McGregor House

Description:	Drawing of the McGregor Mansion, which stood at Sixth and Chestnut streets by Juliet A. Peddle, Terre Haute Artist and Architect. The McGregor Mansion, which stood at Sixth and Chestnut streets, where the Knisely and Mary Stewart Apartment Buildings now stand.McGregor House, sometimes called the Mansion House, stood at the northwest corner of Sixth and Chestnut streets. The beginnings of this house are not entirely clear, but the deed records show this plot was first purchased from the Terre Haute Land Company by Robert McCabe in 1826 and Mr. McGregor purchased it from him in 1846. Every account I have found of the house says it was built immediately following the Civil War by Mr. McGregor, but I find on the map of 1854 a house, rather a large one, in the correct location. One early article says there was already a seven-room brick house on the property when Mr. McGregor bought it, which is probably the house shown on the map, though it seems large for a seven-room house.Since Mr. McCabe was the previous owner, this house would have been built by him. The directory of 1858 lists Mr. McGregor as living at this address at that time, so he seems to have lived in this first house before the one shown above was built. The location of this house on the same site as the old one leads me to wonder whether this old one might not have been incorporated in the new one. I have no evidence except the location to support this theory and as it was not unusual to tear down an old house to build a new one, this may have been done.Alexander McGregor was born in Scotland in 1805, coming to America in 1829. He spent a few years in Cincinnati, where he had brothers, and in 1833 he came to Terre Haute with a stock of hardware and started a store here. Later he was in the grocery business and in 1849 he was associated with Mr. McKeen and Mr. Warren in pork packing. In 1853 he purchased a distillery started by Smith and Buntin, which seems to have been rather a profitable venture. He retired in 1872 and died in 1884.Mr. McGregor married twice-his first wife was Mary J. Stewart, whom he married in 1845. They had two sons, James and another, who died, and two daughters, Mrs. J. P. Herkimer and Mrs. Frank McKeen. In 1871 he married Miss Orintha Archer, who had one son, Alexander.One of the early histories tells of a J. H. Williams, associated with H. E. Clift in operating a planing mill here, who previous to this association had been a carpenter and joiner and an excellent designer. Mr. Williams is credited with designing and superintending the construction of the homes of J. S. Beach and Alexander McGregor. He was working independently during the nine years pre-ceding 1865 and that would put the construction of the above house during this period. Its style is consistent with this time and I am sure that the house as shown above dates from this period. The Clift & Williams planing mill stood at Ninth and Eagle streets.During the years following Mr. McGregors death the house was rented much of the time. In 1902 it was taken over by the Indiana State Normal School and opened as a residence hall for young women under the Y. M. C. A. The house was completely renovated and suitably furnished. Mrs. McKeen, who still owned the building, was very generous in helping put it in good shape and make it attractive for the young people who were to live there.At the time it was built the house was considered one of the largest and finest in town. Everything was well built and all the rooms were in proportion to the drawing room, which was 20 feet wide by 40 feet long. It was set well back from the street and at the time it was constructed it was the only house in the block, the rest of the block being devoted to orchard, gardens, etc.The above drawing was made from a small illustration in The Normal Advance of June, 1907, and probably differs in some details from the house as it appeared In the sixties and seventies, especially as regards planting and other features such as walks, drives and fences; but I believe there were no great changes in later years. More recently the house was torn down and on part of the site was constructed the Mary Stewart Apartments.
Origin:	01/01/2005
Contributor(s):	Peddle, Juliet, 1899-1979
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/rose/id/856
Collection:	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Logan Library
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Copyright:	Copyright Undetermined
Subjects:	Architectural drawings Architecture Houses Dormitories Young Mens Christian associations McGregor, Alexander, 1805-1884 Architecture Domestic Life Social Life

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