A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS

By Sean Barron

Walking tour leads inside stately mansions

WARREN — It might be difficult to fight city hall, though it’s much easier to tour it.

Warren City Hall, which has its home in the Perkins Mansion, was one of five historical sites that were part of Sunday’s self-guided walking tour of the Mahoning Avenue Historic District.

The other four were the first floor of the John Stark Edwards House; the Upton House; the Kinsman House; and the Land and Title Office, home of the Trumbull County Tourism Bureau.

The six-hour tour was set up to let visitors experience the sights and sounds of a Victorian holiday. The event kicked off in 2006 and will take place every two years.

The Perkins Mansion, 391 Mahoning Ave. N.W., is one of many residences that make up the city’s “Millionaires’ Row,” a section of stately structures that were home to many affluent people in politics, industry and commerce.

It was finished in 1871, features a stained-glass skylight and marble fireplaces, and was bought in the early 1930s by the city for about $75,000, noted Nancy E. Ruggieri, deputy auditor.

Six U.S. presidents have visited the building, added Ruggieri, from her office thought to have been Eliza Perkins’ bedroom. It’s also the location of Mayor Michael J. O’Brien’s office.

Many people filled the parlor and other rooms in the two-story Harriet Taylor Upton House, 380 Mahoning N.W., which was built in the 1840s by Henry B. Perkins and designated a National Historical Landmark in 1993.

Hanging over the fireplace is a portrait a local artist painted of Upton, who was a women’s suffrage leader. In another room hangs a letter President Warren G. Harding wrote Upton congratulating her for her work regarding women’s rights.

At first, Upton, who lived in the home about 60 years, had no interest in the movement, explained E. Carol Maxwell, a member of the Upton Association.

Later, however, Susan B. Anthony got Upton on board, and she spent 18 years as president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association. She also spent about 30 years working for the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, Maxwell noted.

In addition to having no voting rights, Ohio women in the early 20th century could not own property or a business, or have guardianship of their children; higher education opportunities were few, with Oberlin College in Oberlin being the only state college to admit women, Maxwell continued.

“Harriet was a determined lady who wanted to stand up and do what’s right,” she added.

Upton lost her home after the Great Depression and spent the rest of her life in Pasadena, Calif. Nearly all of her possessions were sold at a sheriff’s auction, and the Upton House has mostly donated furnishings similar to those used during her time, Maxwell said.

Others gathered in the 16-room Kinsman House, 303 Mahoning N.W., a Greek revival mansion built in 1832 as a wedding gift to Olive Perkins and her husband, Frederick Kinsman.

The home is owned by the city and, among other things, features marble mantels as well as a black walnut staircase, woodwork and arched doorways.

The main purpose of the tour was to promote historical preservation in downtown Warren, noted Judith Sheridan, the Upton Association’s treasurer.

Millionaires’ Row is made up of 44 parks and structures, including the National Packard Museum and Women’s Park, and many are in private hands, Sheridan said.