Many Historic Family Homes Now Fill Other Uses

What has become of Connersville’s historic homes of the last century, and those pretentious homes built in the early part of this century?

Some of them continue to be used as residences. Some have been converted into apart­ments, some have been con­verted into offices and unfor­tunately some have fallen vic­tim to the bulldozers.

Several of our well-known business firms, professional people, lodges, churches and others now occupy some of our former family homes which are known for their elegance and historic significance.

In addition to the history con­nected with these former residences, the men and women who built them and the other people who have lived there, contributed much to our local history.

In addition to the former John T. Wilkin home at 905 Grand shown in the accompa­nying photograph, where ate some of the other historic former homes which no longer family residences?

The members and the con­gregation of the Western Avenue Baptist Church, 2800 Western Avenue, constructed a very modern and attractive church building a few years ago. The church celebrated its thirtieth anniversary as a con­gregation, last January 11. The church also owns the historic brick structure on the lot which adjoins the new sanctuary on the north. An ad­dition has been built on the front of the original building. This historic brick structure, originally a farm house, was built during the Civil War by Judge Wilson. In 1875, the site was part of a 160 acre farm owned by C.B. Huber.

In more recent years, it was the home of Christian Eby and his wife Grace. They remodel­ed the historic residence ex­tensively and Mrs. Eby adorn­ed the spacious rooms with in­teresting antiques. In years past, Thy was a familiar name in Connersville and Fayette County. The current telephone directory contains the name of only one subscriber by that name — Lewis D. Eby. He was a nephew of Christian Eby and his widow, Ethel, resides on R.R. 2 a short distance from the former Eby Homestead on Western Avenue.

Before the Ebys lived there, the large brick home was oc­cupied by Mr. and Mrs. Clif­ford Wright and family. They came to Connersville in 1911. He was a railroader and Mrs. Wright was well known for her delicious chicken dinners. A son, Leland Wright, now 80, known to his friends as Lee, resides at 914 East Fifth Street. Lee and his wife Hazel and their daughter Wilma have lived in their present home since 1962. When Lee was a small boy and while his parents were living in the large brick - home at 2800 Western Avenue, he attended the Thirtieth Street School and finished there in 1915. Clair Curry was his last teacher. Curry later became a well known businessman. The Thirtieth Street School which was built in 1910 was removed in 1972. The site is now oc­cupied by the Bonded Oil Com­pany Service Station.

Another well known residence, part of which has been converted to non­residential use, is located at 1105 Central Avenue. It is now owned by Robert and Mildred Nolte. The front part has been occupied by the Nolte Studio for 25 years, since 1957.

For many years, it was the home of Samuel 0. McKennan and his wife Flora. He was well known in the savings and loan business for nearly 50 years.

These institutions date back to the last century. The Ger­man Building and Loan Association was formed in April, 1892. In 1918, the name was changed to The Con­nersville Building and Loan Association.

The Home Building and Loan Association was organiz­ed in December, 1902, and Mr. McKennan was elected secretary in January 1904 and continued to hold that office until 1937. At that time, the two associations, the Con­nersville and The Home, united to form the present Union Savings and Loan Association.

The Union moved into its present modern quarters on the southeast corner of Eighth and Central in 1955, two years after Mr. McKennan’s death.

After his retirement in 1937, Mr. McKennan continued as a director of the Union--VS. 16 years until his death in 1933. He and his wife Flora were liv­ing in the present Nolte pro­perty at 1105 Central while much of the financial history of Connersville was being written.

Connersville’s three funeral homes are housed in former residences. All three have ad­ded modern chapels to the original building.

The Thompson-Brown- Urban Funeral Home, 513 West Eighth Street, occupies the former home of Charlie E. Thompson, who purchased the firm in 1902. However, the business dates back to 1885 and the previous owners were Lyman Cooley, Andrew Frazee and W.E. Wallace. In its early years, the Thompson Undertaking Parlor was located on Central Avenue. It moved to its present location in 1947. Harry L. Brown joined the firm in 1915. Mr. Thomp­son died in 1955 and the owner­ship passed to Mr. Brown. For the past several years, the business has been owned by Leonard E. Urban.

Miller Funeral Home has been located at 1704 Grand Avenue since October 12, 1949. Frank H. Miller established the firm in January, 1938, at 1822 Virginia Avenue. His grandfather John Miller brought his family from St. Louis by steamboat down the Mississippi and up the Ohio and thence by canal boat to the tiny village of Con­nersville. John H. Miller, son of Frank H. Miller, joined the firm immediately following his graduation from the In­diana College of Mortuary Science in June, 1949. He has owned the business since his father’s death.

In 1906, the Miller property was the residence of Joseph I. Little. A few years later, by 1917 it was the home of Lewis N. Ashworth, a well-known Connersville druggist for many years. He and his wife Lulu were parents of three children Ruth who married Herbert Roberts, a son Neff who was a prominent. Con­nersville physician and a daughter Elizabeth who died as a young woman.

The Myers Chapel, 920 Cen­tral Avenue, has been a funeral home since 1932 when Charles Myers who had been in the funeral business since 1900, purchased the Victorian dwelling from Andrew Frazee. Mr. Myers died in 1942. For the next several years, the business was con­ducted by Mrs. Myers and her daughter and son-in-law, Dorothy and Otto Pippin. Pre­sent owners are John L. Showalter and Joel D. Long.

Mr. Myers and Mr. Frazee had colorful careers. Before moving to 920 Central, Myers Funeral Home was located at 406 Central Avenue. When Myers established his business in 1900, he had one horse-drawn vehicle. He rented additional horse drawn equipment from local livery stables.

In May, 1895, Mr. Frazee opened the first telephone ex­change here with 106 subscribers. He continued to operate the telephone business until 1927 when he sold it. When Mr. Frazee moved to 920 Central he installed the telephone exchange on the se­cond floor of the residence.

He then purchased and operated a hotel in Melbourne, Florida, where he had been spending the previous few winters. He also maintained a summer home in Rushville where he died in February, 1949.

Mr. Frazee and his wife Beulah and family lived at 920 Central for many years. He was born in Rush County June

27, 1864. His first business venture in Connersville was operating a livery stable on Central Avenue. In 1888. he entered into a contract with the city to provide a horse and driver for the hose cart for the fire department at a cost of $15 per month. The employees of his livery stable were the city firemen. The Frazee Elemen­tary School, 600 West Third Street. is located on land which he once owned and it is named in his memory.

Providing information for this article were Mrs. Lewis U. Eby, Mrs. Carl R. Houghton and Louis J Heeb. In addition to the six former residences mentioned in this article, there are dozens more in Connersville around which much of the history of Connersville has been written.

The above photo was taken 75 years ago, in 1906, and shows the historic residence at 905 Grand Avenue. At that time, it was occupied by the John T. Wilkin family. It was considered one of Connersville’s pretentious family homes at the turn of the century. Following the death of Mr. Wilkin and his wife Hortense, the property was sold to St. Gabriel Church in the early 1930s, nearly fifty years ago. Sale price was said to have been $22,000. Since that time, the historic structure has been included in the St. Gabriel complex. It is now occupied by the Sisters of Saint Frances and the Religious Education Office. Mr. Wilkin was fond of horseback riding. The stables for his riding horses are shown at left. He rode in the morning before going to work and could be seen in various parts of two riding his well-groomed horses. Occupying the site not of the former stables is one of the two parochial school buildings.

Mr. Wilkin was an 1886 graduate engineer of Rose Polytechnic Institute, now Rose-Hulman Institute at Terre Haute. Following his graduation, he was an engineer at the Roots Blower Company which had been manufacturing blowers since 1854. In 1893, Wilkin developed an idea for an improvement on the basic principle of the blower and obtained a patent covering it. He left the Roots firm and after obtaining financial backing, established the Connersville Blower Company at 900 West Mount Street. He served as president of the new firm for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkin were parents of four children — two sons and two daughters. For many years, Joseph, a DePauw graduate, was principal owner of United Vacuum Appliance Corp. and an officer of the Fayette Bank & Trust Co. The other son, Paul, because of his intimate knowledge of blowers, boosters, pumps, gas meters, etc., which were manufactured here, was employed for many years by the Brooklyn Gas Company where many of these Connersville machines were installed. One daughter Lucille was a graduate of Western College, now af­filiate of Miami University. She became a concert pianist. The other daughter Elizabeth mar­ried Howard Blair, a university athletic coach.

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