Take away the porch, the large east wing and some of the rear additions and you could see the original house that Nathaniel Blinn built for his son, Doan, in 1848. It has been well preserved and added to over the years and is today known as the Carranor Hunt and Polo Club building at 502 East Second Street.

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A century and a half ago that part of Perrysburg was still pretty much country and the large field to the east of the building supported crops (or could have if it didn't).

What kind of a man was Nathaniel D. Blinn? Well, he was a true pioneer of the Maumee Valley, moving here with his new wife in 1825.

 

502 East Second Street

His first visit here was four years earlier when he accompanied his father to assist him with a contract to open a portion of the Maumee and Western Reserve Road (now U.S. Highway 20) between here and what is now Fremont (then Lower Sandusky). It was horrendous work constructing the route through the Black Swamp, but a road for transportation and mail from the east through to Detroit was very necessary.

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Perrysburg at the time was a mere mail station with but a handful of families.

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Blinn's family were pioneer settlers of Cleveland where he was born in 1803. His grandfather had been sent there in 1789 by the governor of Connecticut to help survey the lands comprising the Connecticut Reserve laid aside for settlement by families who lost their homes or otherwise were warranted compensation for their sacrifices in the Revolutionary War.

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In 1845 Nathaniel was elected an associate judge for Wood County, which position he filled until the office was abolished by adoption of the new Ohio constitution. Whether this position required being a member of the bar is unclear, though for the rest of his life he was known as Judge Blinn.

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The house was last occupied by the Charles L. Maddy family (he was manager of the Perrysburg Grain and Seed Company) from whom it was leased and later purchased by the newly-organized Carranor Club in 1923.

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The original part of the building is Greek Revival. The Hickory Street side of the structure shows the broad fascia, corner pilasters, fieldstone foundation and narrow siding typical of this architectural style. The parlor is virtually the only part of the original interior still intact and unaltered and it has furnishings of the period.

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Especially impressive is the woodwork extending from floor to ceiling and capped by an entablature. The front of the building displays the preserved pediment that has a center triangular window with extremely delicate tracery.

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Nathaniel Blinn was a founding member of the Wood County Horticultural Society which organized the first county fair, served as village councilman in 1853 and again in 1863, and served on the local board of education. He died at the age of 65.