NEWS

The man who links Newark to England recalled

Jerry Satterfield
For The Advocate

Eli Hull was born in 1828 and was a direct descendent of the family who founded the city of Hull, England.

He came to Newark in 1853 from Hopewell Township. He was a man of many interests; he began as a teacher and then started farming and manufacturing stoneware.

He purchased 53 acres on West Main Street and located his home, “The Hull Place,” between what is now Linden Avenue and Neal Avenue (his wife’s maiden name was Neal). The red-brick, 6,000-square-foot house is a real showplace at 686 W. Main St. The home has five bedrooms and seven fire places.

In 1934, the Newark Business and Professional Women’s Club purchased the building, and for a number of years, it was used for weddings, parties and as a meeting place for a variety of organizations.

Mr. Hull eventually made his way into real estate and mining. He is credited with being the first to extract oil from cannel coal. He sold his property at Flint Ridge to A.T. Wehrle, who later donated it to the state of Ohio to be used as a historic preserve.

He developed property for 50 years. In 1906, he built the six story Hull building on the west side of the square with reinforced concrete walls. These walls helped contain the January 1951 King’s Department Store fire.

In 1915, he built 18 concrete-walled homes (a concept developed by Thomas Edison) on each side of his property — 11 on Linden Avenue and seven on Neal Avenue. Hull is thought to be the first to use this idea and received national attention.

In January 1921, Mr. Hull fell down a flight of stairs and died of a concussion at age 92. Even though Mr. Hull has passed away, we still have the houses that he built to serve as reminders of his ingenuity.

Jerry Satterfield is a lifelong Newark resident, retired from Rockwell, and volunteers for the Licking County Historical Society.

Next week’s question

Where have all the factories gone?