Wylie House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Andrew Wylie House
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Wylie House
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 Location in Indiana
Location in the United States
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| Location | 307 E. 2nd St., Bloomington, Indiana |
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| Area | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
| Built | 1835 |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| NRHP reference No. | 77000013 |
| Added to NRHP | April 18, 1977 |
The Wylie House is a historic building in Bloomington, Indiana. It was built in 1835. This house was the home of Andrew Wylie, who was the very first president of Indiana University. He lived there until he passed away in 1851.
Later, in 1859, Andrew's half-cousin, Theophilus Adam Wylie, bought the house. Theophilus was also a professor at Indiana University. His family lived in the house until 1913. Today, the Wylie House is a historic house museum. It is run by Indiana University Libraries. The museum helps people learn about the lives of these two important families.
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The Andrew Wylie Family: 1835-1859
In 1828, the state of Indiana wanted to hire a president for its new college. They chose Andrew Wylie. He was the president of Washington College in Pennsylvania. Andrew Wylie accepted the job.
In 1829, Wylie moved to Bloomington, Indiana. He came with his wife, Margaret Ritchie, and their children. Wylie became the first president of Indiana College. (The college later changed its name to Indiana University in 1838.) For a few years, the family rented homes. Then, in 1835, Andrew Wylie built this house. He had bought the land for it in 1829 and 1830. Andrew, Margaret, and ten of their twelve children lived in the house at different times between 1835 and 1859.
What the Wylie House Looks Like
The Wylie House is a two-story building made of brick. The front of the house uses a special brick pattern called Flemish bond. The house mixes two old styles of architecture: Georgian and Federal. This was a bit unusual for the 1830s. At that time, the Greek Revival style was becoming popular.
One reason for this older style might be where the Wylies came from. Southwestern Pennsylvania was influenced by northern Virginia. That area still used a lot of Georgian architecture. Also, Wylie designed his house based on a home in Pennsylvania. That home was inspired by a house in Newport, Rhode Island. The "widow's walk" on the Wylie House roof shows this connection. A widow's walk is a platform on a roof, often found on coastal homes.
Life on the Wylie Farm
The house was the center of a 20-acre farmstead. This means it had many other small buildings around it. A map from 1954, drawn by a Wylie family member, shows these buildings. They included a smoke house, a barn, a chicken house, a carriage house, and a two-story utility building.
These extra buildings show all the work done at the house. People would butcher and smoke meats. They would gather wood for winter. They also preserved food and washed clothes. It was hard to find reliable help in towns like Bloomington in the 1830s and 1840s. So, the Wylie family often did most of this work themselves.
The Theophilus Adam Wylie Family: 1859-1913
In 1837, President Andrew Wylie invited his half-cousin, Theophilus Adam Wylie, to teach at Indiana College. Theophilus taught mathematics, natural philosophy (which was like science), and chemistry. In 1838, Theophilus married Rebecca Dennis. They moved to Bloomington.
They lived in rented houses until 1859. After Andrew's widow passed away, Theophilus bought the house. He also bought 5 acres of the original 20-acre property. Theophilus Wylie's home was often very busy. Six of his eight children grew up there. (Two children died young before 1859.) Many other family members also lived with them or visited for long periods.
Changes in Bloomington and the Wylie Home
During this time, Bloomington was changing. It was becoming a busy college town instead of a frontier settlement. Besides their family, the Wylies also took in two boarders. These were usually students or young professors from the college.
Also, servants started working in the house during this period. They had not been common during Andrew Wylie's time. One servant was Lizzie Breckinridge. She was an African American woman. Her mother had been a former slave. Lizzie came to live and work with the family in 1856 when she was thirteen. She stayed with them until she passed away in 1910.
Science and Technology at the Wylie House
The Wylie House was a place for many new scientific ideas. Theophilus started experimenting with photography soon after the daguerreotype was invented in 1839. Many of the photos he took at the house still exist today. He also used a telescope on the roof to look at the stars and planets.
In 1876, Theophilus installed the very first telephone in the state of Indiana! He built it using plans from a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. The phone connected the Wylie House to a college laboratory. Theophilus was an active professor at Indiana University until 1886. He then became an emeritus professor (a retired professor who still holds their title). He worked in this role until he died in 1895. Rebecca Wylie continued to live in the house until she passed away in 1913.
Wylie House Museum Today
In 1915, Dr. Amos Hershey bought the house from the Wylie family. He was a professor of political science at Indiana University. He and his wife, Lillian, made the first big changes to the house. They updated the kitchen and bathrooms. They also added a furnace for heat. They closed in the second-story porch. They removed some storage rooms on the first floor. They also added a screen to the front porch. They put small roofs over the front door and the east kitchen door.
In 1947, Herman B Wells, who was the president of Indiana University, helped the university buy the house. Dr. Hershey's widow continued to live there until 1951. From 1951 to 1959, the house was home to Indiana University Press.
Then, between 1960 and 1965, major work was done to restore the house. The goal was to make it look like it did when it was first built. They tried to remove everything added after 1835. However, they accidentally removed a small back porch that is now believed to have been part of the original house.
Today, the building is known as the Wylie House Museum. It is a historic house museum that shows how the house would have looked before 1860. The museum uses an inventory list from 1859 to guide its setup. It has a mix of original Wylie family items and other old pieces from that time.
