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About 9AM. The view from the alley.
The view from East 5th Street.
Looking east. That is a fireplace opening up there.
A better view of the fireplace minus floor and fireplace front and mantel. Oh let's be honest, minus the entire room. :O)
Looking west. What you are seeing here is the stairway area from 5th Street up to the landing. Standing on the landing you wold be facing that doorway. Hard left was the stairs going on up to the hallway that took you to Dr. Metz's office, another hard left turn, or the residence straight ahead.
This is a interesting door. If you go back to Part 5 you will get a better feel for it.
http://www.eastliverpoolhistoricalsociety.org/houseorapartment5.htm
EAST LIVERPOOL, *Store &. Apt. Bldg. (add. & rem. from res.): $8,000. 2 sty. 45x20. Rear add. 1 sty. 45x45. 128 ll Fiitli st. Private plans. Owner Dr. Arthur Metz, physician, 128 E. Fifth st. Excavating. Gen. contr. let to R. B. Sterenson. The American Contractor, Vol. 37, Page 68, Saturday November 11, 1916. Many thanks to Vicki Parsons Coalmer for locating this for us.
[The work was completed in 1917. ELHS Webmaster]SUMMATION
This was a house from the time it was built probably in the very late 1870's or very early in the 1880's until 1917. The renovation that was done altered that house totally by replacing the first floor of the original house with a open commercial structure and that took up the small front yard and extended beyond the original house taking up most of the long back yard. In addition three new rooms were built onto the front of the second floor of the original house. The new first floor structure now extended from the sidewalk in front to most of what had been the back yard. In front this new first floor structure has a flat roof as well as a flat roof in back covering the single story commercial space in back. The House was still there, a little larger by virtue of the 3 new rooms across the front of the second floor. It still had its attic and chimneys along with its original "L" shaped traditional house type sloping roofs.
Technically, because of these changes one could call the second floor an apartment but the fact still remains it was a two story house with a full attic and still was after the renovation. So the answer to the mystery is, it is both.
Now that the physical structure is gone and because of the alterations made to the first floor when the commercial building was built there was no way to preserve the original house in its entirety. We hope to find, in time, a full frontal picture of this house when it was just a house. However, we are happy to say we have been able to preserve via pictures and some text for present and future generations to discover, see, admire and enjoy.
Another structure with a house hidden inside it.
Another view of it from 4th floor of the Little Building looking at city hall. Picture courtesy of Jeff Langdon.
Best view of all probably. Picture courtesy of Bobby Moore.
SOME INFORMATION ABOUT DR. METZ, WHO ONCE OWNED THE HOUSE/COMMERCIAL BUILDING
Dr. Arthur J. Metz
An Explanation
Prior to 1900 street addresses differed than street addresses 1900 and after. You will see the Metz residence identified as 127 5th Street or 128 5th St or 128 East 5th St. It is the same residence in each and every case.
From Ancestry. com - The Metz Family:
Albert Metz (Father) 1845-1890
Harriet Metz (Mother) 1854-1930
Elizabeth Metz (Sister) 1872-1957
J. Arthur Metz 1875-1964
Carrie Metz (Sister) 1877-1966
In 1891-92 the residence was listed as 127 5th Street. East Liverpool, Ohio.
J. Arthur Metz never married. Elizabeth did marry and had a daughter. She lived in Virginia and California and died in Los Angeles in 1957.
Carrie married but had no children. Her husband died in 1932 and after his death she lived with her brother, Arthur at 127 5th Street until her death.
Arthur Metz studied medicine at Thomas Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pa. graduating in 1901. We thank Vicki Parsons Coalmer for allowing us to use her access to Ancestry. com to get the Metz family infor,ation.
FROM 1898-99 East Liverpool City Directory lists the residence for Harriet, Elizabeth J, Arthur and Carrie as 127 5th Street, East Liverpool, Ohio.
A RARE FIND
The following newspaper article was found in the attic of the Metz house. It is the newspaper account of the high school graduation on June 1, 1891 held in the Brunt Opera House, on Market Street. One of the members of that graduating class was Elizabeth Metz, Arthur Metz's oldest sister. As can be seen the article is very fragile so we thought it best to photograph it rather then trying to scan it.
The following was information provided by Timothy Brookes, President of the East Liverpool Historical Society:
Dr. Metz was there in 1937, 1941 and 1961 according to three city directories that I looked at today.
In 1951 Dr. Metz attended the 50th reunion of the Class of 1901 of the Jefferson Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University. He apparently told about receiving a presentation pocket watch from the EL City Hospital, along with a banquet at the Country Club. He told his fellow classmates that he still owned a 1911 Ford Model T Touring car but that it had been in storage for 35 to 40 years. Should we go back to the mystery building and look more closely?
I had a few extra minutes to kill in the County Recorders office this afternoon. Dr. Metz died on June 1, 1964 at which time his interest in the property transferred to his sister, Carrie M. Harper. She passed on Oct. 19, 1966 and the entire property transferred to the First National Bank as part of the trust established by Dr. Metz and his sister. The property had been in the Metz family since 1885 when it was sold to A.H. Metz (no doubt the father of J. Arthur and Carrie) by Robert W. Tayler and his wife. Tayler lived in East Liverpool and practiced law here for several years before being elected as County Prosecutor in 1880. He eventually represented this district in Congress from 1895 to 1902. He was appointed as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Ohio in January, 1905. I will check further on this, they threw me out at 4:00 PM. The mystery house may have been built by Tayler or whoever owned the property before him.
More news from the Recorder's office. Robert W. Tayler purchased the property from Moses E. Golding in the latter part of 1883. The microfiche was too smudged to read the purchase price. Golding had only owned the property since July, 1883, and he paid $7,500.00 to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Arbuckle. This tells me that the house was in existence at that time because there is no possibility that a vacant lot would sell for that much. So, until someone takes it back further, I propose that we call the "Mystery House" the Arbuckle house.
Nancy Wetzel told me that in the later years of his practice, after he gave up driving, Dr. Metz used to ride the city bus line to make his house calls.
Newspaper articles, etc.
East LIverpool Review, Thursday June 7, 1951, page 3.
There is a "Letter to the Editor" written by Dr. Metz in the Review "Dr. Metz, Page 4, EL Review Nov. 5, 1951"
Dr. J. Arthur Metz wasn't anti education as the following clearly shows:
http://www.dollarsforscholarsonline.com/Frank_A_Mildred_B_Dawson.html
[Excerpt]One of Frank’s most important contributions came through his longtime friendship with the late Dr. Arthur Metz and Dr. Metz’s sister, Carrie Harper. It was during a visit to their East Fifth Street apartment in 1959 that he suggested the siblings establish a scholarship fund through their estates, since they had no direct descendants. The rest is history, with usually over 20 East Liverpool High School graduates receiving scholarships each year from this fund.
From a email addressed to us from Frank "Digger" Dawson:
Wow what a look at the Sherwin Williams Bldg on East Fifth. It was occupied for many years by Dr. Arthur Metz and his sister Carrie Harper...practicing medicine and residing on the upper floors. Dr. Metz delivered my father in 1906...I conducted the funerals for both of them at which time I was in the apartment/office (he died first). At her death it was revealed that they had endowed the Metz-Harper scholarship fund to benefit ELHS. The fund produces a large sum each year. When I return to Ohio we will look up their obits and the story of the scholarship fund. The writing of their wills and probating of their estates was the sort of thing legends are made of. Probably should slip the name of Milligans in the paragraph mentioning Home Depot and Lowes. They probably have those old two button switches in stock on the third floor. Best, Digger
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