The Logan House



320 North Main Street, Poland, Ohio

Wines improve with age. Trees mature with time and provide comfort to all who seek their shade. So it is with the house at 320 N. Main Street in the Village of Poland, Ohio. It was built in 1851 and remained a two story colonial style structure until it was remodel in 1890. Today it is one of Poland’s finest Victorian homes. It has not only improved with age but has provided six families with a comfortable place to live in a pleasant suburban atmosphere.
The first family was William and Mary Logan, one of Poland’s earliest settlers. Real estate transactions signed in the 1830s by Turhand Kirtland, the Village founder, show that the Logans purchased 11 acres of land on the north side of the Village on Youngstown-Pittsburgh Road where it intersects with Botsford Road. Mr. Logan was a carpenter by trade and built a large house with great care for his young family. All told, the Logans had 10 children, 3 dying before their 5
th birthday. William O. Logan was the ninth child, being born in 1846, and the last of the family to die in 1938. He had the distinction of being in school with William McKinley and, at the age of 17, enlisting with McKinley in the Ohio Volunteer Infantry’s 23rd Regiment. Veterans of this regiment boasted of having two U.S. Presidents, Rutherford Hayes and William McKinley, within their ranks. After coming home from the Civil War, William O. Logan took up his father’s profession, but found the work too difficult and changed to real estate and insurance. He was elected mayor of Poland Village three times. His grave may be found in Poland’s Riverside Cemetery. He is buried along side his wife, Cornelia, his father, mother, and three of his sisters and their husbands.
Mr. and Mrs. Logan gave the house and 5 acres of land to their ninth son, William, while daughters, Miranda and Thalia received the remaining 6 acres now occupied by the Cunningham-Becker Funeral Home. In the early 1890s the house was remodeled with the roof being raised so that a third floor could be added. Also several dormers, bay windows, and a large wrap-around front porch were added. After 60 years of occupancy by the Logan Family, the house and land were sold in 1913 to Harry S. and Cecelia Braman. During the 1920s the Bramans built a house south of the homestead which has become the present funeral home. In 1935 the property was sold to Prosser and Lida D. Campbell. During the 1940s three rooms in the back of the original house were removed. In 1945 the Campbells transferred ownership to their son, William who in 1947 sold it to his sister, Beth and her husband, Raymond E. Meiners.
This beautiful and historic Logan House is now occupied and maintained by David R. and Joan Smith, who acquired the property in 1978. This article has been edited from Mr. Smith’s extensive notes on the house, property and its occupants.