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- , ` � � Montgame�-y tradition upheld I
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<br /> By SCOTT SIMONS tween 18i0 and 1880. ;omer� said. The ho�se is siir:�le I
<br /> N�ra1E i Revier sr,r+w�n.� The Montgomery House is a . out orna[el� trimmec. "I ne�•er
<br /> Martha 1�ontgomery fel[ an farmhouse, with no particular tried to make it anvthing difie;-
<br /> obligation in 1979 to purchase the architectural style, blontgomery ���• '
<br /> big oid house near the corner of esplained. It began as a on�storv It has a widov�'s Ralk on the
<br /> Mound and hlacArthur roads. structure, and a 1�-story additioa rooi, reinstalled tfirocgh her ei-
<br /> ' After all, it had been in her became two stories in 1886. fo�.
<br /> family for more than 100 years, � The nine-room house has four
<br /> most re�cenCly being owned by her bedrooms, but just one small 6ath- "It'I1 never be an elegant
<br /> aunt, Alberta Montgomery. room downstairs. Montgomery house, but it will al�ravs be a
<br /> �The purchase meant leaving the said an upstairs bathroom is oleasan[ house," she added.
<br /> home in rural Austin Township in planned. .Although Montgomen�, '3, has
<br /> which she was born. That house, William Fletcher Montgomery been in contact wich officials of
<br /> now 103 years old, was home to purchased about 40 acres and the the National Register of His:oric
<br /> her parents and grandparents_ homestead for�1,0o0 in 1855 and. Places, she has yet to aopl�• for a
<br /> But the house on the hill —she lived there until he died in 1886. designation for the hoese.
<br /> jokingly refezs to the Mounc� Road His widow, �rnelia, held title until Montgomery, ac�ive in ge-
<br /> location as "Spinster Hill" be- 1902, and her daughter; Emily, nealogical and historical socieues,
<br /> cause af the single status of many lived there until her death in 1928. is a former rural school an�+ Lake-
<br /> of its occupanu—has even more In 1929, Minnie Carolyn Ren- view High School teac.her.S6e also
<br /> historical value_.Built in 184U, it .�shaw Montgomery, Emily's sister- 'was one of the fizst commissioned
<br /> .was the fust home in the area out- in-law purchased the estate for wAman officers In the Navy, for
<br /> side Decatur proper. �just ov�r;8,8�0. wiuch she served active dan• from
<br /> . Minnie's daugtiter, r�,lberta, ac- 1942 to�946. _ -
<br /> The Montgomery House, as it's quired the house in1941 and Iived Although her plar.s are to Iive
<br /> commonly known, was one of there until she moved to a nursing as long as her grandmothe� l90i,
<br /> three Decatur homes cited by the home in 1974. She died four�ears she isr.'t sure whicn biontgome:-y
<br /> city's first Centennial Rec..�ognition later. will next inhabit the horse.Diszant
<br /> Prograzn. The program recognizes Martha Montgomery became cousins with the name are possi-
<br /> • • businesses, commercial.buiidings the next oavner of the properry— bilities, but a nephew in the East
<br /> and homes that are at least 10o which by then had beea reduced to is unlikely to move in, sae noted.
<br /> years old. � 4.16 acres. It's now 2.16 acres and But even before�her aunt died,
<br /> The other two homes are the landscaped with mature trees and Montgomery_said, inauiries about
<br /> Haworth House, 437 W. North St., �a lazge garden. - buying the home were made, and
<br /> buiit in 1863; and the Miller House "It was a faiznhouse and it will there will be no shor:age of pro-
<br /> at 453 S. Webster St., built be- aiways be a farmhouse," biont- spective buyers.
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<br /> Photc Cy Ooug GauMo�
<br /> __�__,_, Martha Montgomery in yard of her house on the hill.
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