Samuel Merry House

Description:	Drawing of the Samuel Merry Home at Sixth and Locust Streets by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect. Samuel Merry Home at Sixth and Locust Streets. Drawing by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect.The Samuel Merry House stands on Locust Street near Lafayette facing south in such a position that Sixth Street, if cut through would pass through the center of the house.Family tradition says the house was built by Samuel Merry who came to Terre Haute from New Jersey some time previous to 1840. In 1838 we find a title bond recorded in his name on the plot of ground where this house stands and this bears out the above tradition and also the story that the house is over one hundred years old.Mr. Merry is listed in early directories as a teamster and also as the proprietor of a grocery store across the street. He seems to be remembered especially as a teamster, however, and this was no ordinary small local business but a part of a system of transportation of freight and bulky goods between Louisville and Terre Haute before either the canal or railroad was built to carry such goods. This sort of transportation continued even after the canal and railroad were completed, especially between points not otherwise connected.Even down to 1876 Mr. Merry is listed as a teamster, for much work of this kind was still required. In 1868 and 1869 he is given as a mail carrier, and I believe this refers to his contract to transport the mails between the stations and the post office, as it is known he had the contract for the work.I have illustrated the house as it appears today as no pictures have been found to show its original appearance. Mrs. Charles Boland, Jessie Merry, a granddaughter of Mr. Merry, spent much of her childhood here and tells me something of the way it looked at that time. The house was considered to be way out in the country at the time of its construction, and for many years, even after that part of town was built up, it stood alone in a large plot of ground bounded by Lafayette, Locust and Sixth streets and extending some distance north. An iron fence surrounded the property in later years and many lovely flowers were in the garden. The front walk was bordered on each side with pinks.The principal change on the front is in the addition of the large porch. The original one was a small portico with a railing around it. The windows had small panes as some in the rear still have and were provided with shutters. In the entrance hall there is a very nice simple spiral stair, a very easy stair even for today a rather remarkably so for a day when steep stairs were considered quite acceptable.In 1882 the house passed to Mrs. Julia Merry upon the death of her husband. After 1901 it went through several hands being bought by Charles and Mary Hay in 1904. Mrs. Hay still owns and lives in the house. A good many changes have been made inside and at the back, but it has been well cared for and the essential structure of the house is almost unchanged as seen from the front.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/844
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Houses Merry, Samuel, d.1882 Architecture Domestic Life

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