The Oliver House Building

Saving a Piece of Toledo History

The Oliver House, a historic building that now houses Maumee Bay Brewing Company, is a classic tale of “if these walls could talk.”

Some might say they do. But that’s a story for another time.

It originally opened as a hotel by William Oliver in 1859, who commissioned famed American architect Isaiah Rogers as designer. Rogers’ work includes the Ohio Statehouse, the Merchants Exchange Building on Wall Street, and the Tremont House hotel in Boston.

At the time of its construction, The Oliver House was attractively positioned in an area of Toledo considered to be the center of downtown, near The Middlegrounds railroad center. It was among the first hotels in the United States to have a fireplace (for heat) in every room and bathrooms with running water on every floor. It was truly ahead of its time and no expense was spared.

As the city of Toledo rose down the street, the hotel was unfortunately too far from the city core to survive – and the opening of The Boody House hotel, a more modern and centrally located building, didn’t help matters. By 1880, Oliver’s hotel had fallen on hard times and into disrepair. In the ensuing years, the building took on several different purposes: a rooming house, a lighting manufacturing facility for wagon wheels and other industrial parts, and it was completely stripped of much of its luxurious hotel infrastructure.

Over the 20th century, the building now known as The Oliver House was used for various purposes – showrooms for a company known as Successful Sales (in the 1960s), rehearsal spaces, small businesses and offices, and novelty toy sales. After that, it was strictly a warehouse.

When the building was acquired in the 1990s, it had electric service and running water but no central heating. With a lot of work, we breathed life back into The Oliver House by cleaning brick, refinishing floors and restored molding to make this beautiful building into what you see today.

Haunting Story

A building that was established in the mid-19th century has its share of stories.

History is, after all, a story. The Oliver House certainly fits the bill.

With decades and nearly two centuries of tales, happenings and (dare we say) legends, it’s safe to assume we’ve heard a little of everything in regard to this iconic building. One thing most people can agree on, however, is that The Oliver House has something unnatural going on.

Yes, there’s plenty for our guests to see and experience while they’re visiting Maumee Bay Brewing. But some of the most interesting holdovers from the past might be those that you can’t see.

Is the building haunted? While we can’t say for sure, we do know that over the years, the evidence has become too frequent and compelling to ignore.

As employees past and present tell it, the building has multiple recognized or well-known friends from years gone by: a former ship captain, a woman in a white dress, and other friends of years gone by. People swear they’ve smelled cigar smoke even when no one’s around.

We accept our supernatural experiences in “good spirits,” as they remind us that the past had tribulations and challenges and fun – just like today! The Oliver House has incredible history and we embrace the past as we look toward an exciting future. Every year, we have a ghost ceremony at Maumee Bay Brewing and we offer tours. We’ve had television shows visit to look for ghosts around Halloween.

Regardless of your belief in the paranormal, there’s no denying that you’re always among friends (in some fashion) when visiting Maumee Bay Brewing.