1900s at what was called Lilac Acres. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

James and Almira Eaton raised 12 children in the house at 5532 West 220th Street, which was built around 1865. At one time, they lived in the valley beneath where the Lorain Road high-level bridge was later built. As people could only ford the river at that point, Eaton was always helping people. This distracted enough time and money that the family almost starved one winter. So they relocated first to Bay Village then here. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

In 1953, James and Gloria Grant bought this house at 4648 West 220th Street, naming it Little Fairlawn after a golf course it reminded James of. Built in 1895, Vernon Spencer, grandson of John Place Spencer, made the bricks himself. He farmed here for a few years with his wife and five sons before relocating to Westlake. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

This home at 21566 Mastick Road brought together the Mastick and the Spencer families when Frank Mastick, son of Asahel, married Hannah Spencer, daughter of John Place Spencer. They raised six children in the house, built in 1866. In 1926, the upper half was rebuilt after damage from a fire, hence the less ornate roof. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

Sometime after marrying and starting a family in their native Germany in 1870, Johann and Maria Frobetier sailed to America. They had not intended the remote country life of Rockport Township, but the family of four children was too large for the planned housing in Cleveland. Johann was referred to George Mastick in Rockport, and so he made the long walk by himself. Speaking no English, he and George managed to agree to the farm work he could do and the house he could live in at 19270 Lorain Road next to the Masticks. This property used to extend all the way into the Coffinberry area before that was developed. Here they grew produce and raised some farm animals. The only change over the years was enclosing the front porch. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

William Caleb Eggleston acquired land in 1846 but did not build a house until 1867 after heading west for gold. Whether it is true or not, the story goes that he finally returned to the site in classic gold rush style, riding a mule and carrying his gold riches to pay for the house. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

This home at 22915 Lorain Road is right by the current western border of Fairview just before North Olmsted. William Caleb Eggleston built it and was the first of several Egglestons in Fairview history, including one of the early mayors of the village. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

When James Potter married Mary, another child of John Place Spencer, they combined the land she got from her father with the Potter land. The farm was originally on both sides of Lorain Road, although the northern half was sold when James died in 1911. The remaining land eventually became the Fairview Shopping Center, with the house originally where the Fairview Theater was built. West 217th Street, which ends at Lorain Road across from the shopping center, used to be called Potter Street. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

At one time, Willis Potter, heir of his parents’ farm had a very popular produce stand on Lorain Road. His success came to an end, losing the land in the Great Depression. Eventually his children repurchased the house and some of the land, moving the structure to what became 21492 Hillsdale Avenue. The farm eventually became the Fairview Shopping Center. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)

Now sitting on the corner just past Gilles-Sweet School, this was the home of John W. Spencer, son of John Place Spencer, built in 1876 at 4278 West 220th Street. He started a brick-and-tile business nearby, which probably made these clay tiles. Goldwood Township, the short-lived division of Rocky River Village before it further divided into Fairview Village, was named after John’s wife, Deborah Goldwood. (Fairview Park Historical Society.)