Choffey's Coffee & Confections

 

The building at 17 West Winter Street is a one-story Italianate structure. Unlike the many other examples of Italianate buildings downtown, this building is not as exuberant in its details. The flat roof has simple eaves with just one bracket on each corner. The front façade has one large window and a door; above each is a simple hood molding. Small in size compared to the other buildings on the street (both current and historic), and located across from Bun’s Restaurant, this building has missed out on many photograph opportunities. We will share, however, what we have found.

Photograph courtesy of Delaware County Historical Society
 
Besides not having many photographs to work with, this location also was a bit of a challenge as far as figuring out who occupied it throughout its’ history. In 1899, Elizabeth Freeman, who owned the property, sold the building to William and Edward Semans. Their father, William Semans, founded the chemistry department at Ohio Wesleyan University. William and Edward both graduated from OWU in 1883 and 1886, respectively. William, a dentist and Edward, a physician, both practiced out of the building. Edward passed away in 1918, and the property had changed hands by at least 1930. Dr. Floyd Miller, a physician, practiced medicine in this building following the Semans brothers until 1950.

Cropped photograph of construction at the corner of North Sandusky Street and West Winter Street. The roofline is just visible to the far right of the photograph.
Photograph courtesy of Delaware County Historical Society
The American Red Cross was housed here during from approximately 1951-1980. Coincidentally, Sally Semans, the wife of Edward Semans, was one of the founding members of Delaware’s American Red Cross chapter following the disaster she witnessed following the 1913 flood. Edward and Sally’s daughter, Abigail, spent much of her time working at the Red Cross while it was housed in this building. A variety of businesses came and left during the 1980s and 1990s including part of the county prosecutor’s office and an art gallery. Trotter’s Coffee Company was housed here from the end of 2005 until 2010, when Choffey’s Coffee moved in.
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