Photograph of Lane's Coach House

This color photograph depicts Lane’s Coach House, a shop located in the Ripley House at 623 High Street. The photo would have been taken sometime during the 20 years the shop was in business from 1963 to about 1983. The decorative accessories and gifts store was owned and managed by Margaret Owen Lane (1927-2003) and her sister Betty Louise Owen (1919-2010). The shop occupied the ground floor, with offices on the second story. The structure dates from ca. 1818-1819.

The building, which is often referred to as the Ripley House, is best known as the birthplace of Roswell S. Ripley, (1823-1887) a U.S. Military Academy graduate and brigadier general in the Confederate Army.

The structure may have originally served as a combination store and residence associated with the Worthington Manufacturing Company, an enterprise helmed by James Kilbourne during the early decades of the 1800s. Two men, Silas Williams and Christopher Ripley, both came to Central Ohio from upstate New York to join the enterprise. They managed a Worthington Manufacturing Company store in Columbus before the financial crisis of 1819, and the 623 High Street site may well have represented a similar venture in Worthington.

Though the building’s origins are somewhat murky, Worthington historian Robert McCormick surmised that shopkeeper Silas Williams began to build on the site around 1818 or 1819. By 1823, Silas Williams had returned to New York state and conveyed the Worthington storefront and residence to Christopher Ripley.

Christopher Ripley married Julia Caulkins in 1818. Their son, Roswell S. Ripley, was born in 1823 during the time they lived in Worthington. The family left Worthington in 1826-1827 for Massachusetts, before returning to upstate New York in 1828, ending the future Confederate general’s brief ties to Worthington.

The George W. Wing (1881-1964) family purchased the property in 1919. Multiple generations of the Wings were very active in Worthington’s civic life through much of the twentieth century. Two generations lived in the house: George W. and his wife Madeline in the residence upstairs, and their son George V. and his wife Bette downstairs. George V. Wing (1909-2002) served as Worthington’s mayor from 1945-1955. The Wings may have also leased some of the building for offices.

Daniel and Jane Lane purchased the house in 1963, converting the first floor into Lane’s Coach House and revamping the upstairs offices.

A historic marker honoring Brig. Gen. Ripley was placed in front of the house around the time of the Ohio Bicentennial. It was removed in 2017 by the City of Worthington with permission from the property’s private owner.