Column: The Tale of Windy Hill

The house was constructed in 1912 by Blake McDowell when he returned to Medina after four years in Texas because, according to his son Ted, “he was wanted back at the bank.” The bank was, of course, the Old Phoenix National Bank.

The 10-acre lot upon which Blake built his home was on the Wooster Pike, south of the village on a gravel road frequented by horse-drawn buggies and the occasional gypsy caravan. Blake set the large white house with a pillared entrance on a slight rise and named it Windy Hill.

Today, Windy Hill is well within the Medina city limits and sits at the far end of what is now called the South Court Historic Neighborhood.

Blake McDowell came back to Medina reluctantly. Windy Hill, located on its extensive, rolling acreage, was perhaps his consolation.

According to his son Ted, the four years Blake spent on a cattle ranch north of Uvalde, Texas, where he was recovering from a severe bout of pneumonia, were “the happiest years of his life.” Ted said his father had “this great love of horses, and he was fascinated by and caught up in life on the ranch — riding with cowboys, herding cattle, the roundups, the people, the cowhands and Mexicans, and life in general on a ranch at that period of time.”

But there was an overriding issue.

Blake’s full name was Harrison Gray Blake McDowell, and he was the grandson and namesake of Medina’s revered H.G. Blake — founder of the Old Phoenix Bank, congressman in the Lincoln administration, abolitionist, and the man who brought the railroad to Medina, among his many accomplishments.

Continuing this great man’s legacy was a heavy burden to carry for a first-born grandson whose only passion was working with horses.

Furthermore, Blake’s father, R.M. McDowell, was married to H.G. Blake’s daughter, Elizabeth. R.M. had been the second president of the Old Phoenix, and there was a family presumption that Blake would become the third. Dutiful as he was, he returned home and, in 1916, became the third president of the bank, serving until his death in 1931.

Blake’s son Ted, in a family history, wrote, “I never felt he was completely happy in the banking business, but I do know that he dedicated himself to making the bank the most successful one in the county, and with the able help from some good business associates, this was accomplished.”

In keeping with his pleasant memories of Texas, Blake built his house on the highest part of his acreage. He designed it to look like the fine Texas homes he had admired, with pillars and large, spacious sleeping porches. And, of course, he also built some very fine stables nearby.

His family — including his wife, Florence Andrews McDowell; daughters, Elizabeth and Helen; and son, Ted — lived in the Windy Hill home for many years. They were a close family. Eventually, Elizabeth and her husband, Homer Bennett, built a house next door to Windy Hill, and Ted McDowell and his wife built one next to theirs.

Blake and his younger brother Rob spent much of their spare time working with horses. According to Ted, “I think they looked at much of life alike, and their great love of horses — both riding and harness racing — bound them together. This was their recreation, and I am sure represented much of the happiest parts of their lives. Rob died in the late 1920s at only 43 years of age. My father never really got over this.”

Ted also recalled his father’s kindness to people. After Blake’s death at age 63, notes were found in his safe deposit box representing loans that he personally paid off for people in financial difficulty.

Ted continued the family legacy with substantially more enthusiasm than his father. He served as president of the Old Phoenix Bank from 1965 to 1973 — the fourth and last generation of his family to do so.

The Old Phoenix National Bank is now Huntington Bank.