Courthouse group buys historic house in Tiffin

4/21/2010

TIFFIN — The group working to restore Seneca County's 1884 courthouse paid the city of Tiffin $31,500 for a pre-Civil War home at Madison and Front streets.

The Seneca County Courthouse and Downtown Redevelopment Group purchased the Spiva Manley home, which it plans to restore for use as a meeting place and visitor center. The brick home is believed to be the home of Tiffin's first free black family.

The city had planned to tear down the dilapidated house when the courthouse group stepped in to stop demolition.