Tour of Historic Sites in Wooster Ohio

Entries on This Tour

The Wayne Center for the Arts, founded in 1973 as the Wooster Art Center, was one of the first community arts centers located on a college campus. It was originally housed by the Frick Museum at the College of Wooster in the 1970s, though it moved to the old Walnut Street School in 1984. Since then, the Wayne Center has continued its programs of art education and exhibition.

2. Schine's Wooster Theater (1912-1999)

The Wooster Theater, originally called the Lyric Theater, was opened by Ed and Zella Mott in 1912. It featured gray-white bricks, a large lobby, faux box-seat balconies, and uniformed ushers. It became a part of the Schine’s Theater chain in 1931 and was sold to the Panther chain in 1967. Henry and Chell Bishop ran the Wooster Theater in the 1970s until 1981 when high operating costs led them to close it. The theater’s last showing was “The Jazz Singer.” The Wooster Theater was later demolished in 1999.

3. The Wayne Theater (1937-1978)

The Wayne Theater opened in 1937; it was operated by Walter Brubaker and the Mott family, who also owned the Lyric Theater (later renamed the Wooster Theater). In 1956, the Wayne Theater closed. The Daily Record newspaper bought it two years later. The Brubaker family then reopened the theater in 1968 as the Lyric II, though it closed again in 1978. It has since been demolished.

4. Charles Gasche House

The Charles Gasche House became the first home built on what is now known as “Historic Founders Row” in 1849. The house, which features elements of both the Gothic and Italian styles, has passed through only six owners. The Gasche family sold it to John Ames in 1905, who then bequeathed it his daughter. After her death in 1986, the house became and bed and breakfast and has had three more owners.

5. Old Wayne County Jail

The Wayne County Jail opened in 1865 in downtown Wooster. 130 years later, a Wayne County resident bought the building and converted it into a restaurant called The Olde Jaol Restaurant and Tavern, a quintessential American steakhouse. Today, it is owned by Dave and Dalila Schauble and guests can dine in a variety of settings, including historic jail cells. The jail has a rich history and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

6. Harvey Howard House

This house was built by Harvey Howard, a druggist, in 1860. In 1893, after passing through many owners, Captain James B. Taylor bought the property. Taylor had served in the 120th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War and worked as a lawyer. The death of Taylor’s wife Emelie prompted him to sell the house in 1906. It then became Wooster’s first city hospital until 1943. That year, the Central Christian Church bought and restored the home and used it for education programs.

7. John McSweeney House

John McSweeney was a court officer in the Court of Common Pleas who became a nationally-renowned lawyer. A member of his family, John McSweeney Jr., was also an attorney who defended John Callahan in a notable murder trial (John Callahan is the only person to have been hanged in Wayne County). In this house, the first John McSweeney entertained U. S. presidents and other important people. The McSweeney home remained in the family until 1949. Today, Hothem Enterprises resides in the old house.

8. Wayne County Historical Society

The Wayne County Historical Society was officially organized by local historians and educators in 1954. After merging with the Wooster Museum, which was located in the Wayne County Library beginning in 1905, the historical society moved into the Beall-Stibbs Homestead. As the Wayne County Historical Society has grown, it has purchased and preserved such historic buildings as the Fredericksburg General Store and 1873 Number 3 Schoolhouse. Today, the society offers temporary and permanent exhibitions based out of the Kister Building.

9. Beall-Stibbs Homestead

The Beall-Stibbs House was built by General Reasin Beall from 1815 to 1817. It is now the oldest surviving residence in the City of Wooster. After Beall’s death, the home was inhabited by his daughter and her husband, Joseph Stibbs II. The house was later turned into a dormitory for the College of Wooster and a museum. In 2008, the restored Beall-Stibbs Homestead opened to the public as a recreation of life in the 19th century.

10. Number 3 Schoolhouse (1873-1939)

This schoolhouse was constructed in 1873 and became one of five one-room schoolhouses in use throughout Wooster Township prior to the incorporation of graded schools in the early 20th century. The building was used for storage from 1939 to 1964. Desiring to preserve the historic school and use it for living history demonstrations, members of the Wayne County Historical Society of Ohio moved the school from its original location at the intersection of State Route 250 and McCoy Road and restored the building to match the way it would have appeared in the late 19th century. The schoolhouse is now open for tours and events throughout the year.

11. Kauke Hall, College of Wooster

Constructed in 1903, Kauke Hall has long been the symbol of the College of Wooster and featured on college letterheads and logos. The College of Wooster was founded as a Presbyterian university in 1870. The college consisted of only one building in its early years. That building, known as Old Main, was destroyed by fire in 1901 and replaced by this Collegiate Gothic structure and four more buildings. Kauke Hall was built at the site of Old Main and named in honor of John Hauke, one of the college's founders and first trustees. The building was home to the humanities departments and classrooms as well as the administration in the early 1900s. In the 1910s, Wooster University became the College of Wooster when it decided to offer only undergraduate degrees. The college ended its formal relationship with the Presbyterian Church in 1969, though it continues a voluntary relationship today.

12. Overholt House (1874-2017)

Overholt House was built in 1874 by Civil War veteran and lawyer Colonel Aquila Wiley. The Stick-Style house was then sold to the Overholt family in 1882, and they kept it until 1973. The house was then used for a variety of purposes and added to the National Register of Historic Places before moving to the College of Wooster. Because it was not sound enough to move again, the house was demolished in 2017.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Tour of Historic Sites in Wooster Ohio

Created by Clio Admin on October 4th 2018, 9:20:29 pm.

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Description

This tour begins at the Wayne Center for the Arts and works its way north through downtown Wooster and the College of Wooster with stops at several historical and cultural institutions and landmarks such as the Wayne Center for the Arts, the Overholt House, Kauke Hall on the College of Wooster campus, and the Old Wayne County Jail which is now home to a historically-themed restaurant. Be sure to also visit the Barnhart Rice Homestead just to the south of downtown Wooster.

Entries on This Tour

Tour of Historic Sites in Wooster Ohio

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