Village Housing: 166 Woodland Street

Date

late 19th century-2018

Location

166 Woodland Street

Architects/Collaborators

Builder unknown

Style

Italianate

History

Much of the ornamentation typically found on an Italianate house of this kind were removed, except for the turned wood spindles supporting the porch, the shaped wooden lintels above the windows, and the ornate brackets over the side door. The flat roof with its wide overhang are typical of the Italianate style.

The earliest known residents of this house are a carpenter named Squire Booth and his wife, Julia, from 1890 through 1916. Bert A. Locke lived here from 1927 until his death in 1938, and his wife stayed through 1940. Bert had worked for the M. D. Sperry and Co. grocerystarting in 1913 and bought an interest in the store, which moved to 11 S. Main as "Sperry & Locke" by 1923. In 1925, the B. A. Locke Grocery moved to 24 E. College, and in 1928 Locke added a nursery and landscaping component to his grocery. In 1935, Bert A. Locke moved his grocery to 11 N. Main, and died in 1938 (F. Locke). Bert's son, Frank C. Locke, lived at 166 Woodland from 1942 until his death in 1984. He served in the Navy from1944 to 1946, but in 1948 he revived his father's nursery business at his home, 166 Woodland. In 1957, Frank moved the nursery to E. College, and in 1964 to E. Lorain, where it is now known as Locke's GoGreen Landscaping and Garden Center. Frank's son, Bert T. Locke, still runs the nursery, and lived at 166 Woodland until 1999. The house was owned by the College for its Village Housing program until it was demolished in 2018.

Source

Ohio Historic Inventory by H. Petersen, M. Franck, D. Musson, and O.H.I.O. Interns, Ohio State Historic Presevation Office, December 16, 2002. Accessed from the Oberlin Heritage Center website, July 2, 2015.