Rosie's Place - Linda Higgins

Little is known about the house on Buckeye Boulevard before it became Rosie’s Place. It was demolished in February of 2024. But while Rosie’s Place existed, not only local residents, but an extraordinary number of others, knew of Rosie and her “house of ill repute.”

Rose was born on February 19, 1900, in Plainfield, New Jersey, to Michael and Maria Sciallo. She eventually married James Pasco and had three children. Rose and the children arrived in Cleveland without her husband in 1929. By that October, she’d married Raymond K. Sherry, a barber. They moved to Fremont in 1930, where newspapers called her Dago Rose, a name the petite, dark-haired woman despised.

She worked in a sugar beet factory for a short time, then began her “side business” with fellow workers. “Rosie” kept a quiet profile wherever she lived, but became well known, visiting in local restaurants with locals, often picking up the tab, and donating to local charities.

In 1930, police conducted a Prohibition raid at her Ascher Beach cottage. Twenty-five or more local men were found there, all with interesting reasons. For instance, some were repairing utilities, and several were passing by when they thought they saw a fire to put out. One gentleman had left a hat and coat during an earlier visit. He left them again as he took off across a field. Police found no liquor. The men were let go, but Rosie and Helen Ryan of Toledo were jailed. Their sentences were later suspended, but they were fined and told to leave the county.

They reopened near Camp Perry soon thereafter with no police interference. Camp Perry soldiers and many locals liked Rosie and spoke of her generosity, but the county and Ohio National Guard wanted her out of business. She was ordered to close many times, but she always reopened.

Rosie moved back to Fremont in 1942. In 1946, her house was raided by federal authorities after a sailor contracted a communicable disease. They arrested the women, including Rosie’s daughter-in-law, Lillian “Ginger” Pasco Tailford Belt, who ran the Round the Clock Grille. Federal charges were brought, involving mandatory medical examinations. The women were warned that if they reopened they'd be jailed, quarantined, and required to pass exams again. This would be repeated until they didn’t reopen. Rosie moved to Buckeye Boulevard and placed a red hose bell across the driveway.

Many tales were told by locals and others over the years. Rosie was described as a “very kind woman who never had a bad word about anyone. She donated to the Catholic Church and to help the poor.” The Luther League’s male high-schoolers sang carols at the house one Christmas. High school boys piled into a car and, on a dare, one of them went to her door. Rosie said she could use his money, but couldn’t use him.

Two of her children were Nicolas and Janet. Rosie’s older son Michael died in 1955 of an enlarged heart. Lillian was his widow. In 1970, Rosie was arrested with Lillian at Rosie’s, and so hired Toledo attorney Gerald Lubitsky to fight federal perjury and bribery charges involving Ottawa County Sheriff James Ellenberger, former Sheriff Myron Hetrick, and a pinball-machine operator, Kenneth “Red” Brewer. Lillian also was charged with tax evasion. Authorities then alleged Rosie had bribed Sheriff Riedmaier with a refrigerator and TV. Charges were dropped against Rosie as no one would testify. Ellenberger resigned, made restitution, and received a suspended sentence. Hetrick was sentenced to five years in prison. Rosie finally gave up.

In 1976, Rose Pasco and her daughter Janet bought Sun Valley Golf and Country Club. Rose died on June 7, 1979, of a heart attack. Her funeral mass was held in Immaculate Conception Church, a recipient of many of her contributions, and she was buried in Riverview Cemetery in Port Clinton. Rose’s death certificate states that her business was golfing.