A full narrative history section
This house is attributed to Jonathan Goldsmith, the most significant early architect in the Western Reserve. It was built in 1831 in Willoughby, Ohio for William Peck Robinson. When it was donated to the Western Reserve Historical Society in 1972, it had been altered to serve as an apartment building. Spared from demolition, it was restored and reopened in 1985. it is interpreted today as the home of the "Widow Hadley" and her family.
This house was built on Erie Street in Willoughby for William Peck Robinson between 1830 and 1832 by master builder Jonathan Goldsmith of Painesville. Mr. Robinson passed away the same year the house was competed, leaving his widow and their four children in debt. His wife Caroline was determined to keep her grand home; she turned the homestead into a boarding house, renting out rooms beginning in 1845. It didn't cure the mounting debt problem and the house was eventually sold in 1862. The house had about a dozen owners over the next century until 1973 when it was donated to Hale Farm.
