MANSFIELD, Ohio–“Secret City”—Doesn’t that sound mysterious?
Downtown Mansfield, Inc.’s Secret City Tours are intriguing and the tours take ticket-buyers to places that aren’t often open to the public. Often they’re the places above first floor businesses or entire buildings currently in use or available for future use.
Keep reading: the mystery is yet to come.
The weekend’s Secret City Tour, Preservation Obsession Edition, allowed visitors into the Mansfield-Richland Area Chamber of Commerce; the former Key Bank on North Main St., now the Bankz Salon and Vitality Natural Wellness and Med Spa; the former Mansfield Women’s Club, which was the 1840’s Victorian residence of Judge Henry C. and Lucretia Hedges; the former Mansfield Fraternal Order of the Eagles Lodge 336; the former Cotter warehouse; and the upper floors of 28 N. Main St., the former Reed’s store; and 117 N. Diamond St.
One of Saturday’s tour locations presented a curiosity to at least a couple of visitors. At 117 N. Diamond St., next to Temple Court’s “The Brickyard,” stands a vacant building once owned by Charles Schroer. Schroer also owned 131 N. Diamond St., his mortuary which is now the Phoenix Brewery.
But sometime in the mid-1800s, 117 N. Diamond was added to Schroer’s businesses with casket and furniture making and sales downstairs and residences upstairs.
In the hallway of the second floor residential spaces is a window. That’s curious: it looks out into the hallway. Even more curious is that it’s approximately 6 feet off the floor. So why have a window that high up? Two Secret City guests deliberated the question.
The man, and sorry we don’t know his name or we’d call and tell him what we learned, walked to the back of the otherwise windowless room. The wall was knocked out, revealing a two-foot recess. He stepped inside.
And then he looked up. The recessed, two-foot space rose above his head all the way to the roof line. But scattered up the wall and even the short two-foot walls, were windows on what appeared to be every floor of the four-story building.
Why in the world were there windows facing into a two-foot recess and facing a blank wall?
Odd indeed.
Dan Seckel, owner and senior architect of the Seckel Group, was given a brief description and explained what the visitors saw.
“Back in the day, it was very common to have a light shaft down the interior of building,” Seckel said, “This would usually be open at the top and let daylight down to regular windows inside the shaft. Looks like this one was roofed over at some later date.”
An internet search revealed a photo of a “light well,” and the photos compare quite well.
The online version of the light well was described as an “unroofed external space provided within the volume of a large building to allow light and air to reach what would otherwise be a dark or unventilated area.”
Remember: The building was built before electric lights were introduced to building construction.
That was interesting to see and learn about. There’s always something to discover on a Secret City Tour.
The Eagle’s building was another interesting stop where visitors saw the former dance hall on the third floor. A balcony is on one end, perhaps for the band and an elevated viewing area is on the opposite end of the hall. A carved hole in a door to the hall dates back to Prohibition and the means to gain access to the speakeasy behind the closed door.
The last stop we’ll mention, though every stop held a treasure, is the former Women’s Club which was left by first homeowners, Judge Henry C. and Lucretia Hedges. The home/club has hosted paranormal investigators recently, but the new owners may strive for something more homey.
Jim and Libby Oberlin recently purchased the property.
”We don’t know yet,” Libby Oberlin said when asked what they were going to do with the large home, “Someone suggested a bed and breakfast. We’ve heard a lot of ideas.”
And that is the fascination with these “secret” places, isn’t it? What would you do with one of these places?
Downtown Mansfield, Inc. is a nonprofit membership-based organization with a mission to stimulate economic development, improve the appearance of and create a positive image of the downtown as a desirable place to work, live, visit, shop and invest.
