Sloane House-439 N. Market St., Wooster, Ohio

Image of the John Sloane house located at 439 N. Market St. in Wooster, Ohio. Photograph by S. Zimmerman

Sloane House was built in 1845 for John Sloane and his daughter, Elizabeth Sloane Bissell. Sloane was a Wooster resident and Colonel who made himself famous in national politics. He was elected as an Ohio State Representative in the early 1800s, then into Congress from 1819-1829. He was Secretary of the State of Ohio in the 1840s and Treasurer of the United States in the early 1850s. Sloane was known as a gentleman and a brilliant political writer, highly praised for supporting legislature reducing land prices and aiding less advantaged settlers. [caption id="attachment_1636" align="alignright" width="240"]<a href="http://waynehistoricalohio.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Sloan_John-1856-Obit.jpg"><img src="http://waynehistoricalohio.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Sloan_John-1856-Obit-240x300.jpg" alt="John Sloan Obit" title="Sloan_John-1856-Obit" width="240" height="300" class="size-medium wp-image-1636" /></a> John Sloane's obituary as it appeared in the newspaper, Wayne County Democrat, on May 15, 1856 page 3.[/caption] A wrought iron fence surrounds the house, which was preserved by the owners during World War II despite the call for metal donations to the war effort. It is adorned with a plaque commemorating Sloane, the work of the Wooster Museum (before it was called the Wayne County Historical Society). This emphasizes the importance Wooster residents place on their history. Mrs. Lyman Robert Critchfield embodies this characteristic, having preserved the house since she attained it in 1946. She gave meticulous attention to the preservation and reservation efforts, trying to be as faithful to the original building as possible.

The look of the house is reminiscent of Gothic revival architecture, propagated in that time by Andrew Jackson Downing, who Sloane was probably exposed to during his time in Washington. It is made out of brick, with white shutters and trim. The woodwork left from the original house is hand-carved, the designs for the fence and columns inspired by 19^th century china patterns. Columns frame the double doorway that matches the portico. The house has been renovated for modern use, divided into apartments. A carriage house and barn were taken down to make way for another addition of apartments.

See Also

• To figure out how much people paid for a property read about Revenue Stamps and Property Conveyance Fee History