Lakewood Lore

Sale of Victorian farmhouse does stand a ghost of a chance

If there are good ghosts and bad ghosts, the fancied apparition of Great Lakes Captain Erastus Day, early owner of Lakewood's landmark Victorian home at 16807 Hilliard Rd., would be classified as a good ghost, if he exists at all.

Except for making occasional noises that might be otherwise explained, he has never inconvenienced present owners Clifford W. (Cliff) Murphy and wife Doris, who are readying to sell the home next month.

"But, of course, there's this weird picture taken by a professional photographer who shot scenes of our interior restoration work in progress a few years back," said Cliff.

The owner then pointed to a page in his album.

Sure enough, there it was--a photo of the home's torn-up kitchen, with mysteriously superimposed on it, floating in the air, the white, outline of what one may imagine to be Capt. Day sitting in a rowboat.

"That's how the picture came out when it was developed, and neither the photographer nor my wife and I have ever been able to explain it," Cliff said.

When previous owners Joseph and Ann Cole lived there between 1983 and '87, they denied any notion that the house was haunted. Indeed, a pioneer report that we found mentions the Day family as being "noted for their hospitality."

Actually, although historically known as the "Erastus Day House," it was first owned by Jeremiah Gleason, who came to Lakewood with his wife Catherine in 1931, bringing their own cattle and settling near Hilliard and Madison.

Gleason bought the future Day property in 1852 and built the original dwelling there soon afterwards. Later, the home was inherited by Gleason's daughter, Ann Eliza Warren, who then sold it to Erastus Day in 1871.

In the late 1870s, Day made such substantial changes that they may have constituted a completely new structure around the initial building. His handiwork, on land the size of three city lots at the southeast corner of Hilliard and Atkins, became what today is the most elaborate Victorian farmhouse with Italianate and carpenter gothic detail in Lakewood.

Capt. Day was born in Ogdensburg, N.Y., in 1834 and came here with his wife Sarah about 1869. He was a skipper of Great Lakes vessels in the mid-l9th Century. He retired from sailing to become a superintendent of ore docks in Cleveland and afterwards directed construction of similar facilities in Conneaut.

Eventually he became famous for inventing hoisting and conveying systems used in the shipment of ore. He died in 1917 at age 83.

In 1974, Lakewood Historical Society designated his as one of the city's "Century Homes," and five years later it was placed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Latest honor came this week when it was learned that the Women's Board of our historical society has selected the home to be featured this year in the board's annual fund-raising sale of Christmas wreaths.

Miniature wooden reproductions of the residence, handpainted by Lakewood artists Sari Cantlin and Debbie Cleary, will accompany the wreaths as a hang-on ornamental memorial.

A dozen years ago, our historical society had its eye on the two-story, 10-room frame place, even to the point of considering its purchase as a museum. And, in 1978, the city of Lakewood seemed prepared to buy it with a $70,000 federal community development grant.

However, legal complications popped up and interfered. The property became the subject of a law suit when cited for a zoning board violation. The homeowners at the time had been renting out two apartments on its first floor and four one-room suites on its second floor for over 25 years and wanted to continue the practice.

However, a new code stated that more than four unrelated persons were not permitted to live in a house in a district zoned for single-family or two-family occupancy. The zoning board finally won its case.

When the Murphys purchased the home in 1987, they started an extensive restoration, including converting its second-floor ballroom into a two-room suite, adding a double garage, rebuilding two porches, replacing 16 windows and installing new plumbing, wiring and heating ducts.

Cliff, a 59-year-old professional musician, singer and entertainer, even took a night course in carpentry across the street at Harding School to improve his skills as a handyman.

"I tried to rebuild it the way I thought Capt. Day would have wanted it rebuilt," he said.

During the past two years, Cliff and Doris, a newspaper advertising salesperson, used some of the newly decorated rooms for tourist bed-and-breakfast accommodations.

The Murphys currently plan to move into a town house in Strongsville this spring. Why are they moving? "Because change is a challenge to Cliff Murphy," Cliff said.

A Lakewood attorney, his wife and their three children are expected to be the new occupants. But insofar as the sale will not be entirely consummated until the middle of March, Cliff said he does not feel it proper to reveal the names and other particulars at this time.

Cliff added he will miss his house of the 10-foot ceilings. One unusual feature of the place that continues to fascinate and puzzle him is an oddly located trap door that leads into the basement.

According to Cliff, it probably was built in the early 1850s and possibly could have been tied into an underground railroad that came from Oberlin to Cleveland and then through to Canada to help runaway slaves.

"Why else would it have been placed here hidden under a rug in the front entrance hall," he wondered.

This article appeared in the Lakewood Sun Post February 13, 1992. Reprinted with permission.

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