138 Shenango Street, Sharpsville, PA

Welcome Sheryl Mehl!

I decided to post an old picture of the Mehl house at 138 Shenango Street. This picture is undated and I don't know who the woman in front of the house might be. The reason I find this picture interesting is because of the house paint.

In the '60s and '70s, when I was there frequently, the house was painted kind of an ivory yellow, same color all over. But Victorian era houses such as this one usually had much more ornate paint schemes, with multiple colors used to accent different portions of the house. This picture shows that the Mehls did indeed have traditional Victorian approach when the house was newer and younger.

Today, the house looks very much like this picture. The new owner has repainted the house in traditional colors, so much like this photo that it's possible they found and used an old picture to lead them in the repainting. The two small stone steps in the front are still there, and the original slate/stone sidewalk is still in place, although bumpy and cracked in spots. At one point the landscaping in front of the house was so tall it covered the windows, but that has all been removed now, and smaller shrubs placed in gardens very similar to those shown in the picture. While the house suffered from neglect a decade ago, today the house is occupied and well cared for.

138 Shenango Street was built by John J Mehl in the mid-1890s, on land he purchased from the Pierces. The house originally had an open front porch, and the family decided to enclose the porch in 1905 or so. As you can see from the photo, the street was unpaved (or perhaps badly paved?). Sharpsville started paving its streets in the mid-1910s, so that may help with establishing a date for this photo.