The Scroggs House

Main Local National Register - Downtown Historic - Bucyrus Mausoleum - D. Picking & Co. - T&OC

Scroggs House - Chesney House - Blair House - Harris House - Beer House - McGraw House

The two-story, frame Scroggs House is basically rectangular in plan and features a hip roof with widow's walk and a projecting center bay on the main (west) facade. The main entrance has double doors with etched glass and is protected by a one-story, flat roofed porch. The porch roof is supported by square columns and carved brackets. Above the porch there is a double window with carved, round-arched wooden hoodmolds. To either side of the center bay there are two windows on each floor. All eight windows are 1/1. Those on the lower level have segmental arches while those on the upper level have round arches.

At the roofline there are double brackets and a paneled frieze. Between the brackets there are dentils. Above the cornice, over the center bay, there is a triangular pediment. The widow's walk has an elaborate iron rail on all four sides. There are two inside end chimneys.

Fenestration on the other facades is irregular in its placement, but all windows on the lower level have segmental arches and those on the upper level have round arches as on the main (west) facade. On the northwest corner of the house there is a two-story, 3 sided bay with six windows (three per floor). The southeast corner has a one-story, 3 sided bay. On the east facade there is a two-story, flat-roofed rectangular addition which encloses a summer kitchen. There is a one-story, shed roofed porch on the east side of this addition.

In 1871 the original (1839) house was remodeled to its present appearance. The front rooms of the house were removed and replaced with eight rooms (four on each floor) and a center entry hall, all styled in the Victorian Italianate manner. At the time all the windows were altered and the bracketed cornice was added. The remodeling was completed in 1873.

Interior; There are six rooms on the first floor. The center entrance hall has a wide stairway. To the right the parlor is entered through large double doors and has a slate fireplace. Double doors lead into the dining room which has a bay window and a brick fireplace. There is a closed stairway to the upstairs. The kitchen, behind the dining room, is part of the original house. There is another stairway to the two original rooms upstairs. To the left of the entry hall is the library which has a bay window and a slate fireplace which has a walnut mantel and mirror. Behind the library is a bedroom. Upstairs are four rooms opening off the middle hall, and two off a rear hall originally accessible only from the kitchen. These were servants' quarters. A hall now joins the old and new sections upstairs. The main stairway continues up to the attic. There is an attic opening to the widow's walk on the roof.

The original Scroggs house was built in 1839 by John Scroggs, a hatter. He lived in the house until his death in 1861. The property was subsequently willed to his son, Jacob. Jacob, a lawyer and mayor of Bucyrus, considerably remodeled the house in 1871.

The property was later owned by Charles Scroggs, only son of Jacob, also a lawyer. He died in 1944 willing the house to Mary E. Scroggs, a daughter. When she died the property went to her only daughter, Elizabeth Shapiro who deeded the property to St. Paul's Lutheran Church. The church used it as a parsonage until 1970 and then deeded it to the Bucyrus Historical Society.

The Scroggs House, now the Bucyrus Historical Museum, is a well cared for and handsome example of a mid-nineteenth century home. Its connection with the Scroggs family, early settlers and important local politicians, make it important to Bucyrus