East River Road Historic District I

Eight country estates line the north side of East River Road beside the Maumee River near Rossford, Ohio. Built mostly between about 1915 and the 1930s, they were the permanent homes of Toledo industrial leaders connected with Libbey-Owens-Ford, Champion Spark Plug and Owens-Illinois. Many families first kept summer houses here, reaching them by interurban train, and later replaced those cottages with large year-round residences, some on more than 40 acres. The houses show a range of period styles, including Georgian Revival, Queen Anne, Tudoresque, Norman Chateauesque and Jacobethan Revival, and were designed by firms such as Mills, Rhines, Bellman and Nordhoff and Walker and Weeks. Gardens, gatehouses, stables and greenhouses completed the estates. The district was valued as a cohesive group showing Toledo's industrial growth and wealth, and for the unusual concentration of palatial houses. A later state record notes that the Mather House has since been demolished.