Emmet D. Sharp and the Sharp Building of New Philadelphia

A building down the street from my home is lovingly being given a new life and purpose as a community gathering place. I thought I would take a look at the man responsible for its original construction over 100 years ago.

John Sharp (?-1853) immigrated from England to the United States before the 1830s and little more than that is clear. He was married to Martha Smith (?-c. 1878) and living in New York in the early 1830s when he and his Martha had a son, William T. Sharp (1836-1908). John was in the woolen trade and he eventually moved his family to Jefferson County, Ohio by the mid-1840s where he established a woolen manufactory. William learned the machinist’s trade while working in his father’s factory.

William married Mary Johnson (1832-1885) in March 1853 in Jefferson County, Ohio. The couple had three children by the time William moved the family to New Philadelphia, Ohio in 1859 to work for the English & Dixon firm in that city. William worked there for about five years but, not content to work for someone else, he established a number of his own enterprises, including sawmills, oil wells, and a salt well. William was also instrumental in the creation of the New Philadelphia Planing Mills and the New Philadelphia Paper Mills before starting his own business on South Broadway, the Sharp Foundry and Machine Shop (later called William Sharp & Sons).

William’s eldest son was named John J. Sharp (1854-1931) and he learned the machinist trade from his father. John became his father’s partner around 1874 and his younger brother William joined the partnership around 1882. John married Violet Mitchell (1858-1920) in February 1881 and the couple started a family of their own. One of their children was a son, Emmet D. Sharp (1883-1956), who also worked in the family business once his schooling was completed. Emmet worked as a bookkeeper for the firm while he lived in the Sharp family home on the 200 block of West High Street until his marriage in 1914.

That year Emmet married Fredericka Cox (1884-1967) and the couple at first rented a home on West Ray Street. The Sharp family’s business interests were diverse and among them was the acquisition of property in the City of New Philadelphia and the construction of business and residential buildings. Emmet, with some partners, purchased the “Custer Property”, Lot 249, on the southeast corner of the intersection of North Broadway and East Fair Street in August 1919 with thoughts of future development of the site.

Ground broke for the construction of a one-story, brick business block in the summer of 1922 with plans for a local Chevrolet dealer to display some of its automobiles behind the large windows facing East Fair Street. Construction was completed later that summer and another tenant, the Auto Electric Service Company, advertised their location within the “New Sharp Building” in August 1922. The Sharp family continued their business interests, including real estate, well into the first half of the 20th century and the Sharp building hosted numerous tenants over those years.

Emmet Sharp and his family spent much of the 1920s and early 1930s touring Europe and Emmet was actually doing just that when his father, John Sharp, died in July 1931. After his return home, Emmet assumed the responsibility for operation of the Sharp foundry, as well as his own real estate holdings. Emmet retired shortly after World War Two and passed away in March 1956. His widow Fredericka lived eleven more years, dying in November 1967 at her daughter’s home in Washington, D.C. They are both buried in East Avenue Cemetery in New Philadelphia, Ohio. Meanwhile, the Sharp Building on Fair Avenue NE will soon be open for business once again.

© Noel B. Poirier, 2024.