Houses in Antwerp

Well, friends and readers, I have some corrections to make about my column two weeks ago.

First, on Pat Harris’ daughter, it was Ruth who married Mr. Medaugh and lived in Paulding and Dorothy married Jim Hooker and lived in Payne.

My good friend, Arlene Billman, called to remind me that Dr. James Lynch lived in the Frank Smith house on North Main Street. By golly, she’s right. Dr. Lynch had his office downtown the next place south of K.D.’s Kitchen. When I was a boy that second building was Joe Yager’s Restaurant. Tom Seslar lives in Chicago and is a newspaper man. He reads the West bend News on Tuesday nights as he gets it off the Web Site. He called Martha Bender to tell her about my mistake. I said he had a sister, Linda, who lived in Ft. Wayne. Well, I think I was referring to Linda Schilb, Andy’s daughter. Tom Seslar’s sister’s name is Diane and lives out in Oregon. She is a success story. She has a couple degrees and a Doctorate. She travels world-wide most of the time. She is married to Mark Svendsen and he travels a lot for BP Oil Co. He makes many trips to the Near East and part of his vocation has to do with irrigation. Plus, he is also a free lance writer. Well, Tom, it was good to hear from you and to learn that you still enjoy hearing from the Old Home Town. A good part of my childhood was walking by the Texaco Gas Station. Warren, Pearl, Delmar and Ruth Seslar always had time to stop and talk to a boy walking by going to school or doing an errand.

As I sit here and write, the nostalgia is belly button deep. I know you are very proud and should be of your forefathers because The Seslars are certainly a big part of Antwerp History.

This week we are going to go north on North Main Street and on the east side. If you notice, there is a big ravine just north of the Town Hall. If you will look closely, you will see that that ravine extends all the way east and went all the way west up Archer Drive and on past the Old High School. Our early settlers must have brought in a lot of fill dirt to raise those roads up as high as they are. In the early years, Antwerp had a number of deep ravines, some are still plenty noticeable. The first house north is called Waldo’s Hill. It was named after Waldo Witt, a fine old fellow, he lived to be well up in his 90’s. I think he told me one time that they migrated here from Illinois. At that time Waldo lived on a farm out on Rd. 111.

As early as I can remember Frank Fleck lived in that house. His wife was named Amanda. They had three boys, Otha (most of his friends called him “Odie”), Forest and Ray. I knew Otha better than the other boys. Otha’s middle initial was D. He was a supervisor in the railway “Mail Service”, he ran from Ft. Wayne to St. Louis. I never ran with him but I subbed for him a couple of times. Odie had one boy, Wayne, where he was a Naval Pilot in WWII. After the war he married Lois Anderson and was a school teacher. He was also a good left -handed baseball pitcher and pitched for the White Sox.

I think the boy, Forest, worked for the telephone company. The Brown Family lived there for quite a spell. They had a nice family: Edgar, Barbara, Mary Ann and Bill. The next house north was the home of Oran Frank Leinard, better known as “Jack”. He and Marjorie had three children: Frank, Lyle and Carole. You all remember that Frank is a new heart recipient. He is doing well and is a whole bunch of history by himself. Lyle is retired now and gets in a lot of good fishing when he can. Carole married Mike Zedaker and lives in Van Wert. When I was mowing the cemeteries, Carole would take Marjorie for a ride through the cemetery on nice days and they would always be sure to wave at me. I was always glad to see them. They were two fine ladies. Marjorie lived to be 100 years old. She was good and sharp right up until she fell and broke her hip. Yes, the Leinard’s are big in Antwerp History.

The next house north was the home of Pete and Lillie Schmuck. They had a nice family: Helen, Richard, Tom, Dorothy and Jim. Pete was manager at the West Elevator. As I was sitting here thinking about Pete Schmuck and the West Elevator, I thought about how long has the Elevator been here. Well, all I know about the East Elevator was that John Mosier owned it and Lawrence Sidenbender was the clerk and Harry Reeb and another man worked there. They were in business until after WWII and then it was taken over by the West Elevator.

All I could find out about that West Elevator was that it was already in business in 1886. Bruce Ely and C.A. Bissell bought it from somebody else and it was D.B.A. As Ely and Bissell Grain and Livestock. I remember the cattle pens and corrals were on up west by the railroad when I was a kid. But in 1900 this was sold again and became The People’s Elevator Co. I cannot begin to tell you how much the Elevators have meant to this farming community. Maybe down the road I will do a column on it. “I’m fixin’ to”.

The next house north of Pete Schmunk’s was the home of Chester Hawkins and his wife Caroline Snook. They lived in that big house on the corner. I guess after Mr. Hawkins died, she moved to the next house east and lived there a long time with a couple of daughters.

A number of people lived in that house later, I remember the Ryan Family lived there a long time.

Across the road to the north has also had lots of renters, but Lonnie Bostleman has lived there for many years. Lonnie is a retired school teacher and a pretty good basketball coach. But when I was growing up that house was the Presbyterian Manse. Rev. Fred S. Mallott was the minister here and over in Hicksville. He was a dandy fellow and well liked by all. He had the first hearing aid that I can remember. It was a little black box that he wore on a chain around his neck and hung on his chest and you talked right into it. It helped with his hearing problems.

W hen Pauline and I got married on January 12, 1944, I was on a “Ten Day Furlough” from the Army and Rev. Mallott performed the ceremony in his home in Hicksville. I guess he done a pretty good job!

There has been a number of renters in that house also. I know of one family Glenn Ellis who was with The Antwerp Parlor Furniture Co. and the Archie Bell family lived in that house also. They had two children, Richard (Buckshot) and Peggy. I’m happy to report that Peggy is alive and well and lives in Paducaha, Kentucky and she receives this paper every week. I’m always glad to hear from her. She likes to hear from all her friends.

This a line or so from an e-mail we received at the West Bend News from Peggy Bell Brown. “What joy it is to read about my home town of Antwerp, Ohio in Paulding County, the home of the best tomatoes ever grown. What a joy to read your paper each week!”. Yes, Peggy, I remember you and your family. Your father, Archie, was a top shelf teacher.