In the pioneer days, fabrics were made in the home using tanned calf-skins and cowhides. A traveling shoemaker would then take the side of leather and turn it into pairs of shoes or other items for the family. This all changed when local businesses were established to meet the demand for tanning.

Tanning was perhaps Sidney, Ohio's first industry concentrating on the production of material primarily for resale. James Starrett, (possibly related to Sidney founder, Charles Starrett), received land via a federal land patent on North Ohio Avenue from President James Madison in 1812. Mr. Starrett constructed a building there and transferred the property to John Whitmire in 1830. According to information found at the tannery, the building was torn down soon after the construction of the canal and a much larger building erected on this site. Mr. Whitmire began operating a tannery where horse and cattle hides were cured then made into saddles, harnesses, and other practical items for the settlers.

The enterprise was owned by a series of businessmen: Jason Tyler, Otho Evans, Robert Given (later in partnership with S. A. Leckey), then Givens' sons, and finally the Henry Roth family beginning in 1918. Enlarged many times over the years, the 'Tannery' was a landmark in town for over 150 years. It was also one of the first concerns to establish a market for its products outside Shelby County. By the 1880s, the company's leather goods were sold throughout the western United States and as far away as Europe. The firm tanned up to 6,000 hides a year. The tannery business continued at the same location until about 1979 when the Roth family closed it. The buildings were torn down by the city in 1996.