Sarah Howe received an award in 1982 from the Kansas Preservation Alliance for her diligence in the preservation of her family home, the Howe House, 315 E. Logan Avenue.
Now, a team of volunteers is making certain that the house stays well-maintained and available for the community to enjoy with tours and an occasional Living History event on its 18-acre grounds. And more events are being planned.
The Howe House was left to the Lyon County Historical Society after Sarah Howe died in the early 1990s, but primarily operates apart from the society and museum because of funding left by Sarah and through donations from businesses and individuals.
“If we rejected it, it was to go to the university, and the university definitely did not want the responsibility,” said Howe House volunteer coordinator Joyce Kennedy, chuckling at the thought.
Steve Hanschu of the historical society board takes care of the immediate grounds, mowing the yards and trimming the hedges regularly.
Behind the house, a renter mows and bales hay on the field that formerly was farmed with crops.
“This is just natural grass,” Kennedy said. “Small and large bluestem and all the other grass that goes with it. It’s just perfect.”
The grass, which lies between the house on Logan Avenue and the David Traylor Zoo of Emporia on the south, is a natural attraction for wild animals.
“Oh, yes,” Kennedy said. “We have the deer. In fact, the deer will come up and look at you like, ‘What are you doing here?’”
The volunteers take a hands-on approach to operating the home where, unlike most historic houses, visitors are invited to sit down and enjoy the multigenerational ambience that was carefully cultivated by members of the family.
“What you see in the house is a layering of three generations,” Kennedy said.
As additions to the home were made, family members were careful to incorporate the look and construction of the original home into the new construction.
It is full of furniture that spans the three generations. Taken piece by piece, it seems eclectic, but blends well together to create the feeling of a livable home. Only a few fragile pieces of furniture are off-limits to people who come to take in a piece of local history.
Construction of the house began in 1859, when a cellar was dug by Richard Howe, a well-respected local stonemason who built the first Emporia Normal School building, the county’s first courthouse, the first public school as well as many other stone and brick buildings throughout the city.
The Howe family is the only one that ever has called the two-story limestone structure its home.
Richard Howe and his wife, Sarah Evans Howe, had come to North America from Wales, soon after their marriage in about 1851, according to records. They lived for a time in New London, Canada, for two years in Pomeroy, Ohio, and settled permanently in Emporia in 1858, Kennedy said.
The Howes lived in a shanty on Cottonwood Creek and at a house at Eighth Avenue and Merchant Street, which now holds a liquor store.
After purchasing the 18-acre piece of land where the Howe House sits, Richard Howe dug the basement that was completed before the Civil War interrupted construction of the home itself.
“So after the war, Richard returned and continued to build the house,” Kennedy said. “... And they moved into it before it had windows and doors because it was much better.”
Its floors and woodwork are made of native oak and walnut, and the living room, which was added later, features a sunny span of paned windows and a comfortably padded — and inviting — window seat.
Much of the furniture and contents was made locally, and some of the accessories, like a copper pot, came over when the original Howe couple immigrated from Wales.
“When you come in, it looks simple, but it looks like there’s wealth here,” Hanschu said.
A bathroom was added later, to replace an old three-holer outhouse at the barn.
The Howes had an orchard and a stable south of the house, near the current zoo road.
At Soden’s Grove, there was a mule track and trotter races, Kennedy said, and Howe boarded some of the trotters until their owners returned the following week for other races, as well as for shopping and socializing.
“This was Emporia,” she said, emphasizing the city’s name. “It was the shopping place. It was when everybody came. They camped out in Soden’s Grove. ... It just reeks of history.”
The volunteers through the years not only have tended to the house, they have restored parts of the property. They have stabilized the huge barn that held buggies and horses, as well as tools, and have laid down concrete to keep the area dry and accessible.
“What it has allowed is us to show off tools and equipment Mr. Howe used as a stonemason,” Kennedy said.
The tools have been numbered and a guide published so visitors can know what they’re seeing and what it was used for as they tour the property.
Maintenance also was done inside the house, including removal of some old linoleum that was turning hazardous for volunteers and visitors alike.
“We decided to take it off, and this is what we found underneath,” Kennedy said, pointing to the wood flooring below.
Many of the floors are covered with rag rugs, handmade from rags that family members had torn and rolled themselves.
In the barn, the volunteers found a huge wood-burning stove that had been replaced many years before.
“They didn’t throw anything away,” Hanschu said of the find in the barn. “You couldn’t even tell what it was, it was so dirty.”
“The door was hanging off,” Kennedy added. “It was a mess.”
They took it to a man in Paxico who specializes in restoring old stoves, and re-set it in the kitchen of the house.
One of the first pressure cookers, featuring six clamps with wingnuts, sits on the stove. A small weighted scale, with a large rock that apparently equaled a weight known only to the Howes, is displayed on the window sill along with an assortment of turkey bells.
In an adjoining room, an automatic dishwasher sits under a countertop.
Lucia Davis, who had taken care of Sarah Howe and been her companion during Howe’s final years, stops in frequently to help the volunteers, polish all of the brass and the copper and oil down the woodwork in the traditional way.
Other volunteers that keep the Howe House maintained and operating are: Ruth Bloxom, Gretta Brown, Jerry Brown, Ann Cochennet, Mary Downing, Elaine Ek, Donna Eudaley, Margaret and Jack Greer, Sally Hannah, Tom Haskett, Nancy Hoffmans, Cathy Hoy, Shirley Hurt, Myra Jones, Virginia Lowther, Laura McAntee, Nancy McKinzie, and Mary Sue Wade, all of Emporia, and Paula and Buddy Evans of Lebo.
While she works, Davis often relates anecdotes about the house and the family as they come to mind.
“She’s always coming up with something,” Kennedy said. “She’s such a trove of knowledge that we need. ... She’s always letting pieces out.”
Davis cared for Sarah Howe during her final years in a hospital bed downstairs in the sunny living room.
“What Lucia told me just last week ... was that the last four years she slept on a sofa beside Sarah’s bed,” Kennedy said.
Now, efforts are underway to use the property more than for just tours.
A “Music at Sunset” event is planned in October, to help raise funds to support the house.
“Next year, we’re looking at an old-fashioned baseball game,” Hanschu said. “... We’ve been exploring other events to have out here, bring more people on the property. I think that’s really what Sarah wanted — to be an educational resource for the community.”
“This is a jewel,” Kennedy said. “The city of Emporia doesn’t realize it, and I don’t think the board realizes it.”
“It’s almost as if the family was still living here,” Hanschu added.
reddog (K. B. Thomas Jr.) says...
At one time there was a race track at Soden's Grove, the only one west of the Mississippi River but, it was short lived. I would be interested to know what Theater he fought in during the Civil War. A relative of mine, General Henry Thomas was one of the principal commanders in the Western Theater. His stout defense at the Battle of Chickamauga saved the Union army from being completely routed, earning him his most famous nickname, the "Rock of Chickamauga." An old-fashioned baseball game would be great! If you want to find out about the heart and mind of this great country discover the history of baseball. My question is [Howe can we make this a better Treasure for our community?]
September 12, 2009 at 7:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )