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Photograph of Mosher House
Photograph by User:Jaydec, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Mosher House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. 6 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1904.

From the record

“The Mosher House is a Prairie-style house constructed by John A. The two-story house has an asymmetrical cruciform plan with an open porch at the west side facing the street.”

Wikipedia article Mosher House, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 121 National Register listings published here for Lorain County · listed in 1979 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. S of Wellington on OH 58, Wellington Township, Wellington, 44090
  • When was it listed? 1979-06-15
  • Category. building
  • Also known as. Wellington-Huntington Road MRA
  • Township. Wellington township
  • Architectural style. Prairie School architecture
  • Architect. Frank Lloyd Wright
  • National Register reference number. 79003887 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1904 to 1956

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 52 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Mosher House, surveyed 1956
Topographic sheet covering Mosher House, surveyed 1904

The ground it stands on

19,045 words

The chapter on Wellington Township in History of Lorain County, Ohio, published 1879 names Wellington. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

The township is traversed by several affluents of Black river, Wellington creek in the eastern, Charlemout creek and the west branch of Black river in the western and northern parts. It is therefore well watered, and has a diversified soil of alluvium and upland. The surface is level, and much of it back from the streams was originally regarded as swale lands, but their adaptation for meadow and grazing purposes is unsurpassed. There is not an acre of waste laud in the township. In the eastern jjart are still seen the remains of an old beaver dam, which in an early day served to Hood an extent of fifty or seventy-five acres, and was known as Wellington swain|i. It ali'orded a secure retreat for wild animals. It was the haunt of the bear and the wolf. Its impenetrable thickets afforded an effectual screen from the hunter's vigilance. The wolf, for miles away, when closely pursued, headed for Wellington swamp, and it was a struggle of skill and endurance on the part of the hunter to cut him off' from that retreat. The east and west center road, when constructed, crossed it in the middle. The road was made by felling the brush upon the surface of the morass, upon which stringers were placed lengthwise upo;i cross i)ieces placed on the brush; over these stringers the corduroy covering was laid. The road was literally a bridge, which, as used, would gradually settle below the surface, when other stringers were jilaced aud more corduroy was laid. It was too narrow for teams to meet and pass thereon. If two met, the lightest loaded was unhitched, load removed, wagon uncoupled and crowded to one side, team backed to terra finiin, while the other jnished on. Such hindrances rarely occurred, however, for the noise of the jolting wagon ujion the rough corduroy gave timely notice that the road was occupied.

Passage source: History of Lorain County, Ohio, published 1879.

The Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis railway traverses the townshi]) diagonally, from the northeast to the southwest corner. It is crossed by five roads running north and south, and by three east and west. It is about midway between Elyria on the north, Ashland on the south, Medina on the east, and Norwalk on the west, and on the most direct road to each. This fact, at an early day, gave Wellington importance as the center of local trade, and rendezvous for land owners and settlers.

Passage source: History of Lorain County, Ohio, published 1879.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Wellington Township - 19,045 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Specimens collected near this property

12 of 1,710 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 1,710 specimens collected within 10 miles of Mosher House between 1852 and 1975: 1,032 Animalia, 486 Fungi, 162 Plantae, 13 Protozoa, 13 Chromista, 4 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A. E. Recksecker, A. E. Ricksecker, A. M. Evans and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
Specimen of Cantharellus minor PeckCantharellus minor Peck1896F.D. KelseyNear Oberlin
Specimen of Polyporus arcularius (Batsch) Fr.Polyporus arcularius (Batsch) Fr.1896Kelsey, Francis DuncanKipton
Specimen of Dryopteris spinulosa (O.F.Müll.) WattDryopteris spinulosa (O.F.Müll.) Watt1899Ricksecker, A.E.Wood 4 miles south of Oberlin.
A photograph of the species Fagus grandifolia, not of this specimenFagus grandifolia Ehrh.1852Drège
Uncinula flexuosa Peck1872F.D. KelseyOberlin
A photograph of the species Parus bicolor, not of this specimenParus bicolor Linnaeus, 17661874Woods, N. W.Oberlin, Lorain, Ohio, USA
A photograph of the species Agrostemma githago, not of this specimenAgrostemma githago L.1885Harper, R.A.Oberlin
A photograph of the species Cercospora incarnata, not of this specimenCercospora incarnata Henn.1885F. D. Kelsey
A photograph of the species Colaptes auratus, not of this specimenColaptes auratus luteus Bangs, 18981885McCormick, L. M.Oberlin, Lorain, Ohio, USA
A photograph of the species Dendroica castanea, not of this specimenDendroica castanea (A.Wilson, 1810)1885McCormick, L. M.Oberlin, Lorain, Ohio, USA
A photograph of the species Medeola virginiana, not of this specimenMedeola virginiana L.1885Harper, R.A.Oberlin
A photograph of the species Mertensia virginica, not of this specimenMertensia virginica (L.) Pers. ex Link1885Harper, R.A.Oberlin

All 1,710 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Storms near this property

31 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wellington, the town this property stands in, in 31 storm reports between 1994 and 2023: 19 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 1994Tornado (F1)Wellington$500,000A tornado touched down just south of Wellington at the intersection of Pitts and Jones Road. One home suffered significant damage and two barns were destroyed as the tornado moved almost due north. Nine other homes suffered minor damage and trees, utility poles, and power lines were downed. Two dogs in dog boxes that were kept in one of the destroyed barns were found 5 to 15 yards away from the site still in their boxes and unhurt.
August 2023Tornado (EF0)Wellington$40,000A tornado with estimated peak winds of 80 mph impacted Wellington. The tornado began near the intersection of Meadow Lane and Sheila Drive, where tops of trees were broken off and scattered across neighboring streets, residential homes, and vehicles. As the tornado moved southeastward, a large tree was uprooted and fell onto a house along Hale Street. After the tornado crossed OH Route 18, powerlines and several trees were downed, and several large tree limbs were broken off and landed on homes. The tornado ended east of Grand Avenue, south of Dickson Street.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindWellington$35,000A microburst destroyed a barn, and the debris was blown downwind across a farm field. A neighboring garage and outbuilding also sustained minor damage. Several trees were also downed by the severe winds. There were no injuries reported.
June 1996Flash FloodWellington$20,000no account filed
June 2007Thunderstorm WindWellington$15,000Numerous trees were reported down.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindWellington$10,000A few trees were reported down.
April 2002Thunderstorm WindWellington$10,000Thunderstorm winds downed three large trees south of Wellington in Findlay State Park.
August 2009Thunderstorm WindWellington$8,000Numerous trees were reported down.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindWellington$8,000Thunderstorm winds downed several trees.
July 2005LightningWellington$5,000Lightning struck a house causing minor damage.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindWellington$5,000Thunderstorm winds downed a few large tree limbs and power lines.
August 1998Thunderstorm WindWellington$5,000Trees and limbs were downed.
August 1994Thunderstorm WindWellington$5,000no account filed
December 2014Thunderstorm WindWellington$4,000A line of showers and thunderstorms downed a tree and a few large limbs as it moved through the Wellington area.
May 2013Thunderstorm WindWellington$3,000Thunderstorm winds downed a tree and a few large limbs.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWellington$3,000Thunderstorm winds downed two trees.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWellington$3,000Several trees were reported down.
December 2014Thunderstorm WindWellington$1,000A line of showers and thunderstorms downed a couple of large tree limbs as it moved through the Wellington area.
June 2012Thunderstorm WindWellington$1,000Thunderstorm winds downed a tree.
June 2006Thunderstorm WindWellington$1,000A few large limbs were reported down.
August 2023HailWellington-Hail up to golf ball-size in Wellington.
November 2020Thunderstorm WindWellington-Estimated peak wind gust of 70 mph from thunderstorm three miles NE of Wellington.
July 2019Thunderstorm WindWellington-A tree was snapped at the base.
June 2011HailWellington-Penny sized hail was observed.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindWellington-Thunderstorm winds downed several large tree limbs.
June 2008HailWellington-Nickel size hail was reported.
June 2007HailWellington-Penny size hail was observed.
July 2006HailWellington-Quarter size hail was observed.
May 2004HailWellington-Penny size hail was observed.
August 2004HailWellington-Penny to quarter size hail was observed south of Wellington.
May 1997HailWellington-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Lorain County

Newspapers printed here

1 paper

1 paper published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.

NewspaperPublished
The Wellington Enterprise1899 to 1900

Maps showing this location

6 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

From the nomination file

826 words on record

When this property was proposed for the National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is, and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain. It is reproduced in full on its own page, word for word and never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s typewriter's.

The whole case file for this property - 826 words, 6 pages, reproduced complete.

Quoted from the National Register nomination for reference 79003887, 6 pages, held by the National Archives in Record Group 79. See the catalogue record.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Sprague House0.5 miles1979
Wellington Historic District0.7 miles1979
Gunn House0.9 miles1979
Wellington Center Historic District1.0 miles1974
Benjamin Wadsworth House1.2 miles1979
Old St. Patrick's Church1.4 miles1979

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 79003887 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Lorain CountyAll 121 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.