Fischer-Lasch Farmhouse

100 Waddle Run Road (Later renamed Warden Run Road)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1883 Henry Fischer purchased from Archibald Waddle 259 acres of land along Waddles Run in Ohio County. The site consisted of 10 or more acres along the small stream of water plus the hillside of pastureland to the south on top of the hill. By a year later the large brick homestead had been built of brick fired on the property.

 

The elegant Italianate farmhouse shows considerable attention to detail with a double door recessed entranceway with moulding and bracketed entablature. The I-house form and floor plan are probably from an architectural plan book or other publication of the period. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.

 

The farm remained in the Fischer family after Henry's death in 1900 and was eventually purchased by Jacob Lasch in1932 for his son John S. Lasch. John and his wife Irene and their two sons Louis and Robert operated Hillwood Dairy, acquiring the property by deed in 1939. The dairy began with cows from the Jacob Lasch homeplace, once in Elm Grove off East Cove Avenue, south of Route 88. The dairy’s first product was selling fresh milk for eight cents a quart. But soon the dairy supplemented the milk from the farm by purchasing from other farmers. The dairy also began processing, pasteurizing, bottling, and distributing. Hillwood Dairy made its own cottage cheese, sold milk, and made eggnog seasonally. The dairy had its own retail route in Wheeling and also sold items such as eggs and bread to visitors in nearby Oglebay tourist cabins.

 

The production was all done in the small building that once stood below the house near the run. Also on the farm at that time were a large barn, a horse barn, and a chicken house. These structures are no longer standing, being removed over a period of time. A new dairy building was constructed in 1948 to allow the dairy to expand into larger quarters. This concrete block building still remains.

 

The dairy remained in operation until 1960 when it was one of the few small plants still operating. Part of the reason for the dairy’s closing was that it was unable to keep up with the continuing change in the bottling of the milk from glass to square cardboard cartons to plastic jugs, as well as having to provide containers of different sizes such as half pint, pint, quart, and gallon. There had once been approximately 35 small dairies in the Wheeling area that gradually sold out to larger firms, and Hillwood Dairy was one of these.

The Fischer-Lasch farmhouse has withstood the changes around it for over 125 years from farm to dairy, to family residence. The exterior of the house retains its original materials and historic character with the two over two windows, decorative entablature and cornice, and fine wood doorway. The interior floor plan materials remain intact with moulding, wood floors, and stairways. The homestead is an excellent example of one of Ohio County’s rural farmhouses dating from the 19th century.

 

Note: Louis Lasch died October 17, 2012.

 

Adapted from National Register Nomination, submitted on June 12, 1995.

http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/ohio/95000875.pdf

Jeanne Finstein, Friends of Wheeling

October 20, 2012

 

Photos by Joanne Sullivan and Gary Zearott