William J. Ball House

Description:	Drawing of the William J. Ball House on South Fifth Street by Juliet A Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect. The William J. Ball Home on South Fifth Street. Drawing by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect.The William J. Ball House formerly stood at 1138 South Fifth Street.The property had been through several hands before Mr. Ball lived there, but since his family were the latest and the longest owners, it was generally spoken of as the Ball house.The first transfer of property which I find is from Gustavus Collins and wife to Richard W. Thompson in 1850. In an interview with Col. Thompson in an old newspaper on the occasion of his eighty-fourth birthday, he says he built the house on this property in 1852 and planted a great many trees on what was then a flat open prairie.In 1864 he traded houses with William J. Ball who then owned Spring Hill, a country place south of town. I am indebted to Mr. A. R. Markle for this date and the date that Thompson purchased the property and also for the use of a photograph in his possession which is the basis of my illustration.William J. Ball was born in Virginia in 1814. His early training was along technical lines and he came west in 1833 and assisted in the engineering work on the Wabash & Erie Canal. He first came to Terre Haute in 1840, and in 1842 was married to Julia Creighton. Three years later he was appointed resident engineer on the canal work. After completion of the canal in 1850 he went into railroad engineering and was associated with the railroad more or less for the rest of his life.The first house that I have identified as his home is at the corner of Sixth and Poplar, the house which was later bought by Mr. Theodore Hulman and moved to Sixth and Park streets. This house has been described in an earlier article in this series. Mr. Ball lived here from 1848 to 1856. In 1856 he bought the house at Spring Hill which had been built by an earlier owner of the farm. Then, as before mentioned, he traded houses with Col. Thompson in 1864. Mr. Ball lived here until his death in 1874. His children occupied the house after his death until the time it was torn down. Mr. William C. Ball and Miss Susan are especially associated with this house as they lived here continuously and the others were here for intervals only. It was always an interesting household.In 1924 or 1925 Mrs. Julia Donham, the last of the children, had the house taken down.Col. Thompson, in his interview, speaks of certain changes which were made to this house in later years but did not say just what was done. We do know, however, that the house as shown above is not exactly as originally built.The lines of this house are definitely of a later period than many of the others that I have described. It is more monumental in character than the earlier ones and has more elaborate cornice and other details, though the classical columns and entrance portico are quite similar to earlier work.This is another of our earlier houses which have seen many interesting people and happenings in the past and are today only a memory.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/834
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Houses Ball, William J., 1814-1874 Architecture Domestic Life

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