Temperance is a virtue, and it’s one in which Westerville has strong roots.
Though Prohibition has been kaput for 80 years and Westerville itself is no longer a dry town, memories of the city’s role in the movement live on through preservation efforts – and in the storied histories of the houses on Temperance Row, just south of Otterbein University.
One such memory is that of the Rev. Thomas M. Hare, a lawyer, ordained minister and prominent figure in the Anti-Saloon League. And one such house is the one in which he used to live at 109 S. Grove St., which this year celebrates its 100th birthday.
“He worked in state leagues in five different states, plus the District of Columbia, and he led the campaign that turned West Virginia dry in 1912,” says Bill Merriman, president of the Westerville Historical Society. “It was after that campaign that he came to Westerville and built his house.”
The house, known colloquially as the Hare House, was built in 1913.
When his wife, Addie, died in 1927, Hare sold the house to Rand J. Dustman, who was then the publicity director for the Anti-Saloon League of America, and returned to his hometown of Washington Court House in Fayette County.
Hare didn’t stay away long, though. He moved back to central Ohio in 1929 and served as a pastor at the Grandview Heights Methodist Church. He passed away in 1939, six years after Prohibition was defeated nationally.
Since 1999, Mike and Carol Brooker have lived in the house with their two sons. The house needed a good amount of TLC when the Brookers moved in, and they quickly set off to restore the home room by room while also trying to retain its historic integrity and ties to the era in which it was built.
“We have done complete restoration of the kitchen and the bathrooms,” Mike says. “(We’ve) really gone through each room and remodeled, cleaned (and) repainted with what I think are some pretty historic and traditional colors.”
The house still boasts many charming, classical features, including all-hardwood floors and a whopping six fireplaces. The one in the living room can be seen as a traditional identifier of its architectural era; it’s made of stone and with abuts two benches. Together, the pieces create an intimate nook.
“The stone fireplace with the side bench seats … that’s all fairly standard with the Craftsman-style architecture,” Mike says.
At the front of the house is a spacious cobblestone porch with four tapered columns made from local river rock, where the family often enjoys spending some time outdoors. Other unique features include the home’s original ceramic tile roof, now a century old, and quarter-round windows at the corners of the second floor.
The Brookers also appreciate the large addition on the back of the house, which was constructed in the 1950s.
“Now it’s a great room with vaulted ceilings, open beams and knotty pine siding all the way around,” Mike says.
The Brookers are downsizing and are looking to sell the house.
The Temperance Row Historic District, the 11-acre plot of land that served as the nucleus of pro-Prohibition sentiment in Westerville – which was itself the national headquarters of the Anti-Saloon League – was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. It contains a total of 27 houses, most of them built between 1910 and 1935.
“Temperance Row is among only 10 percent of National Register sites that are recognized for national significance,” says Merriman.
Rose Davidson is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
