Close-up view of house on Lafayette Street.

Niles Daily News July 11, 1922
(Stein house was exempt from seizure)

The 1924 map of the area involved with the Stein home property marked in red.

L). The Stein home was exempt from government seizure.

R). However, the Stein family owned additional property which the Federal Government which to seize under condemnation proceedings.

Map outlining the entire Stein property on which the Federal Government wished to build housing for the workers employed in vital war industries.

Open area surrounded by government houses would later become a city playground in 1955.

The playground site is on land which was owned by the U.S. Government following a Post World War I housing project and which was turned over to the city some years ago.

It became a city playground with equipment in 1955. Personal note: during the summer, softball teams from other city playgrounds would play the Davis Street playground team on this field.

There is a narrow fenced–in path on Davis Street that is still used to access the area.

Defied Federal Authorities with Gun.
Washington, July 10– When Fred Stein of Niles defied federal authorities with a shotgun in 1918 as they appeared to take over his property under condemnation proceedings for a wartime housing project, he began a series of legal complications which today are puzzling several keen Washington lawyers.To date Stein has received nothing for the property which the government took over. Neither has his creditors, the Youngstown Home Savings & Loan Company, who took a mortgage on the Stein place before the government became interested in it.

Peculiarly enough, the failure of both, to receive settlement isn’t because the government hasn’t shown a disposition to settle. As an evidence of what they have tried to do for Stein, attorneys for the U.S. Housing Bureau dig up an appropriation bill passed last year for the reimbursement of persons whose property was taken over during the war. Then they show letters sent to Stein offering him $6,400 in settlement for the land the government took. But the price was not accepted, and now the appropriation has lapsed, making it unavailable.

Stein family in front of home, ca 1905. PO7.112

Must go to Court of Claims.
Niles Daily News July 7, 1921
As a result, Stein and his creditors are now expected to bring the whole matter before the U.S. Court of Claims at Washington in an attempt to prove that they have not been fairly dealt with. Stein says he will enter a claim for $40,000 against the government on his own behalf and for $20,000 to cover his wife’s equity in the property.

When Housing Bureau officials took over the Stein place at Niles, they put a value of $8,500 upon it and it led to the landholder’s protest against this which brought on the shotgun episode. Last year, on securing the appropriation they needed, the bureau attorneys offered Stein the same amount, or the alternative of accepting three-fourth of it and suing for any additional amount he believed due him.
He approved the latter idea, according to the Housing Bureau version, and was prepared to enter the Federal District Court to take action against the government.

Government Wins Case in Big Land Suit.
Important news to property owners of the Government Addition, Niles, will be the announcement of the Federal Court’s decision in the Government–Stein controversy, which has been hanging on for many months. The case was decided in Cleveland yesterday by Judge D.C. Westenhaver, who returned a decision favorable to the Government.
The fight between Fred Stein, former owner of the property, and the Government is of long duration. When the Government announced its intention of erecting homes in Niles, several allotments were presented for approval, the Stein property among them. It was accepted and according to Government officials, a contract made. Later the property was sold by Stein to his wife and son, who declared the contract void.

U.S. Takes Land.
Requisition of the land was then made by the Government as a war measure, and work of erecting the houses proceeded. Stein attempted several times to take possession of the property, ejecting employees from the Housing Corporation offices, and attempting to collect rents. The Government retaliated by bringing legal action for a quit-claim title and sought to restrain Stein from molesting the property or its tenants.

Judge Westenhaver, in his decision yesterday, held that Stein has no rights to the property, that the title of the Government to the land is valid and good, and that the alleged sale made by Stein to his wife and son void. The decision forever enjoins Stein from interfering with the Government or trespassing upon the property.

In Court of Claims.
Notice of the decision was forwarded to City Solicitor MacQueen this morning. No decision has been made regarding the payment of money due Stein from the Government, and it is probable that this will be handled through the Court of Claims.

2024 aerial view of the Davis Street playground and the Stein residence.

Heaton Family
The property was originally owned by James Heaton, founder of Niles.

It was transferred to his son Lewis Heaton in 1823, the year Lewis married his wife Mille Anne.

The Heaton’s ran a working farm on the 110 acre property. Lewis died in 1842 and Mille Anne not long after in 1853.

Heaton–Stein home at 853 Vienna Avenue.

Stein Family
Joseph and Frederica Stein, immigrants from Prussia Germany, moved to Niles in the mid 1800’s with their 5 children. Joseph was a volunteer in the army and Fredericka, along with her 5 children, ran the property as a working animal farm as well as the area’s “ice business”.

The story of Jacob and Carolyn Fredericka Hacker Stein by Lucille Stein Perry, found in the Trumbull County Library’s Genealogy Center, references that the home was part of the underground railroad. She wrote: “Years ago there was what was called the Underground Railroad where people helped southern slaves get to the North. In this house, in the back part of the cellar was a part of this underground railroad”.

The Steins are also know for the famous “Stein Brothers”, Herb and Russ who were part of the “Pottsville Maroons” the contested rightful winners of the first NFL championship of 1925. (Reference: The Breaker Boys – book telling of the amazing story). Russ and Herb Stein were sons of Frederick David Stein and Nancy Eaton Troxel Stein. It was their maternal great grandfather, Daniel Heaton who built the first iron furnace in the Western Reserve.

During the early 1900’s Cherry and Lafayette Streets ended in a pasture of Frank Stein’s farm. Their home was located on Vienna Avenue.

Following the passing of Fredericka Stein in 1912, all but the current plot on which the home currently resides was seized by the government for the purpose of war housing in 1918 (In support of World War I).

To learn about the Stein House, Click here.