One House’s Story: The Schlup Family

There is a house that now stands as the only remaining residential building on the north side of the 500 block of West High Street in New Philadelphia. Its story is tied to that of a successful New Philadelphia merchant who lived during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

A note about addresses: House numbers and street names often change over time.

Urs Schlup (1823-1892) and his brother Stephen (1813-?) immigrated from Switzerland to Ohio around 1845. The two initially, and briefly, settled in Auburn Township, Tuscarawas County before moving to Wyandot County, Ohio. There, the two settled in Salem Township and Urs Schlup married Anna Barbara Keiser (1828-1860) in 1847. Urs and Anna would have seven children before Anna’s untimely death in 1860. Among those children was a son named Samuel Schlup (1848-1913) born November 5, 1848.

Samuel Schlup spent most of his youth living in Wyandot County, Ohio where he learned the carpentry trade. After a few years as a carpenter, and for reasons as yet unknown, Samuel moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1865 where he began working in the wholesale liquor industry. One of Samuel’s likely partners and/or mentors was a German immigrant, and liquor merchant, named Frederick Kaiser (1822-1882). Samuel moved to New Philadelphia in 1875 and established himself as the only liquor wholesaler in Tuscarawas County.

Samuel established his business on the north side of the 100 block of West High Street and it should come as no surprise that, as the only liquor wholesaler in Tuscarawas County at the time, business was booming. Samuel took much of the profit he earned from his business and invested it in the purchase of numerous pieces of property in and around the city of New Philadelphia. He had homes constructed on many of the lots he acquired over the period of his lifetime. He purchased a house on lot 505 on West High Street in the winter of 1884 for $3000 and two years later, after his marriage to Emma Reinhart (1860-1936), made it his home.

The house as it currently looks has been significantly modified from its orginal appearance, though the overall structure of the main portion of the house is consistent with the earliest depictions of the house. The 1901 Sanborne Fire Insurance map’s depiction of the home give hints as to its original appearance and layout. One significant difference is that the home originally boasted of a single story porch across the entire front façade of the home, rather than the smaller porch that appears on the house today. Determining the original architectural style is difficult given how much the home has been altered. However, given the emphasis on symmetry, gabled-roof, central entrance door, and the squared-off extension on the eastern side of the home, the style was most likely a simple Greek Revival or perhaps a style referred to as I-House National.

Samuel and Emma Schlup welcomed a son, also named Samuel (1887-1954), in 1887 who was the couple’s only child. Like all homes, the Schlup house on West High Street witnessed a number of events over the years the family lived there. One evening, when Emma Schlup was eight-months pregnant, a man attempted to rob her as she arrived home from visiting a neighbor. She managed to call out and neighbors ran out of their homes, scaring off the thief. A few years later the house suffered a fire that luckily caused little damage to the home. Samuel’s business and real estate investments continued to prosper throughout the 1890s and 1900s. Samuel even took it upon himself to challenge a new Ohio law that raised taxes on liquor so that it might be overturned by the Ohio Supreme Court.

Samuel, Jr. graduated from school in New Philadelphia and went on to attend the University of Pittsburgh where he studied to be a Pharmacist. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1909, returned home and worked at a local druggist before moving to Cambridge, Ohio in 1911. During the summer of 1914, Samuel Schlup, Sr. began feeling unwell and his health quickly deteriorated, contracting pneumonia in mid-July. Two weeks later he suffered a stroke and passed away. His obituary was front-page news in the local newspapers. Emma Schlup continued to live in the home until, in 1936 at the age of 75, she accidently walked into the path of a car and was killed. Samuel and Emma Schlup are buried at East Avenue Cemetery in New Philadelphia.

© Noel B. Poirier, 2022.