The McCleary Mansion

Nov. 17, 2012.

Built in Olympia in the 1920s. The large foyer was designed to accommodate the expected social gatherings due to Ada McCleary's high position within the DAR. Unfortunately, Ada died before construction of this building was complete. The two trees in front are actual cedars of Lebanon. The back yard, where a newer building now resides, was once a beautiful and large garden. The McCleary bedroom, which was basically an enormous apartment, was on the upper floor to the left.

After Henry McCleary's death the building was cut up into apartments, but by the 1960s it was an office building and included an orthodontist. In recent times it has become the headquarters for a lobbyist group.

Save our window project

Aug. 7, 2011.

Henry McCleary had this Methodist Church constructed and a stained glass window placed in memory of his wife, Ada, in the 1920s. The building was designed by architect Joseph Wohleb. The land was donated by the Briscoe family. The window was apparently in bad repair and needed refurbishing in 2011.

McCleary Hotel

July 4, 2011

Built in 1912, this is one of the architectural treasures in town. Henry McCleary had this structure erected in order to entertain the hoity visitors, it was never meant for the working guy.

This neighborhood of Beck and Summit was the power center in McCleary. Henry McCleary lived in a house (now gone) directly across the street from the Hotel. His brother William McCleary lived to the immediate north of the Hotel. Youngest brother Leonard McCleary lived immediately to the south. The trees in front of Leonard's house, which still stand today, were shipped from the McCleary family's home near Cambridge, Ohio (the original McCleary farm is now under an artificial lake in Ohio). Sam Lanning, another family connection from Ohio, lived nearby. 

One of the McCleary sons lived on the hill on Beck Street and had heat from the door plant directly piped to his house.

The McCleary family had a formal dinner here once a week. Ada McCleary, Henry's wife, was a big wheel in the DAR and Henry began construction of a mansion in Olympia with a foyer to accommodate Ada's social standing. Unfortunately she died before the mansion was completed. By all accounts, Ada was a remarkable person who advocated within her power as the First Lady in a company town for the workers and their families.

The McCleary Hotel also served as a training ground for the boxer Jimmy "Kid" Swanson. Frank Fox was his trainer. Swanson might be the first African-American to make his mark in McCleary's history.

The composer Timothy Brock stayed at this hotel about 3 decades ago and wrote a musical piece about his experience entitled "McCleary Hotel."

The Hotel was also the site of the first dwelling in McCleary, where the Andrew Beck family lived. The site of the second dwelling was where Jake Anderson lived, at the top of the "T" at 5th and Oak. Both original structures are gone and their replacements were both built in 1912.