| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Jim/Lindsey Wilson History: The Cottage on Arbor Vitae Hill The relatively modest home of the teacher-administrator, Prof. Patrick Douglas "P.D." Neilson and his family was the talk of Columbia as it was being built in 1907, receiving lavish praise in the Adair County News, during and after construction - equally so, when it perished in a fire 10 years later, the News lamented - appropriately - it's passing. And a sidenote: If this structure or another Garnett Avenue one The Garnett House owned by Judge James Garnett were still in existence, would there be any shortage of visitors to Adair County? Just to see either of those? - CM Click on headline for complete JIM story with photo of the cottage By Jim An unobtrusive announcement at the top of page one of the Adair County News a century ago this week (February 21, 1917) informed readers of a recent sale: "Tutt & Reed, real estate agents, transferred the P.D. Neilson residence, on Garnett Avenue, to L.C. Hindman, for $1,500." At the time, the house was not quite a decade old, construction having been started in late 1907 and completed the closing days of the following March. In November 1907, the News mentioned that the structure, located "at the top of the hill leading to the Lindsey-Wilson" near the classroom building (now the L.R. Administration Building) would be "modern in every particular." The cottage, as the paper sometimes called it -- was built as the private property of Prof. Patrick Douglas "P.D." Neilson, his wife, the former Miss Maytie Hardin, and their daughter Mary H., then two or three years old. The family had arrived in Columbia early in the summer of 1905, shortly after the Educational Board of the M.E.C.,S. hired Prof. Neilson as an administrator-teacher at the Lindsey Wilson. Maytie, although not employed by the school, became immersed in student activities, oft-times lending a hand -- and sometimes leading the charge -- in extracurricular productions such as "Reveries of a Bachelor" (put on by the young ladies of the school) and a musical, "A Gypsy Cantata," the latter proclaimed far and wide as a success. Mrs. Neilson played a major part in the look of the dwelling place. Shortly after construction ended, the News commented of it, "The residence was designed according to Mrs. Neilson's taste--distinct from any other cottage in Columbia...The house contains seven rooms besides all necessary closets, bath room and pantry, [and] it has an unusual porch frontage, of various angles, which adds materially to its attractiveness as well as to its convenience and worth. " Well-known contractor J.W. Richards, who lived nearby, got the contract and upon completion of the job, the News spared no ink heaping praise upon that worthy gentleman, referring to him as "one of Columbia's most skilled carpenters--a man who knows where every nail should go, how every joint should be made and who is able and willing to measure up to the true demands of a drawing." The News also spoke glowingly of the painter, saying, "The finishing touches, from the hand that yields the brush and brings beauty to the surface, are those of Mr. Jo A. Young, who knows his business and keeps everlastingly at it." And, of the completed house, the contractor and painter, and Mrs. Neilson's design combined, the paper allowed, "There is not a better constructed building in Columbia, and not one that outrivals it on finish--a monument to the carpenter, a flower to the painter and a desirable home for the owner." The Neilsons happily resided in their custom-built cottage for a little over five years. Come early June 1913, however, they departed Columbia and removed to Springfield, Tenn., where the professor had accepted a position. (The family eventually wound up in Ruston, La., where Prof. Neilson taught electrical engineering and served several years as head of the physics department at Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, now Louisiana Tech University, before retiring in the late 1940s.) As noted in the opening paragraph, Mr. Lewis Clarence "L.C." Hindman bought the Neilson cottage on Arbor Vitae hill in February 1917, the residence having been occupied for some time by the widow Hynes. The Hindman family moved in early in June but fate cut short their stay there. Fewer than five months later, on a late October morning, "The beautiful residence of Mr. Clarence Hindman, known as the Neilson property...was destroyed by fire...between ten and eleven, the family being away from home..." The building was a complete loss but thanks to the heroic efforts of the older LWTS students and several men of the town, "most of the household goods on the first floors" were saved from the blaze. The News estimated the loss at $2,500 with rumor having it the building was insured only for $1,000 and the contents for $250. The blaze was attributed to a spark from "the road machine," an unidentified piece of gasoline-powered roadworking equipment. An image of the cottage as it appeared shortly after Messrs. Richards and Young fulfilled the contract appears elsewhere with this article. The photograph graced the front page of the June 24, 1908 edition of the Adair County News. This story was posted on 2017-02-18 04:07:43
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.
More articles from topic Jim: History:
JIM resurrects blistery hot editorial from 1904 JIM: The big snow of January 1917 Mr. McLean & Rev. Kasey ring in 1907 with sunshine & shadows Captain Dan Schroer: a story with a tragic ending JIM: 5 Jan 1913. A deluge delays mail to Columbia for five days JIM: News, views, reviews, & sage counsel, late December 1916 JIM: 100 years ago, reported in the AC News 20 Dec 1916 100 Years Ago - Judge Baker writes of Col. Daniel Trabue 100 years ago - Thanksgiving in and around Columbia JIM: To hell and back View even more articles in topic Jim: History |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
