A Delicious Taste Of History, Intrigue and Hospitality.
The Pomeroy House then became the summer home of Dr. Harlan Pomeroy’s
family. Harlan and Frances Pomeroy had two children; Lawrence & Gertrude.
Gertrude never married. She became a freelance writer and lived in the Pomeroy
House until 1963, when she retired to Florida.
Gertrude left the house vacant and it quickly began to decline. The house took on
the persona of “the old creepy place on the corner.” Neighborhood kids would often
dare each other to sneak into the house to find “the Pomeroy House Ghost.”
Being a prominent part of Strongsville’s history, many citizens did not want
“The Homestead” destroyed. Thus, in 1966, while preparing for the town’s
sesquicentennial celebration, the Strongsville Women’s League
undertook a program to open the house for viewing. The whole
community became involved. The Farm Bureau donated fertilizer for
the yard and the hardware store gave paint for the fence, which the
Boy Scouts painted. The Key Club trimmed trees and cleared the
yard. Many in the community helped with repairs of “The Homestead.
”An area antique dealer loaned period furniture to fill out the rooms.
Hundreds of residents continued to work on a variety of plans to
save the house. However, years later the house once again
slumped into a deteriorated state. The cellar had filled with
water, vandals had destroyed the beautiful mahogany stairway,
floors were warped, windows were broken, and graffiti was
scrawled on the interior walls. In fact, someone had even
knocked holes through the double layers of the brick walls.
In spite of all this mistreatment, the old “Homestead” built
by the Pomeroys refused to cave in and fall down. In June
of 1975, the Pomeroy House was entered on the National
Register of Historical Places. It was at that point the long
time local restaurateur Don Strang, Jr. began to realize
and understand the location, its history and its potential
to the future population of Strongsville.
Attention to detail of the restoration process is evident
by the amount of time spent just sorting through old bricks
that had fallen from the house. About six thousand bricks
were salvaged and used in the lobby portion of the restaurant
and in construction of the ledge going down to the Pub.