The Adolph Melzer home at Third and Columbia was razed Monday. This unimposing house met an ignoble end, but it's worth mentioning a little bit about the house and the man.
Adolph Melzer established his soap works in the 1870s, and at that time it was on the northern outskirts of the city. He built this house around 1890 situated across from Hose House No. 8. On the other two corners of the intersection were corner stores, including Kiel Grocery and Saloon (now Rick's 718 Bar).
Melzer moved out of this house by the early 1900s. In recent years, the house became a rental property, and its downhill slide began. Boarded up windows were the first clue that time was up on Melzer's old house. The house was demolished yesterday, and cleanup is going on today.
As for Melzer Soap, it flourished into the 1920s. Melzer was even instrumental in creating a phonograph cylinder for Edison Records. The old factory still stands just one block north of his old house. For a time it was a laundry and cleaning facility and later part of Budlock Refrigeration. Recently it housed an automotive and body panel repair shop.
According to the Browning Genealogy database, Adolph Melzer died in Fall of 1923. He went missing from Deaconess Hospital, and his body was found in the Ohio River.
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