Walking Tour-23 South Holcomb Street-Walking Tour
(West Side of Street)

This Italian Revival style house was built by/for N. W. Stewart in 1867. Tax assessment records cited a "new house" on the property in 1868. A footprint of the house may be seen on the 1872 Map of the Village. Some of the elements of the original architectural style may still be seen: the original two story cube is finished with a wide bracketed cornice with deep eaves under the hip roof; and iron fretwork caps the hip roof where a cupola, or bevedere, would have risen on larger more elaborate examples of the style. A circa 1900 photo shows a Queen Anne style front porch which was replaced circa 1920 with a gable roofed vestibule. It is not known if this house originally had a wrap-around porch/veranda which was typical of such Italian Revival style houses.

Frank Walter & family owned the house for fifty years, 1880-1930. The small building to the rear of the house was built as Walter's first general store. In 1919 Walter purchased the brick Italian Revival style building at 5 S. Main, the location of Frank Walter & Son Dry Goods, Footwear & Groceries for the next 40 years.

Official Property Description:

• Lot 5 of Block 16 of Nelson W. Clark's Original Plat of the Village in the Southwest 1/4 of Section 20 in Independence Township.
• Lot 3 & the north 1/2 of Lot 4 Block 2 of Myron G. Cobb's Southwest Addition to the Original Plat of the Village.
• Lot 97 of the Assessor's Plat.

Significant Property History:

[A Synopsis Of Property Transfers Derived From Abstracts
(when available) And Periodic Changes In Ownership Or
Assessed Value Derived From Township Tax Records]

• Note: All the properties currently located in the Historic District were originally part of a tract registered by Butler Holcomb with the federal government on October 22, 1831. Thus, abstracts for these properties, when they exist, show the original transfer to be from the United States to Butler Holcomb and may also include references to then President Andrew Jackson.
• 1842 Nelson W. Clark, Original Plat of the Village.
• 1843 Nelson W. & Phidelia Clark to Polly Clark. Blocks 13, 14, 15 & 16.
• 1844 Nelson W. Clark, Block 16, assessed value $10.
• 1848 Polly Clark, Blocks 13, 14, 15, & 16, assessed value $76.
• 1849 Polly Clark to Myron G. & Jane Cobb, Block 13, 14, 15 & 16.
• 1854 Cobb's Plat of the Southwest Addition.
• 1855 J. Edmonson, the north 1/2 of Lot 4 & the south 1/2 of Lot 3 Block 2, assessed value $75.
• 1858 Phoebe Edmonson, Lot 3 & the north 1/2 of Lot 4 Block 2, assessed value $60.
  Henry Hirst/Hurst, the south 1/2 of Lot 4.
• 1860 Daniel Boughton, Lot 3 & the north 1/2 of Lot 4.
• 1867 N. W. Stewart, as above, assessed value $50.
• 1868 N. W. Stewart, as above, assessed value $250, "house".
• 1869 N. W. Stewart, as above, assessed value $300.
• 1872 Map of the Village has a building footprint on this site, owner P. Smith. Lot 3 & the north 1/2 of Lot 4, assessd value $350.
• 1880 Frank Walter, Lot 3 & the north 1/2 of Lot 4, assessed value $300.
• 1910 Frank Walter, as above, $1500. Lots 1, 2 & 3 Block 3, assessed value $200.
• 1914 Frank Walter, Lot 3, except 16 & 1/2' off the north side & the north 1/2 of Lot 4, assessed value $1050.
• 1930 Frank Walter, estate.
• 1935 Russell Walter.
• 1950 David J. Robertson. Lot 97.
• 1954 as above.
• 1956 E. B. Eisenlohr.