Requiem for a Historic Homestead

Out with the old; make way for the new. That was the theme for many years here in Erie County, Pennsylvania, as time-honored buildings were torn down and replaced with contemporary structures. 

The 12-story, 1913 Lawrence Hotel, in front of which John F. Kennedy once spoke, fell in 1968 for a stark, angular structure that has changed hands multiple times, now blemishing downtown Erie. The Charles M. Reed 1868 Italianate mansion on West Sixth Street was obliterated in 1970 by a one-story, non-descript building that houses an auto club. 

Erie’s adjacent Millcreek Township suburb has not been immune to the disregard for history. One example is the home in which my grandfather lived in his youth. Articles and notices in the Erie Daily Times listed the house number as 2545 or 2521. The road was called Ridge Road, West Ridge Road, or West 26^th Street. It was located just west of the boundary between Erie and Millcreek.

The large, two-story home was built in 1852 on the old Samuel Brown homestead, which was a 125-acre tract purchased from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Brown family was among the first to settle in Erie County. The Greek Revival home was constructed of three-to-four courses of solid red brick. The property was filled with trees, shrubs, and wildlife. 

In 1916, my grandfather, Burton Silverthorn, moved with his aunt and uncle to the home on West Ridge Road in Millcreek. It was here, in the early 1920s, that my grandfather brought his German-immigrant love, my grandmother (Catherine Wäschle), to meet the family that had raised him since his mother died in 1904, when he was a small boy.

Raymond Brooks was Burt’s maternal uncle. He was married to the former Margaret Bell Wheeler. They had two sons, Lawrence and Mason. Raymond owned a drug store in Girard, PA, but later ventured into the insurance and real-estate businesses—doing very well for himself. Raymond died in 1933 and Margaret remained in the West Ridge Road home for a few years before moving back to North Girard (now Lake City).

When Margaret was moving, she engaged D.C. Dale, auctioneer, to dispense with many of the home’s contents. Dale’s newspaper advertisement read, “The finest home of antiques that I have sold in years.” Items for sale included a 1725 period horsehair davenport in perfect condition.

At first, Margaret Brooks deeded only the home to the new owners, Dr. and Mrs. R. C. McChesney. She allowed my grandfather, who lived nearby with my grandmother and their four children, to plant a garden in a lot adjacent to the home. This was very handy during the Great Depression and the years following. My uncle, Dan Silverthorn, clearly remembers visiting the property with my grandfather to tend to the garden and pick cherries from the trees in the southern portion of the property. 

The oral surgeon and his wife lovingly cared for the home and held many social functions there over the next several decades. An Erie Daily Times article dated June 9, 1948 featured a large photo of the home and described it as “one of the sturdy, aristocratic brick homes of Erie County.” The couple made very few changes to the interior “since the home was built along creditable architectural lines.” The article further shared, “One room, with fire place and cooking utensils, remains as in the period before the Mexican War. . . . The wood work reveals the splendid abilities of the workmen who made the doors, door frames, windows on the ground from the best available timber round about Erie.”

Dr. McChesney died in 1972 and his wife, Mary, in 1986. By 1989, the home was listed among properties scheduled to be sold for back taxes.

We are fortunate that in 1968, my uncle had taken the time to photograph the exterior of the home. If he hadn’t, it would be forgotten. One day, around 1990, on his way to work, he glanced to his right and saw that the home, that held so many memories, was in the process of being demolished. 

I didn’t know the history of this property when in the early 2000s, I briefly worked for a non-profit in the office building that replaced the home in which my grandfather once lived. I didn’t know that I was parking my car every day on what would have likely been the original footprint of the home or that my office was probably on the very spot where my grandfather weeded his garden.

As office buildings go, the replacement structure at 2545 West 26^th Street (West Ridge Road) is quite attractive. It currently houses The Sight Center of Northwest PA, whose mission is to prevent blindness and promote independence for those with vision loss. 

Although the historic architecture remaining in northwest Pennsylvania is far from one-hundred percent safe, the frenzy to rip and replace is, at least, scrutinized now. An organization called Preservation Erie seeks to promote, preserve, and enhance the distinctive character of greater Erie. In 2019, the city of Erie created a task force to develop a strategy to preserve its historic buildings. In Millcreek, there are just a few homes that date back to the 1800s. If it had been preserved, the stately structure on the old Samuel Brown homestead would have been an attractive feature of an impressive gateway to Millcreek Township.

–Ann Silverthorn