Tour Findlay’s historic homes

FINDLAY — Everyone loves to look through a restored turn-of-the-century house. And as Findlay celebrates its bicentennial this year, six of its biggest and best homes will be open for tours during the Bicentennial Historic Homes Tour on Sunday.“We do this every other year, and in the past it has been pretty well attended. And again this year, I think I got the best houses I can find that will open their doors for us,” said Linda Paul, resident historian who has researched all the houses on the tour.“Many of these are houses on South Main Street that were built right after the gas boom here. Heretofore, the better houses in Findlay were built on West Sandusky Street, but after 1888, the bigger houses were built on South Main,” Paul said.And two of the largest, both built in 1888, are open this year. The first is at 1109 S. Main St., and the other is at 2816 N. Main St.Paul, who has written books on the history of Findlay, fell in love with the city's historic homes back in 1976. “I saw those houses and thought that I needed to find out more about them. Who built them and where did they get the money to build those big houses, I wondered,” she said. Hint, many were built by bankers.A brief history of each house will be available in all of the homes open on the tour.Sponsored by the Historic Preservation Guild of Hancock County and the Hancock Historical Museum, the tour dates back about 20 years. “People really like this, and I think it's because Findlay has such outstanding old homes,” Paul said.