Jewett House

Description:	Drawing of the Jewett House , Which Stood Near Fourteenth and Sycamore streets by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect. The Jewett House, Which Stood Near Fourteenth and Sycamore streets. Drawing by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect.THE JEWETT HOUSE was located between Chestnut and Sycamore Streets near Fourteenth Street in the open part of the block which is unoccupied today.Mr. Merrick A. Jewett came to Terre Haute from the east shortly before Christmas in 1834 to organize a Congregational church here. Though the people of the town were very hospitable to the newcomers, their first arrival was tinged with sadness, for on Christmas Day their small son was accidentally shot and killed by a neighbor child. Mr. Jewett organized the church, however, on Dec. 30, and worked hard to build it up and erect a church building, and he became much loved in the community. He served the church until 1860 when he resigned. His death occurred in Texas on April 3, 1874.Mr. Jewett evidently intended to establish himself permanently in Terre Haute for in 1835 he bought up a large tract of land east of the city and built his home there. The deed to the property is in the name of Mrs. Mary M. Jewett. I think they must have seen that the city was due to grow in that direction and bought the property as an investment for they began subdividing in 1852. In 1854, 1866, 1870, 1872 and 1873 other portions of the property were subdivided, the last one being the land around the home site. Following Mr. Jewetts death the property passed through several hands, being purchased by Emma Hoff in 1893. The site is owned today by F. W. Hoff and Otto Hoff.Early Architecture.I have not been able to find an adequate picture of the house, but have based the above illustration on an old newspaper reproduction and the present day appearance of a portion of the house which still exists.I am told that the house was I shaped, the long dimension lying east and west. The plan was something like the second Curtis Gilbert house, I think, except that it was a two-story house. The center portion was brick and the east and west wings were of frame. The entrance was in the center and there was a spacious center hall with a stairway in it and rooms on each side. There were at least two other stairs in the two wings of the house. I have wondered if the brick portion of the house may not have been built first and the wings added later because of the change in materials, but I have no knowledge that this was the case. A suggestion that the house was built in 1836 seems probable as a mortgage is recorded in 1837 which may have been taken to cover the construction of the house.I do not know much about who lived in the house after the Jewetts, but I find that the Smith family lived there for eight or ten years previous to 1896, and Mr. Robert J. Smith has helped me with the description of the house when they lived there.The original approach was from the remote National road, but by the time the Smiths lived there it had been changed to a diagonal walk from the house down to the corner of Fourteenth and Chestnut. Later, when Chestnut was built up, the approach was from Fourteenth Street. Some time after 1900 the Hoffs decided that it would be more satisfactory to tear down the center and east portions of the house, which were by that time in rather a bad state of repair, and move the west wing over to the corner of Sycamore and the alley where it now stands with a small wing added to it. The shell is there but the interior has been re-finished, and there is very little to suggest the original house except the unusually large rooms and the very high ceilings.Social Center.This is another of the interesting early houses of Terre Haute whose occupants helped to mould the life of the early town and which are now gone from us except in memory.The father of Robert Smith was E. M. Smith, a pioneer resident here. He conducted a coal business at Tenth and Main streets, as it was known then. Two of the daughters of the family were Birdella Smith, now Mrs. Charles Whitlock, and Grace Smith, now Mrs. Anton Hulman Sr.The spacious yard was a playground many Terre Hauteans will remember. The house stood on a high knoll, and in winter time the stretch down to Fourteenth and Chestnut streets was a sleding place to which the youngsters would come from far and near.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/838
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Houses Jewett, Merrick A., d.1874 Architecture Domestic Life

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