Newspaper article:Commercial House Wells DR14Mar1927 p10 - The Daily Record March 14 1927
- Article title
- Mrs. Electa Wells 87 Cousin of Henry Ford Recalls Early History of Commercial House
- Newspaper title
- The Daily Record
- Date of publication
- 1927/03/14
- Page number
- 10
- Organization
- Industry
- Accommodation and Food Services > Accommodation
"Mrs. Electa Ann Ford Wells, 87 years old, who lives on North Main Street in West Salem, is a second cousin of Henry Ford, the Detroit automobile manufacturer.
"My grandfather, Rev. John Ford," she told a report who called at her home, "was a brother of Henry Ford's father. He was a Close Communion Baptist minister, and was one of the pioneer residents of this community. His son, John Glover Ford, my father, built the Commercial House, which is now being torn down."
The old Commercial House, which stood for a century on the northwest corner of West Salem's public square, was a famous stopping place on one of the turnpike roads between Cleveland and Columbus and in the days of the stagecoach, sheltered many noted persons. West Salem people today recall the time that Grover Cleveland once wrote his name on the register and was an overnight guest there.
"I often heard my father say," Mrs. Wells related "that the main sill under the building was hewn from a huge black walnut tree that stood almost in the center of the square. All of the timber for the hotel was cut in the immediate vicinity."
The entire building has now been razed, and construction is about to start on its successor-- a gasoline filling station, destined to supply the needs of the traveler of today.
The Ford farm extended north and west from the village square at a time when the town had only half a dozen buildings, Mrs. Wells recalled. John Glover Ford laid out in lots that part of the farm facing the street, and houses have been build on all of the lots except a few at the extreme north end.
"You will notice that this house in which I live is built in the center of two lots," she continued. "My father is responsible for this. He said we should have plenty of room for the children to play, so he gave us half an acre of ground."
Mrs. Wells lives in the big house alone. Her only son, Charles T. Wells, lives in new York, but visits her each year. She is looking forward with interest to his coming next summer.
Mrs. Wells would also not be unduly surprised if her famous cousin should stop to see her next summer. "I have had letters from him," she said, "and I rather hope he will come to see me."
There was a quick response when a report rapped at her door. A kindly face beamed through the opening, a pleasant, well-modulated voice extended a greeting, and her appraising, keen blue eyes smiled a hospitable welcome.
"I heard you when you stepped on the porch," she explained in demonstrating that age has not dimmed her faculties. Her hearing, her eyesight and her mind are actively alert and "as good as ever," she declared.
"My chief difficulty is that I cannot walk very well," she apologized. "I haven't been down town for two years, but I'm happy here, so what more can I ask? My son has often wanted me to go to New York to live with him, but I have always refused. I have lived in W. Salem for 87 year, 60 years in this house, and I expect to die here."
Reading is Mrs. Wells' chief enjoyment. Current newspapers and magazines provide her with material to while away hours that many persons alone, would find dull and tiresome. She is a member of the Presbyterian church, an institution that gives her much comfort.
For nine years, when she was young, Mrs. Wells was a resident of Wooster, chief milliner for Mrs. Fox who kept a millinery store at the northeast corner of the Wooster public square.
"I often sat there by the open window and heard lawyers plead their cases in the court house," she recalled. "I remember John McSweeney very well, and I have often wished I might have an opportunity to meet his grandson, our congressman."
It seems an odd trick of the fate that the automobile industry, in which Henry Ford has won his way to the top, should be responsible for the demolition of another institution founded by a branch of the same family; but such is the case in West Salem today where a gas station is to be built on the ground so long so occupied by that landmark of the community-- the Commercial House.