I Remember... This Old House

It’s still the lake water...
by John William Houghton
published in the Culver Citizen Feb 19, 2009

Someone asked me a while back if I could write one of these columns without mentioning any of my kin. And in fact I had planned to write this month’s piece about something I saw in Edwin R. Corwin’s “One Township’s Yesterdays” that seemed pretty much family-neutral.

But then my cousins Tom and Katy came to visit here in Pottstown, and Tom mentioned in passing that Edwin Corwin was some sort of a relative: some days, you just can’t win.

Toward the end of his book, Corwin takes up the question of old houses in Culver as of the time of his writing, 1934. Among Corwin’s candidates, in his original terms (slightly edited), are: “the third house north of the cemetery; the second house north of the Methodist parsonage; the Gandy homestead at the corner of Main Street and Lake Shore Drive ; the Old Bradley house, above Wickizer’s, on Lake Shore Drive; the old Grandpa McGuire house, second west from the Evangelical Church [now Emmanuel United Methodist]; the frame house eastward from Young’s store in Culver, on the south side of the lane or street that leads toward the lake; the old parsonage on the west side of Plymouth Street, halfway between Jefferson and Washington; and the old Durr house, east of the police station, on the east side of Lake Street, between Lake Shore Drive and Washington Street in the Knapp Addition.”'

Some parts—maybe even most—of this can, I imagine, be made clear with enough attention to old maps like the ones Judi Burns has helpfully posted on her web-site. The Methodist parsonage was on the northwest corner of Main and Washington, so a house two doors north would be somewhere between Washington and Cass. The Gandy house was at 103 Lake Shore Drive, more recently site of the D-X gas station, the Max Surf Shop, and Through the Grape Vine.

The Grandpa McGuire house sounds like the one on the south-east corner of Mill and Ohio, where Ohio now makes a jog (it used at end at Mill). On the other hand, some bits seem deliberately unclear at this distance in time, though they must have been perfectly straightforward seventyfive years ago. There were, two of which were arguably “east of the police station”. It turns out that these eight candidates, however (and a barn, which I’m not even going to get into here), are really only appetizers.

After describing all of them, Corwin turns to another source, John F. Cromley. “Neighbor” Cromley, as he was known, had been born to Joel and Amelia Cromley in Sandusky County, Ohio, in December, 1845; his family moved to the Maxinkuckee area in the early 1850s, liviing first in the far southwest corner of the county (the area of Cromley Cemetery), and then moving into Marmont in 1869. Neighbor Cromley ived almost to the age of 96, dying in March of 1941, the last Civil War veteran in Marshall County.

Mr. Cromley, then, when interviewed in 1934, could remember which buildings in Culver had been standing when his family first came to the newly-renamed Marmont. His report to orwin was that the house on the knoll under the pine trees near the depot was the oldest one in town: “It was the first house I saw when I came down here. It was wild here then. That house is the only one left of those that were here in those days.”

Corwin backs up this statement with references to Ezra Hawkins (1853-1938: coincidentally, he lived next door to the McGuire House), and L. Caples Wiseman (1860-1937), who ived in the house when his arents, Lorenzo and Agnes Wiseman, first moved to Culver in 1869.

Tim Wolfe, born about 1868 (and sometime proprier of Culver’s billiard parlor) said of riding past it when he was ten: “It looked then just about the way it does today. It was old then, and it was built like an old-time barn, with a heavy hewn frame.” Given its proximity to the depot, the house became a home for the Vandalia / Pennsylvania station agents, and an addition was built on to the back of it. This all sounds fairly persuasive. The only problem with it, of course, is that there is not, in fact, a house under two pine trees next to the depot—though there is a slight bulge that might count as a knoll.

It turns out that W. T. Parish, Culver’s station agent from 1917, had the house moved to Lake Street in the 1920s and added a canopy over the front entrance. Typically, though, Corwin doesn’t give a street number, but simply mentions that the Arthur Simpson family lived in the house for a while.

The Editor and I tried some casual research on this question one morning last August over our sausage gravy and biscuits at a well-known local eatery: but even though some of the folks at neighboring tables actually lived on Lake Street, no-one seemed to know what might be the oldest house in the neighborhood. Once again, I turned to Judi Burns, who made a quick check of the 1930 census and reported back that in that year Arthur and Ruth Simpson lived at 452 Lake Street. I commissioned the Editor to check the east side of Lake Street for our old house. Sadly, he found no house numbered 452. More than likely, the house has been torn down in the seventy years since Corwin wrote; possibly, the house is still there, but has been renumbered.

There are presently houses on some of the properties Corwin mentioned: on north Main Street and at the corner of Mill and Ohio, to name two. Whether any of them actually goes back to Corwin’s day and is thus the current oldest house in town will, I’m afraid, require further research.

-30-

Copied to here annotating it with photos and links ect Someone asked me a while back if I could write one of these columns without mentioning any of my kin. And in fact I had planned to write this month’s piece about something I saw in Edwin R. Corwin’s One Townships Yesterdays that seemed pretty much family-neutral.

But then my cousins Tom and Katy came to visit here in Pottstown, and Tom mentioned in passing that Edwin Corwin was some sort of a relative: some days, you just can’t win.

Toward the end of his book, Corwin takes up the question of old houses in Culver as of the time of his writing, 1934. Among Corwin’s candidates, in his original terms (slightly edited), are: “the third house north of the cemetery; the second house north of the Methodist parsonage; the Gandy homestead at the corner of Main Street and Lake Shore Drive; the Old Bradley house, above Wickizer’s, on Lake Shore Drive;

820 Lakeshore Dr. - David Bradley 1 Oct 1903 is found in the Culver Citizen: Daniel Bradley is having the old house standing on his property at Bunker Hill tore down in preparatory to building a 7 room residence this fall. and on 8 Oct 1903 is found: Al Keen has the contract to build Daniel A. Bradley's new house and began work on it lasr Wednesday. and on 21 Jan 1904 D. A. Bradley's new residence will soon be completed and when finished will be one of the finished residences of Culver. A. A. Keen is the builder

the old Grandpa McGuire house, second west from the Evangelical Church [now Emmanuel United Methodist];

119 W. Mill St. corner of Mill and Ohio on the southeast corner

the frame house eastward from Young’s store in Culver, on the south side of the lane or street that leads toward the lake;

On the corner of Main and Hawkins Court - address 427 S. Main - 1922 - Mar 8 - this is the small store - NOTE it states "New building" built by John E. Young, retired Evangelical minister, minister of the EUB church from 1913-1915 sent to Ohio till 1917 returning to Culver. He built the house at 425 S. Main both store & house are on the same lot 1923 - Nov. 14 - J. E. Young on South Main Street is about completed and will probably be ready for occupancy within the next two week. It is of the bungalow type and is quit an addition to the south end community (Address is now 425 S. Main

The "Lane" is the present alley (marked in red) in front of at the little house and leads to S. Plymouth St. and then jogs onto what is or was the southern portion of Hawkins Court. The 1922 map indicates no house on the lots

Hawkins Addition plat of 20 lots was accepeted by the town board around May 21, 1908 details and research so far on this area is here.

Per the statement "on the south side of the lane or street that leads toward the lake" by looking at the Sanborn map there are no houses on the South side of the Lane/alley between Main and S. Plymouth - there are are 3 houses on S. Hawkins Court The houses were there in 1925 when the United States Post Office assignes House numbers to exisiting structures of Culver as follows:

203 S. Hawkins - State Exchange Finance Co.

209 S. Hawkins - Wm. and Ellen Overman.

215 S. Hawkins - Chas A. and Elsie L. Byrd

In 1952 Charles A. Byrd, a member of the Afro-American families of culver by telephone directory; his wife Elsie Byrd was living there in 1964/5 and probably till the day she died.

This if description given would be the house today

The old parsonage on the west side of Plymouth Street, halfway between Jefferson and Washington; and the old Durr house, east of the police station, on the east side of Lake Street between Lake Shore Drive and Washington Street in the Knapp Addition.”'

Some parts—maybe even most—of this can, I imagine, be made clear with enough attention to old maps like the ones Judi Burns has helpfully posted on her web-site. <

The Methodist parsonage was on the northwest corner of Main and Washington, so a house two doors north would be somewhere between Washington and Cass.

One of the oldest residence buildings in Culver located just south of Washington on Plymouth Street is this old house which was recently purchased by Mr. and Mrs. William R. Easterday who plan to start razing it soon.
It was formerly the Methodist parsonage and was probably constructed about 1846 on the site of the present parsonage. The house was later moved to the southwest corner of Washington and Plymouth streets. where it stood for several years before being moved to the present location.

the location of and the general area

The Gandy house was at 103 Lake Shore Drive, more recently site of the D-X gas station, the Max Surf Shop, and Through the Grape Vine.

family History

Rea

abt. 12 Jul. 1933 sold to Gafill Oil Company to build Gas Station in 1934 on it ; The house was moved to Lot 55 that was owned by Sarah E. Freeland (and Charles) to Augusta Swigart, which is now 411 N. Lake Street.

1906

1924

Tuck Swigart

page from abstract of 419 S. Main definitel lists the property at the corner of Mill and Ohio as James McGuire property

419 S. Main Ezra Hawkins Burns property from October 1940-?

The numbers assigned to houses by the Post office in 1925 lists "Lake, E Side, 0452 - Parish, W T & G E - Lot 10" but today's address is 444 Lake

Lake Maxinkuckee Its Intrigue History & Genealogy Culver, Marshall, Indiana

I Remember... This Old House