The Beecher House

Built in the 1847, the building located in downtown Sandusky at 215 West Washington Row was originally the home of Lucas S. Beecher, an early Sandusky lawyer, and his family.

Helen Hansen wrote in At Home in Early Sandusky wrote that at the time it was built, the home sat on a large lot, with a coach house, barn, and garden. Lucas S. Beecher’s home was a “safe house” during the time of the Underground Railroad. The Gilcher brothers’ horse drawn herdic line carried passengers by the Beecher house on one of their three routes. Mr. and Mrs. Lucas Beecher lived here until their deaths in 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Beecher’s heirs sold the house in 1900. The Beecher house has had several different owners throughout the years and was home to a variety of businesses. From 1932 until about 1977, the Commodore Denig Post No. 83, American Legion was located at 215 West Washington Row.

Other businesses which operated here include: the Central Union Telephone Company, Christian Science Reading Room, Irma Waldkircher’s Ladies Apparel, a physician, and a civil engineer. For many years in the 1980s and 1990s, 215 West Washington Street was a community room for a bank. The Beecher House continues to serve as home to several businesses in Sandusky. To read more about Lucas S. Beecher and the Beecher house, see Article 15 of Helen Hansen’s At Home in Early Sandusky.