Snippets of Bay Village History: The Wischmeyers of Dover Township

The Wischmeyer Hotel, pictured in the 1950s. It was no longer being used. The fire department burned it down in an exercise.

Regina and Henry Wischmeyer came from Germany and settled on the west side of Cleveland (Ohio City) in 1850. There they married and began raising a family. Henry Sr. had a dream of growing grapes on his own land as he had in Germany.

Regina followed Henry with his dream, and they purchased 50 acres of land along the south shore of Lake Erie in Dover Township. They planted two acres of the land in grapes, built a wine cellar and a hotel, while also farming, building a family house and raising their family.

In 1872, Regina and their seven children followed Henry to their new home situated next to the grape vineyard. Across the street they constructed a 40-bed hotel, a cook house, a pavilion for dances and cards and a boat house. In the hotel’s heyday, one of their favorite things to do was to take guests for boat rides on the lake. 

The hotel was located on the west side of Glen Park Creek on a bluff above the lake. It was burned down in a fire department exercise in 1964. It would be the second house west of the creek, today.

kay laughlin

I am the Historian for the Bay Village Historical Society. Member and Past President of the society. Lived in the village since 1936.

Read More on Snippets of Bay Village History
Volume 7, Issue 19, Posted 8:50 AM, 10.06.2015