Herman Hulman House

Description:	The Herman Hulman Residence on Ohio Street, Between Sixth and Seventh Streets. Drawn by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect. The Herman Hulman Residence on Ohio Street, Between Sixth and Seventh Streets. The Telephone Building Now Stands There. Drawn by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect.The Herman Hulman house was located on the south side of Ohio street between Sixth and Seventh streets about where the telephone companys building is located now. This house is said to have been built by John P. Usher, and must have been constructed before 1854 as it appears as the Usher house on the map of that date. Anson C. Potwin had bought the property in 1845 and sold it to Mr. Usher in 1849, so if the house was built by Usher, it would probably have been in 1850 or shortly after. Mr. Usher was born in 1816 in New York State. He did not have many advantages as a young man, but by dint of his own efforts he acquired a law education and was admitted to the bar Not long after, he came west where he became a prominent lawyer and held distinguished political offices- among them, attorney-general of state, first assistant secretary of state at Washington, and in 1863, secretary of the interior to succeed Caleb B. Smith in Lincolns cabinet. In 1869 he sold his house to Herman Hulman. I do not find his name in the directories after this and presume that he moved away from the city at this time. He died in Lawrence, Kan., in 1889. Mr. Herman Hulman was a native of Lingen, Hanover, being born in 1831.His older brother, F. T. Hulman, had preceded his here and persuaded Herman to come also. He went into his brothers grocery business with him and after his brother and family were drowned in a storm at sea in 1858, he undertook to carry on the business, and his success is demonstrated in the fact that this early business was the foundation of the present large wholesale house of Hulman & Company. He engaged in other enterprises in later years but this was always his principal interest. Mr. Hulman was always public spirited and generous. Probably his generous support of St. Anthonys hospital is one of his best-known benefactions. Mr. Hulman was married in 1862. In 1884 he purchased Strawberry Hill (mentioned earlier in this series as the home of Judge Gookins) and in 1869 he bought the Usher house and occupied it until his death in 1913.During the last war the house was the headquarters for the Red Cross and from about 1918 to 1920 the Business and Professional Womens Club of Terre Haute used the house as a clubhouse, and for a time had a tearoom there. Since 1930 it has been owned by the telephone company whose building stands there today. The above illustration was made from a picture of about 1908 except that the small panes in the windows have been restored as shown in a picture in the Atlas of 1874. The house was quite large-there were some sixteen rooms with generous halls and several bathrooms. Mr. Hulman made some changes in the house during his occupancy, adding the music room and several bathrooms, and though I have no confirmation of this, I think he may have added to or changed the front porch, which seems a little later in period than the original construction date. It was a well-built house and had several marble mantels and all of the door hardware was of silver.Once while traveling in Italy, Mr. Hulman saw a charming little fountain which he liked so well that he had a copy made which he brought home with him and placed on his front lawn. This fountain is now owned by Anton Hulman who has it set up near the pool at his place in the country. This was one of the interesting house of earlier days in Terre Haute, which the growth of the city has caused to disappear.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/800
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Houses Clubhouses American Red Cross Telephone companies Hulman, Herman, 1831-1913 Architecture Domestic Life

Further information on this record can be found at its source.