301 North Shore Lane 'Martini Lane'

Section 16 History 1835-1922

It was claim in a real eastate ad in the early 2000's that the original Culver farmhouse and was moved to 301 North Shore Drive which is within the academy campus property; this was absolutely not the original Culver Farmhouse it still sits at 446 E Shore . By pictures and what I have come up with this cottage/house sat on the Aubeenaubee Bay, on the north side of the lake as pictured   - here possibly as one see what resembles a house in the background

From what research has been done it is believed that this is the Bogardus Homestead

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Plat maps do not lie - or do they?

This is touted as - or said to be the original Henry Harrison Culver Farm house - but how could this be? It definetly was not the original Culver farmhouse.

Why?

When the first original piece of farm land that H. H. Culver purchased was on the East Shore drive in 1883 and it already had the "Founder's Cabin" on it. It included a structure which they remodeled into a summer cottage and called the Farmhouse. In the 1900s, it was redesignated The Founder's Home.

I

and the Culver's built a new home on the property that they called the 'Homestead' retaining the "Founder's Cabin" to the north of the new dwelling.

One must remember that the grounds the Academy occupies today was his second land purchase from Aaron T. Benedict after the Homestead property - and was not his first purchase of land - that the purchase of the Aaron T. Benedict property came soon after the purchase of the Homestead land on the East Shore Drive. Of these properties has been stated:

And the Culver Assembly Bulletin of July 1889 the Culver Farm and residence was described:

In 1883 H. H. Culver bought an old farm and home on the east side, and began to improve it. Then the road ran alongside the lake and the house was on the bluff above the lake shore. He removed it a few feet, and built a handsome cottage at a cost of $8,000, on the site. The road was chaged to its present line back of the cottage, and the lovely bluff site was improved until it has been made one of the prettiest parks and summer seats in Indiana...


Also Mark Roeder in his book states that the "Culver Farmhouse" is located next door to the Culver Homestead - at 480 E. Shore Dr.
He met and Married Emily J. Hand in 1864; and purchased his first property of the area - the John Hissong farm 28 March 1884. He further states that the Culver farm house was also the Hissong farm house and Thompson farm house - the long cabin or "founder's cabin" that is annoateded on some of the lake maps.

He built a home near the "Founders cabin" a Mr. Thompson - this cabin was moved in 1886 just a little was north of the present residence so it could be built and called it "Homestead"..

Further evidence that this is not the "Culver Farme house" is as found:

undated map of the Academy campus and farm grounds layout This campus map refers/labels the "Farmhouse" places it on the east side of East Shore Dr (St. Rd. 117) next to the barn that burned in the 1970's, which sat at just south of the CMA golf course dr. and north of the house labled as "Cattle barn" there is another to the east behind the house labled as "dairy barn" .



table> What would be the "Culver Farm and Farmhouse" the barn burned in the 1970's and the house remained.

The quote from the Thomas Bigley Biographical sketch in speaking of Aaron Benedict is:
He also owned considerable acreage north of the lake along Aubbenaubbee Bay, 83 acres along the lake front and 200 acres thence north. He built a home approximately a half mile from the lake and planted pine trees around it He never lived there, but rented it to his daughter, Augusta, and husband William WARNER and family. Later the house burned but the pine trees stand to this day; the site is historically known as the "Pine Tree House". His land holdings were later acquired by Henry H. Culver for the Culver Military Academy.
and from Corwin's One Townships Yesterday's:
The new-comers to the lakeside settlement are Aaron T. Benedict and his wife Cordelia, with their children. They had moved here from Miami County and settled at the extreme north end of the lake. It was in 1872 that, they located here.

The Benedict homestead was established on a knoll somewhat back from the lake. Pine trees were planted around it. These grew and grew, and in the passing years witnessed the changing fortunes of the family in the house they sheltered. Finally, by marriage and death, the Benedicts were parted and scattered, and there came a day when the homestead was deserted. At length the house itself was gone, and only the pine trees remained on the knoll that overlooked the lake. There they stand to this day, a little grove of them, grown real tall now, landmarks, telling the story of human habitation there once where no dwelling stands any more.

The Benedict homestead beneath these trees was north of the present Road 10 and east of the Hibbard Road. The highways today are not as they originally were. In the 'seventies the old roads ran close to the house. There was a three-point intersection almost in front of the house, where the highway from Marmont, coming diagonally and directly northeast from the lakeside, joined the eastbound Argos Road and the Hibbard Road. The Argos Road was immediately south of the Benedict house, while the Hibbard Road then followed a northwesterly trend till it reached the Shaw school house, then proceeded north a short stretch before turning east, as now.



1872 Plat map showing the Benedict holdings, the black dot indicating the Pine Tree House location



"Aaron T. Benedict, my father, owned two hundred acres at the north end of the lake," says Mrs. Augusta Warner of Culver. "All of this is now the property of Culver Military Academy. The original site of the Academy was on the Benedict tract, bordering the bay. It was acquired by Henry H. Culver from the family."

The the Bogardus property was never a part of the Culver properties until the late 1920's or early 1930's. Robert D. Hartman and Jeffery P. Kenney says of this propery:

Bogardus was a local farmer, whose homestead had no association with the Academy until 1955 when the property was purchased by Patrick Hodgkin of the English department. Bogardus crossing, which is several hundred yards west of Logansport Gate on Academy Road, and was the location at which the Pennsylvania-Vandalia rail line making its way northeast from Culver to Plymouth crossed the road.

Bogardus crossing was sometimes used as a loading and unloading area for Culver cadets bound for home or returning to campus Today, the site of the crossing can be viewed on foot by hiking the trail made from the railroad right-of-way, which extends from Culver's town park across Academy Road and almost to State Road 10.

One must remember that the rest of the 'Morris Lakefront plats' were purchased along with the Lake View Hotel and Jungle Hotel, Palmer Hotel properties by E. R. Culver & Bertram B. Culver and the Culver Reality and Investment Company was established in June 1932 by Bertram Culver and the Edwin R. Culver Estate for this purpose. These properties were purchased up during the late 1920's and early 1930's to prevent the possible future encroachment on the Academy property that the properties of the North shore represented. This was done to stop speculators from buy ing it up and decreasing the outside development by others on the area around the academy. This was when all the properties west of the original Academy ground [acreage of 98 acres] and all the property east of the Culver town park [the "Indian Trails" AKA Lake View Hotel and other private land holdings was bought up. The only thing that could not be acquired at this time period was the Vandalia right-of-way through this area. And also in reality the Dillon properties further to the North were purchased to for the same reson - encroachment protection but by the mid 1960's the Academy had purchased the Dillon properties to the east of St. Rd. 17 and Lakeshore Dr.



So who's land was it? - the early plat maps does provide some clues to that. One clue is that it was originally a part of the property of Isaac N. Morris by the 1880 map below.

In 1880 one can see there are no houses in the area of what is to have become the "Evangeline Bogardus triangle" it seems to all be barren or farm land during these periods in time

The 1898 map above shows what I refer to as the "Bogardus triangle" in Section 16 just North of the Lake View Club property and East of property labeled F. Duddleson the railroard cutting through it forming the "triangle" on the east end of it. The black squares in both the 1880 map above and 1898 map below represent the location of dwelling places or structures.

The 1898 map shows the H. H. Culver owned the last lot that connected to the "original academy campus". This propery had original belonged to Theophilus Conzelman; another St. Louis, Missouri resident of the time. The original cottage there was called the "The Roost" and was east of the Palmer House.

It is found that by Oct 10, 1910 E. R. Culver's name was attached to the property in 1910 and that the an article headline proclaimed:

The Roost Sold - Landlord Walter of the Palmer House has bought the Roost, E. R. Culver's cottage, and will move it onto his own premises where it will be used to provided additional accomodations for his hotel business.

Mr. Culver will this fall erect a new cottage on the site of the Roost

Note this was to the east of the Palmer house and the "Roost" originaly belonged to Theophilus Conzelman and this area from the "Indian trails" on the west to the "original academy campus" I dubed the "Forgotten cottages " as all but the Palmer House and the E. R. Culver cottage (AKA the "Roost") was either moved or razed by 1961.

Found in the "One Township Yesterday's" - Corwin of Alfred Newell Bogradus On 22 August 1878 he was married in Argos to Evangeline Caillet. At the first, with his bride, he made his home at Maxinkuckee moving from there to Argos in 1893, where they resided until 1899, when they came to Culver and built a residence overlooking the lake."

In connection with the property of 301 North Lane facts found and statements made about it are:

• It is stated at the time of the purchase the farm land belonged to Bogardus
• Bogardus family built the house during the mid 19^th century
• Bogardus family operated the farm that bordered the north shore of Aubbenaubbee Bay on Lake Maxinkuckee.
• the Bogardus family did not sell their house to Henry Harrison Culver but only the farm
• In 1884 Henry Harrison Culver purchased the Aaron T. Benedict farm land and opened the Culver Military Academy nine years later
• The original "Pine Tree House" homestead Aaron T. Benedict built and daughter Augusta Benedict Warner lived in burnt down.
• the house has been associated continuously with the Culver Academies since before the first students enrolled in 1893
• memory serves that a real estate ad also proclaimed it to be the orginial farm house and moved to this location

Culver had already purchased the Hissong farm with only what is called the "founders cabin" on it and plans had been made to build his own house, which still stands on a bluff along East Shore Drive.

• The 'Founders cabin' would be considered the ORIGINIAL farmhouse of this property facts:
• this cabin was moved in 1886 just a little was north of the present residence so it could be built and the property in whole was called the 'Homestead'
• No full accurate date of purchase has been stated for purchase of this so called farm house, except 1884 - which the purchase date of the Benedict farm [which in 1894 became the Acadmey grounds] and not the Bogardus farm
• BY the 1898 map it does appear that Henry H. Culver did have a second home or another cottage just west of the Academy Grounds or even possible on the Academy grounds depending where the dividing line was between the Culver and Morris properties was H. H. Culver's Land holdings 1898

and by a statement McDonald made in the 1905 Early Lake History:

In 1850, Isaac N. Morris, father of Capt. Ed Morris, moved to the lake, locating on the north shore, on the farm now owned by A. N. Bogardus, His land 0ran down to the lake,taking in all the lake front from the Lake View Hotel grounds to and including the Palmer house.

Thus this would defintely make the connection between the Bogardus and Morris property as being one - and never owned by Henry H. Culver and family till much later.

By the 1908 map - it still seems that L. C. Dillon's name was attached to the triangle (green dot) that eventually was in Eveline Bogardus' name in 1922. The Bogardus name appears nowhere as of 1908 as of yet only I. N. Morris' son Ed Morris had Lot #3 and a plat was added under the name of "E. M. Morris Plat; the Morris Lakefront still bore its name; C. Bekman had 21.49 acres which in 1898 was in E. Morris' name. Whether the Bogardus property was still in the Morris name or in the Dillon name in 1908 can not be determined by the map below

This property is farther east (the red dots) of the J. W. Palmer property listed (which is about in the middle of the Morris Lakefront)- which is the Palmer House location - and the above statement said that the Bogardus family owned up and including the Palmer House - but as evidenced by the 1908 plat map this is totally untrue - unless the 1908 plat map as presented is in error no where do I see the Bogardus name attached to any property in 1908!

The 1922 plat map definitely shows a house on the lots [red dot] but no name attached to it again but again one must assume H. H. Culver heirs still owned the lots; the house is sitting on the property lines by the small square as it is highly unlikely that his heirs gave up any land that he acquired since 1883/4 on Aubbenaubbee Bay but in reality was trying to purchase more to the west of the Academy grounds to prevent future encroachment from the west towards the original Academy acreage. The Morris Lakefront still exists which is highlighted in yellow and to the back of it is the plat listed as the E. Morris Plat on the right in 1908 with an additional plat of E. M. Morris to the left; and the original Academy grounds and shows it butts up to the ground that was platted as subdivisions [Morris Lakefront] of Culver

By the 1922 plat map (above) the bogardus names is now attached to the property - as Evangeline Bogardus name appears on the 1922 plat map as owning a unstated amount of acreage between the town corporation limits and L. C. Dillon's 238.28 acres the Bogardus property formed a triangle, and later this property is labeled as the 'Bogardus subdivision'.

A later plat map has been found - probably dates just around 1929 as St. Rd. 10 is still not been moved and in existence by this map As we know in 1929 - Came the biggest change to the Academy campus with the removal of the east-west road, and opening of St. Rd. 10. Several years prior officials had petitioned the state highway department to move it the north. Exact date is not known - but some major land owner changes had been made. This is a section croped out of it showing the 'Bogardus Triangle' (orange dot). Of this Bogardus family facts found are here

The area that would become known as the Bogardus triangle - was owned by I. N. NOrris and pictured bfore the railroad came through and divided the section creating the "triangle"

In the 1922 map below the triangle is desiganted as Evageline Bogardus thus Alfred N. Bogardus pruchased this triangle portion of land sometime after 1908 from Lewis Cass Dillon possibly or was it still in the Morris name - this can not be determined by this map

1922 - Plat map shows the lots and owners This would be either the S. J. Fleet or F. L. Hunt properties or could even be the Robt. Rossow property on the map

The 1924 & 1937 Sanbron Fire maps shows the "forgotten cottages " on the lake front - of these we so far know that the "Roost had been one and had already been moved in 1910. On Feb 15 1933 and attice proclaimed "Club House Being Moved To Lake Edge" and it was noted that

In order to make room for the new Annex the two frame cottages next to the Inn are being torn down and the area will be cleared away by the end of this week and a basement built

Where they actual razed or were they moved?

The 1924 Sanborn Fire Map

and the 1937 Sanborn Fire Map shows two remaining cottages - the one we know was to be moved - and was going to south of town

This is the 1996 plat map it still shows the morris subdivision and it takes in part of the triangle area the was the Bogardus land and the triangle is labeled as "Sub North SUB"

And here is a current map of the general area of the "Bogardus Farm" or "Bogardus Subdivision" which is in relation to the western edge of the academy Campus.

By the above plat maps the evidence is that - :

• the house at 301 North Shore Drive was NOT the Culver farm house
• that it was the orginial farmhouse of the Isaac N. Morris family
• that Bogardus did not purchase property in the 1880's or 1890's as has been implied - that they first purchased the property some time between the last dated plat map of 1889 and the plat map of 1908 [not listed as Bogardus as yet] or 1922 [listed as Bogardus]
• Henry H. Culver never purchased any of the property to the west which was the Morris farm as he died on died Sunday, September 26, 1897.
• The Bogardus property never did belong to Henry H. Culver or his family
• It possibly was purchased in the late 1920's or early not 1930's by the Culver heirs or on behalf of the Academy to prevent encroachment upon the Academy campus property
• It is doubtful since it is the orginial Morris farmhouse that it was re-located - but it possibly also could have been
• The real association with the academy did not come about until 1958 when Irene Bogardus sold the house to Pat Hodgkin long-time chairman of the Academies; English Department but said to have a change of heart and a battle ensued over the property

- if they are indeed an accurate accounting of the property in this area for this time period.

And the greatest clue is found in the 'One Township Yesterday's' - Corwin - which sheds more light onto the Bogardus property and ownership of it:

Among these good rememberers is Miss Florence Morris, who of late years has been a resident of Plymouth. Miss Morris is the youngest daughter of Isaac N. Morris and Emily Thompson Morris, and is the only member of the family living.

Ancient Maple Trees Believing that people of the present day wo uld be interested in the history of trees, Miss Morris tells us about some ancient maples, now landmarks near the shore of Lake Maxinkuckee. "My father, Isaac N. Morris," writes Miss Morris, "bought the farm on the north end of Lake Maxinkuckee in about the year 1850. The 160 acres of the farm on the north side of the road are now owned by the Dillon heirs; a few acres and the old farm house are owned by Mrs. A. N. Bogardus, and the rest by the Culver s and a few lot owners on Indiana Avenue. And the part of the farm on the south side of the road extended from the road to the lake and from the railroad east to the Academy, and is now owned by the Culver s.

"What I want to give, especially, is a history of the large maple trees on the north side of the road or street from the house owned by Mrs. Bogardus to the top of the grade, or, to be exact, to Colonel Rossow's lot. Likewise, I would mention the maple trees on the south side of the street, opposite Mrs. Bogardus' house, and extending east along the street to the Academy.

"These large maple trees I have mentioned were set out by my father and two brothers, Milton and Edmund Morris, before the Civil War - - probably about 1858 or 1859.

"I thought these trees were old enough to deserve mention. "Nearly every one calls that street Faculty Row, but the re­corded name of the street on the Plat is Indiana Avenue.

"The maple trees on Morris Street from Indiana Avenue south to the Maxinkuckee Inn were set out by my brother, Edmund Morris, in the year 1884.

"I deeded away the last bit of the Morris farm to the Culver s in 1932 and moved to Plymouth."

thus by this statement from Isaac N. Morris' daughter Florence - we find the that the 'Bogardus Triangle' was a part of the Morris farm - that the farmhouse was the orginal farmhouse of the Isaac N. Morris family and not the Culver family as has been touted for many a year. Not given is the date that Bogardus purchased it and as to whether it was purchased directly from the Morris heirs or from the Dillon hiers - that still remains to be determined.

Irene Bogardus joined the State Exchange Bank staff as bookkeeper-auditor. Miss Bogardus is remembered for her family home which is now the Bruce Holaday residence. The house she built for herself was later bought by "Bud" Roberts, an instructor at the Culver Military Academy, and is now owned by Chan and Dorrie Mitzell. The rest of the Bogardus farm became the North Shore Lane.

It is said that Miss Bogardus never married and that she was a strong willed person and that she had lived in the house until 1959; even tho she had sold the house a year earlier and built a more modern house across the street at 1010 Academy Road. It is said that Miss Bogardus had a change her mind about the house and refused to vacate the house. It required getting a court order from the Marshall County Court in order to get her to vacate the house and give up possession of it.

1955-1984 - "old Bogardus house (west of the lane)" - Patrick "Pat" Hodgkins

The purported story/history of the house found on online was:
A strong-willed woman, who never married, the Bogardus’s daughter lived in the house until 1959. A year earlier, she had sold the house to long-time chairman of the Academies’ English Department, Pat Hodgkin, and built the modern house across the street at 1010 Academy Road. Unfortunately, Miss Bogardus had a change of heart and refused to vacate the house until she was ordered to do so by the Marshall County Court. She died two years ater.

The Hodgkins lived in the house until the late 1970s. It was during the period that the Hodgkins lived in the house that North Shore Lane acquired the more colorful name by which many still know it today – “Martini Lane.”

In addition to the Hodgkins, North Shore Lane was home to other prominent young members of the Academies’ staff and the Culver community. Between building their careers and raising families, the nucleus of North Shore Lane residents also maintained active social lives, and before long, North Shore became known as “Martini Lane.” The name became so well established that the Post Office even delivered mail addressed “Martini Lane” to residents.


A Hodgkin son - Jon writes of his knowledge of the house on 6 Sep 2016 is:
So you know at the outset, I am Jonathan Hodgkin, Patrick Hodgkin’s son. I lived in the old Irene Bogardus house while I was growing up in the 1950s and 1969s. The article is correct that my father bought the house in 1955. We moved in in 1956, just after my youngest brother Thomas, was born.

As I understand it, the larger property that included the house was purchased by a group of Culver staff and divided up at the time of the sale. Other participants included the Bryant Family, the Strait family, the Mars family and the Bebout family.

There were several vacant lots as well. Quite soon after we moved there, a house was built next to the Bryant’s. I can’t recall who built it just now, but the Adams family became the owners several years later. I clearly remember their children as part of the neighborhood in the late 1950s.

The lot at the end of the street remained vacant during all the time I was growing up.

I also believe that initially, Irene was going to move elsewhere, but during negotiations for the sale, she decided that she wanted to retain the lot across the lane from the house we lived in. This I believe is the “change of heart” that is mentioned toward the end of the entry. My father never spoke of this until much later, but it was clear when he did tell me, that it still rankled some. My sense was that this caused problems among those who were participants in the larger sale of the house and land to the east of the rail line.

Near the end of the article it states that the house was purchased from Ms. Bogardus by the chairman of the English Department. My father was never Chairman of the English Department and the date listed suggests purchase in 1958. Please note that we bought the old Bogardus house (west of the lane) in 1955.

I believe that Bud Roberts bought the new Bogardus house from Ms. Bogardus. This house, to the east of the lane, belonged to the Mitzell’s for many years.

Also, my parents moved from the house in 1984, not in the 70s as reported.

Although, I do know that the Holadays did purchase the house from my parents.

And for the record, I never heard it referred to as Martini Lane, but I also did not spend much time there after I graduated in 1965.


c1984 - 2005, Oct - Bruce L and Diane H. Holaday
The purported story/history of the house found on online continues as:
The house passed from one Academy English instructor to another in the late 1970s when Bruce and Diana Holaday purchased it from Pat Hodgkin. The Holadays made many improvements to the house during their 28 years here, and Bruce hand built the beautiful boat that hangs from the second floor balcony above the family room....


2005, Oct - It again was sold to Don and Tracy Fox. The purported story/history of the house found on online continues as:
The house’s association with the Academies continued when it was purchased from the Holadays by Don and Tracy Fox in 2005. Don is a 1975 graduate of CMA, and he, his wife, Tracy, and their children, Wesley, and Jody, who is enrolled in the CGA class of 2010, all return each August for Specialty Camps.


Just how North Shore Lane acquired the name of Martini Lane" is a mystert yet to be solved by what Jon Hodgkins wrote - since he has not memories of theat name being attached to it

But it is said that many still know the area by that name.

It is indeed listed today as being in the Bogardus Subdivision: BOGARDUS SUB LOT 5 LOT 5
BOGARDUS SUB.


2006 map.



This is difinitely within in the property listed as a triangle and in the name of Evangeline Bogardus in 1922. Thus with the evidence presented above it was the Bogardgus farm house and not the Culver Farm house.



The above 2005 map locates the house surrounded by the yellow; the Bogardus triangle of 1922 in green. The Palmer House located in the middle of "the Morris Lakefront" in pink, along with the house in H. H. Culver 's name still in 1898 even tho he had died on 26 Sep 1897, is represented by the blue dot





here is a 1920s - 1930's aerial view of the Bogardus triangle - which was the Bogardus farmstead. This is an aerial view of the north lake front soon after all the acquistions of the north shore took place it would seem



It seems that all the cottages /homes on the lake front has disaapeared for except for the one in front of the Jungle Hotel area (it looks as if the hotel does not exist either), the "club House' and the Palmer house seem to be the remaining structures only here are

But pretty much the plat maps presented above tell the history of the North Shore campus of the Culver Military Academy and the quotes from printed histories give a reasonable account of the Bogardus property and that it was originally owned by Isaac N. Morris and possibly for a brief time by Lewis Cass Dillon - thus never ever being owned by the Culver family unless they purchased it from the Bogardus' during the late 1920's and early 1930's.

What is needed is the detailed plat's of the area over the years and the changes to the area; an abstract if it even does exist any longer. A look at recorded deeds and plats of the general area. And follow the purchases of the Culver Reality and Investment Company. This will mean many long hours in the Recorder's office at Plymouth digging through all the old land records.

For now it would be safe in saying that:
• The the 301 North Shore Drive was a part of the original Isaac Morris property
• A portion of the property Isaac N Morris was sold to A. N. Bogardus
• Alfred Newell Bogardus came from Maxinkuckee to Culver in 1899 and built a residence overlooking the lake
• H. H. Culver did purchase the Arron T. Benedict Farm which makes up the north shore campus of Culver Military Academy in as early as 1884 and has also been given as 1885
• H. H. Culver had a house/cottage built on the edge of the Culver Military Academy Campus
• This house/cottage was probably built during the Culver Park Assembly years or just after the Culver Military Academy was established in 1894 - one can see a house in the background along the shoreline in this postard
• The exact date yet is to be established
• It is not on the 1880 plat map, but it on the 1898 plat map
• It was indeed moved to the 301 North Shore drive location because of expansion of the Culver Military Academy Campus
• Exact date of its re-location is unknown.




2013

2015

I have been told that the "farm House" has been torn down after attempts to try and restore it - that it being in a very weaken and unstable condition to do so. It is said that the front of the house will be a replica of the "farm house"



This was found dated: September 18, 2014; - Saturday 10 am-3pm: Furniture and a lot more sale at 301 North Shore Lane (right across from entrance to Eppley Auditorium at the corner of North Shore and Academy Road).