Ever wonder about the past lives of some of Fort Wayne's historic buildings?
Today, we're featuring the J.W. Kidd building at 1510 Fairfield Avenue.
The J.W. Kidd building was built in 1900, then owned and operated by, you guessed it, J.W. Kidd, as a medical mail-order business. In 1915, the business closed abruptly and was replaced by Boss Manufacturing Co. as a glove and mitten factory.
In the 60s, the building housed General Electric, which used it as a distribution center. Finally, from the mid-80s to the 2000s, 1510 Fairfield was home to Karen's Antique Mall.
Today, the J.W. Kidd building is undergoing renovations to house a wedding event center and a golf simulator, but its basement remains available for lease! The basement would be a great speakeasy, retro game lounge, nightclub, or tasting room!
As a building with some AWESOME history, who could turn down this unique opportunity?
View the exclusive listing from Sturges Property Group for more information:
Today, we continue our list of the top endangered properties in the Historic 07 District. The purpose of this list is to raise awareness of these incredible properties.
Residents of Fort Wayne may drive by and wonder a bit about the massive building at the corner of Pierce and Fairfield. This building, which more recently was one of the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum, was originally built for the First Church of Christ, Scientist Fort Wayne congregation. While this building is for sale, the story behind this structure is quite interesting. Read on for more.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, was founded in 1897, the original members being Mrs. M. L. Brown, Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Woods, Miss Ora Shaver, and Miss Emma Rosenthal. Initially, the church was housed in a small Jewish synagogue until 1913. At that point, the church purchased the Charles McCulloch home at West Wayne and Ewing. Charles, a banker, was the son of Hugh McCulloch, who served as Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Chester A. Arthur.
Mary Baker Eddy founded the First Church of Christ, Scientist in 1879 in Boston, Massachusetts. She was the author of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and the founder of Christian Science. The church was founded "to commemorate the word and works of Christ Jesus" and "reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing". In the late 1800s and early 1900s, this was one of the fastest-growing religions in the country. In Fort Wayne, the growth was similar.
In the mid 1920's, the local congregation was looking for a new location. In 1926, the church purchased land at the corner of Fairfield and Pierce. As you can see from the picture, this vast structure was built and finished in 1927. The building, built in the neoclassical style, followed the pattern of many other First Church of Christ, Scientist structures around the country. This church was designed by Howard Lovewell Cheney, who also designed Washington National Airport. Over the years, the building has changed hands and now sits empty and for sale. It's a beautiful structure with hopefully an opportunity to be revived soon.
At 2720 Fairfield Avenue sits a house built in 1904. The home recently underwent a five-month-long renovation, which included a new roof, kitchen, and HVAC system. Inside you’ll find beautiful original hardwood floors, an open staircase, and elegant windows overlooking a backyard.
At the top of that staircase, on the second floor, is a tree mural, covered with photos of past residents of 2720 Fairfield Avenue. This house is just one of six homes owned by Redemption House Ministries, a transitional housing program that serves as an alternative to incarceration, and the residents pictured in the mural are graduates of the program.
Placed there through court order or referral, most struggle with addiction and have a criminal record, but through structured, faith-based programming, Redemption House is helping these women get back on their feet.
Founder and CEO Tomi Cardin designed the programming for Redemption House based on her experience and connections made from working within the prison system as a volunteer jail chaplain.
“It wasn’t something that I desired to do, I kind of stumbled across it through an invitation from my pastor’s wife to do a chapel service there,” she says. “I had what they call a lightbulb moment during the service. I just knew something in me came alive.”
After some bumps in the road, Cardin became an official jail chaplain and started leading substance abuse classes and Bible studies at the Allen County Jail.
“I was really connecting with the women,” she says. “We would make these great plans for as soon as they would get out, we were going to get together, have coffee, or go to church. They would be released and I wouldn’t hear from them or see them again until they were rearrested.”
Disheartened by seeing this process repeat itself over and over again, or as she called it, “a revolving door of frustration,” Cardin says it made her realize these women needed a different solution and she had a vision for that solution.
“These women needed a safe to go, to keep doing the work they had started while they were in jail,” she says. “When you’re released and you go right back to the same environments, you end up making the same choices.”
815 W. Creighton has been a home to a "giant" in Fort Wayne history and a home to "little people" who were internationally renowned on the stage. Captain Asa Fairfield came to Fort Wayne from Maine in 1833 with a princely sum of $30,000. He would eventually purchase the land and build this house. In 1880, Charles Nestel purchased the home. His son Charles and daughter Eliza, who were little people, traveled the United States and Europe as "Commodore Foote" and the "Fairy Queen". See Charles and Eliza Nestel and Street View photo from Google maps.
Lots of information in Hard times hide storied history Repairs planned for 1860s Creighton house built by canal skipper by Rosa Salter Rodriguez published September 2, 2007 in The Journal Gazette newspaper is no longer online.
Will third time prove the charm for efforts to save colorfully historic house? Creighton Avenue house was once home to canal captain, world-famous dwarfs by Kevin Leininger published April 16, 2013 in
The News-Sentinel newspaper.
Known as the Fairfield Nestel Mansion has one last hope against the cities demolition order as I try to save this beautiful piece of Fort Wayne history.
I would love any old photos or history on the house if anyone has some they can share!
Here is an excerpt from an article written by Rosa Salter with the Journal Gazette:
"Some of 815 Creighton Ave.'s past owners include:
*Capt. Asa Fairfield arrived in Fort Wayne from Kennebunkport, Maine, with his brothers Oliver and Charles in 1833 with the then-astouding sum of $30,000. He was married to Olive, the sister of the attorney Hugh McCulloch, also from Kennebunkport, who had been named judge of the probate court and cashier of the State Bank of Indiana.
Fairfield spent $1,800 of it on 160 of the 240 acres he eventually acquired and farmed on the city's south side. When he bought 815 Creighton, there was only a log house on the site; he later built a double log house and then a frame house before his death in 1868.
For a time, Fairfield's was the only frame house in the area, and it overlooked pastures with pigs, cows and the Wabash Canal, which ran near where the railroad tracks cross Fairfield Avenue.
Fairfield constructed and piloted the first boat to operate on the Wabash Canal. It was called the Indiana.
*Cyrus Fairfield, Asa's youngest son, owned a candle and soap making factory along the railroad tracks on Broadway and continued to sell pieces of the farm for housing.
In the early 20th century, he was known as "the oldest resident of South Wayne" and recalled that Indians from the reservation just south of the city would come up Broadway to spend government checks in nearby taverns.
Other residents at that time recalled the neighborhood as having wild hogs, wolves and "wild pigeons" so thick that they broke tree branches where they were roosting.
The wild pigeons were passenger pigeons - a bird that is now extinct.
*Daniel, Charles and Eliza Nestel. Daniel Nestel bought the house in 1880. He was a contemporary of Asa, arriving in Fort Wayne in 1840 after having walked with a companion from New York.
He operated a plant nursery on Broadway. He also often traveled with his children, who in 1861 signed a contract with Baltimore showman William Ellinger as a theatrical attraction and toured the United States and Europe.
Charles was billed as "Commodore Foote," and Eliza was billed as "The Fairy Queen." The two were part of a genre of acts sometimes referred to as "Thumbiana" and often appeared with other small people.
The name "Commodore Foote" would have carried amusing overtones in its day - besides the height pun, there was a real Commodore Foote. Commodore Andrew Hull Foote was well known as the naval officer in charge of the defense of the upper Mississippi River during the Civil War - an area the Confederates were unlikely to reach.
The newspaper reported that Eliza "is the smallest matured lady ever known, being 18 years old and weighs 20 pounds, yet perfect in form and feature, speaks two languages, sings and dances, is a beautiful poetic reader, and everything is charming and pleasing in her demeanor."
Writing on www.showpeople.com, Emma Camden gives some insight into the Nestels' performances in a description of Jennie Quigley, who performed with the Liliputian Opera Co. as "the Scottish Queen."
At intermission, she would often be paired with "another star, such as Col. Speck, Com. Foote or Admiral Dot, and together they would sing duet, dance and `flirt' onstage before the main production resumed," Camden writes. "The flirtation sometimes continued offstage, as after Jennie's death, it was learned that she and Commodore Foote were sweethearts."
Great Depression-era memories recall another use of Fairfield-Nestel House It served for about 10 years as a hospital for the ill, elderly and disabled. 815 W. Creighton Ave. â it served from about 1923 to 1933 as Anthony Wayne Hospital for Old People and Invalids. The research findings also provide a glimpse of what appeared to have been a difficult life for the hospital's matron, Anna F. Lepper. Much more in the article with no author listed, originally published July 20, 2017 in
The News-Sentinel newspapernow archived on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
House was torn down August 7-8, 2017.
Historic Fairfield-Nestel House demolished Over the years, several owners had tried unsuccessfully to restore the house. was published August 8, 2017 in
The News-Sentinel newspaper.
August 9, 2017 commentary by the last owner of the Nestel House referencing the following August 10, 2017 Rosa Salter Rodriguez artilce with interesting comments and history of the family and many Nestel House posts including from Brad Nestel a descendant of the Nestel family posted many times on the Historic Real Estate Renovations & Sales page on Facebook.
A link was shared to an article dated July 30, 1928 on pages 49-54 titled: Marketing the First Apartment Building in a Small City How a Seven-Story Hotel Apartment Building Was Projected, Promoted, and Completed at Fort Wayne, Indiana-Features of Its Financing and Its Plan of Stock-Ownership by Tenants-Details of Construction and Equipment under Apartment Buildings in Buildings and Building Management Volume 28, Part 2 1928 a Google eBook shown below:
This article was written for and is courtesy of Fort Wayne Reader newspaper.
Olaf Nikolaus Guldlin, the president of the Fairfield Manor Realty Co., had been the founder in 1888 of the successful Western Gas Construction Company on Winter Street in Fort Wayne. Western Gas manufactured and constructed large gas producing plants for cities throughout the country that did not yet have natural gas piped to them. Guldlin and his investors sold Western Gas to the Koppers Corp. of Pittsburgh, PA in January of 1921.
Eleven months later, in December of 1921, his announcement of the proposed construction of the city’s first suburban high-rise luxury apartment building, at a cost of $750,000., was heralded in The Fort Wayne Sentinel. However, it would be another seven years before the building at 2301 Fairfield at Creighton Avenues would actually be completed in January of 1928. Part of the reason for this was that the area surrounding the project was an upper class neighborhood of opulent homes and there was significant opposition from nearby residents to the building. Interestingly, the Guldlin’s own grand residence was across the street (southwest corner) at 2306 Fairfield. A Speedway gas station now sits on part of the property that was his former home.
Utilizing a combination of Craftsman and Classic elements, Fairfield Manor was designed by at that time, the city’s most prominent architect, Charles R. Weatherhogg. Today, nearly 90 years later, the well maintained seven story building remains much the same and has 70 studio, one, two bedroom and larger custom apartments. At the time the building was completed, the rents were as follows: three-room apartment, $77.50; four-room, $105.00; and five-room at $124.00 per month. The apartments included gas ranges, electric refrigerators, and each was furnished with a “Murphy” bed that pivoted out of the wall.
The ground floor included a ladies reception room, lounge and card room, cafĂŠ-tea room, banquet room, large main kitchen, and a beauty shop. The building was originally to have a roof-top garden, and a putting green south of the parking lot, however in the end neither were incorporated. The building’s primary entrance still today features the original elaborate bronze and glass portico, and the interior public area showcases 1928’s marble baseboards, mixed mosaic and terrazzo floors, walnut wood panels and trim.
For most in Fort Wayne today, the name Guldlin isn’t associated with Olaf Guldlin, Western Gas Construction Co., or even the Fairfield Manor, but rather his wife Addie Guldlin. Mrs. Guldlin was an early civic activist and an advocate of safe playgrounds for children. Addie raised funds for the city’s first public playground, which under her direction was elaborately constructed with separate boys’ and girls’ swings, see-saws, sandboxes and wading pools on a six-acre site on Van Buren at the St. Mary’s River. Dedicated in 1911, the park was named in her honor. Sadly, two years later during Fort Wayne’s infamous 1913 Flood, much of the playground was washed away and is today an empty field, still called Guldlin Park.
Formerly Berghoff Brewing at 1019 Grant Avenue. Fort Wayne operations started on April 12, 1954, when Falstaff bought the Berghoff Brewing Company. The corporation also brewed in St. Louis, New Orleans, Galveston, El Paso, Omaha, San Jose, San Antonio and San Francisco. The Falstaff Corporation was bought by Paul Kalmanovitz's brewing conglomerate, General Brewing, in 1975. At that time it made 1.2 million barrels annually at the Fort Wayne plant. Headquarters was moved to Fort Wayne in 1977. After the 1990 closing of the last Falstaff brewery in Fort Wayne, the brand name became a licensed property of Pabst, which continued to produce Falstaff Beer through other breweries. Having sold only 1468 barrels of the brand in 2004, Pabst discontinued production of the Falstaff label in May 2005. Copied from A look into Fort Wayne beer history by Jaclyn Goldsborough published December 26, 2013 in
The News-Sentinel newspaper. Storage tanks were eventually sold to a brewery in China. Falstaff Brewery Closing In Ft. Wayne published November 09, 1989 in the Chicago Tribune.
Last winter, a windstorm damaged the post of our Philo Farnsworth marker in Fort Wayne. Farnsworth (1906-1971) conceived of the idea for electronic television at the age of fourteen and brought his conception to fruition in 1927 with his first electronic transmission. In 1939, he established the Farnsworth Television and Radio Company in Fort Wayne, eventually operating seven television and radio manufacturing plants in Indiana.
We want to thank the Traffic Operations Department of the City of Fort Wayne for their help replacing the post and getting the marker back up at the site this fall and the Hill family for repainting it!
November 21st is known as World Television Day. The credited inventory of the television, Philo Farnsworth, lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He began a factory for televisions in Fort Wayne in 1938. While the factory no longer stands, his house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Ninde-Mead-Farnsworth House, where he lived from 1948-1967. The c. 1910 one-and-one-half story, front-gabled, wood clapboard house features shed roof dormers and wide overhanging eaves common to the Craftsman style, but also features Colonial Revival influences in the design of the main entrance door topped by a fanlight and flanked by multi-paned sidelights, underneath a pedimented portico with curved undersides.
Learn more about the Ninde-Mead-Farnsworth House by visiting SHAARD Database.
SHAARDIndiana Historic Buildings, Bridges, and Cemeteries Map site points to the Indiana Buildings, Bridges, and Cemeteries Map with thousands of location pins for the state and individual counties. The Farnsworth House is IHSSI (County Survey) Survey Number: 003-215-49051. National Register Listing, NR-2260 "Ninde-Meade-Farnsworth House" 1996 IHSSI Fort Wayne Interim Report #003-215-17411. Statement of Significance: Significant for its association with Daniel B. Ninde, Franklin B. Meade, and Philo T. Farnsworth. Ninde originally built the house and was associated with The Wildwood Builders Company. Mead was associated with Lincoln National Life Insurance Company and is credited for positioning the company in an industry-leading role. Farnsworth lived in the house from 1948-1967. Farnsworth submitted a patent in 1927 for what would become the modern day television, and is thus credited as the the inventor of the television set. The house is an outstanding example of Craftsman and Colonial Revival style architecture. Name of Repository: ARCH, Inc., Fort Wayne, Indiana; State Register Listed Date: 01/23/2013; National Register Listed Date: 03/20/2013 NPS File Number: 13000082.
TVs history in jeopardy by WANE 15 News March 24, 2010 on YouTube.
A museum dedicated to a Fort Wayne man who created television is about to be homeless. NewsChannel 15's Matt McCutcheon has the story in this report that aired on 3/24/10.
Page 12, The Capehart - Farnsworth Television & Radio Corporation Fort Wayne, Indiana advertisement in Life Magazine: Life 1947-07-28 Vol. 23, No. 4 by Life Publication date 1947-07-28
Old Federal Building
Located at the southeast corner of Berry and Clinton Streets which housed the Post Office and Federal Courtroom. Built in 1889 and razed in 1938, it was replaced by the new Federal Building on Harrison Street in 1932. A Fort Wayne Through Time Leftovers: The book, Fort Wayne Through Time.
Our city’s first post office was in Hanna & Barnett’s general store at Barr and Columbia Streets. Samuel Hanna, appointed in 1820, was our first postmaster. The post office would go on to have a few other locations, including on Court Street facing the Courthouse, before this magnificent building pictured here was completed in 1889. The site of this post office (also known as the Federal or Government Building) was at the southeast corner of East Berry and Clinton Streets; the lot was purchased in 1883 for $34,000. However, due to the wait for further appropriations, it would not be until 1885 that construction began.
Designed in Washington, D. C. under the direction of Mifflin E. Bell (Supervising Architect of the U. S. Treasury Department) in the Richardsonian Romanesque style popular in the late 1800’s, the building’s turret reached a height of 115 feet above the ground making it among the tallest structures in the city when it was completed at a cost of $215,000.
To the chagrin of officials in Indianapolis, rather than being built of limestone from southern Indiana, it was constructed of buff sandstone from the Stony Point, Michigan quarry owned by Fort Wayne businessman Steven B. Bond. Bond later also supplied the sandstone for the City Building (now the History Center) one block east, completed in 1893.
In addition to the post office on the first floor, beginning in 1903, the building also housed the Federal Court on the second floor as well as other federal offices including the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Marshal’s office. This building was replaced by the new post office and federal courthouse building on Harrison between Douglas and Brackenridge in 1932. The pictured old post office building was razed in 1938 and the site is now part of the parking lot for Citizens Square.
Built in the 1920s at 502 W. Jefferson Blvd. for Firestone Tires. According to McMahon Tires About Us page it was McMahon Tires from 1969 until sometime after they opened their Glenbrook Store in 1981 and before Starbucks Coffee remodeled and opened in 2006. See several photos posted August 8, 2017 including a September 7, 2006
The News-Sentinel newspaperarticle about the building on You are positively from Fort Wayne, if you remember... Archived group only visible to existing members on Facebook.
Founded: 1882, Location: East Berry Street, Fort Wayne (1882â ); 23 East Columbia Street (1887); 125 Calhoun Street (1893, 1899); 1005 Clinton Street ( â1903); 1007 Calhoun Street (1903â 6); 130-132 West Columbia Street (1906â14); 118â122 West Columbia Street (1914â ); 4115 Paper Place (1971, 1995); 4415 Hartman Road (1996â ) In 1882 Samuel S. Fisher purchased the interest of Meyer L. Graff in the Webb & Graff paper firm in Fort Wayne. Samuel was the son of Isaac Fisher, a German-Jewish immigrant butcher, and he worked in his father’s meat market as a young man. After his initial investment, Samuel Fisher rapidly assumed control of Webb & Graff. In March 1882 he bought out A. M. Webb and less than two months later purchased the interest of Harry Graff. Samuel’s brother Max B. Fisher then joined him in the business, which was located on East Berry Street. Read more on Fisher Bros. Paper Company on IndianaHistory.org.
A historic home and farm located in Perry Township. The farmhouse was built about 1860, and is a two-story, Italianate style brick dwelling. It consists of a two-story, main block topped by a low hipped roof and belvedere; a two-story hip roofed wing; and one story gabled kitchen wing. It features a full-width front porch. Also on the property are the contributing gabled rectangular bank barn and shed-roofed pump house. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 from a November 26, 1984 application.
In March I reported about the historic service station at the Five Points intersection of Goshen Rd (Lincoln Highway) in Fort Wayne, IN that the city was giving away to anyone who would move it. Otherwise it would be demolished for a round-about. No one ever claimed it. Here's a circa 1934 photograph of the station courtesy of the Ron Carner Collection. Thanks to Creager Smith for sending this.
Two 1920s service stations at the Five Points intersection on the Lincoln Highway were discussed including the 1934 photo shown on right.
The well-designed filling stations of the early twentieth century prove ideal for adaptive reuse, while still reminding us of our automotive past posted August 16, 2018 by Indiana Landmarks. The stations are a 1926 Colonial Revival-style station 2624 Sherman Street used as a bait shop and 1927 Tudor Revival-style filling station used as a real estate office. The bait shop was razed May 29, 2019 so the intersection can be re-engineered into a round-about intersection. See demolition photo in the article Goodbye, North Side Bait and Tackle by Lisa Esquivel Long published May 29, 2019 on FWBusiness.com.
Known for decades as “Five Points,” the intersection of Goshen Avenue, Sherman Boulevard, and Lillian Avenue is part of the historic Lincoln Highway. Before improvements, the signal-controlled intersection had no pedestrian access, no lighting, poor drainage, long traffic delays, and a history of accidents. The City of Fort Wayneâs Goshen Avenue Improvements Project received the 2021 APWA-Indiana Chapter Public Works Project of the Year in the Transportation category. The $5.3 million Goshen Avenue Improvements Project features a roundabout that improved traffic flow, incorporated pedestrian traffic, and revitalized the neighborhood, including new lighting, an enclosed drainage system, consolidation or removal of multiple access points, and pedestrian friendly walkways along the roadway. The intersection at the roundabout welcomes approximately 18,500 vehicles per day. With the continuous traffic flow from cars no longer stopping at lights, emissions from idling cars is estimated to be reduced by 20%. Copied from GOSHEN AVENUE IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT RECEIVES PROJECT OF THE YEAR AWARD May 20, 2022 on City of Fort Wayne.
Today, the Fort Wayne Public Art Commission and Fort Wayne Public Works commemorated the new â5 Point Spinâ public art sculpture located at the Five Points roundabout at Goshen Avenue and Sherman Boulevard.
This beautiful home known as the Flick House was built in 1897 in what is now the Broad River Neighborhood Association - Fort Wayne. The Flick family made their living as florists in the area. The family operated multiple locations including one in Broad River and one downtown. The building downtown was purchased in 1923 for $210,000 which was a huge sum at the time. The location eventually became the Ash Skyline Plaza owned by Ash Brokerage.
Flood of 1982
President Ronald Reagan came to Fort Wayne where he threw a couple of sand bags for national photo ops in the Lakeside Neighborhood. See our Flood of 1982 page.
Foellinger Foundation
A private, charitable foundation that awards grants in Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana. https://www.foellinger.org/. February 16, 2023 Facebook post announced An Influence for Good, a documentary film now on their website that tells the life story of Helene Foellinger and the three generations of Foellingers who preceded her in Allen County.
Beginning with the immigration of Jacob Foellinger, in 1836, the Foellinger family succeeds for four generations as business-men and -women, with a deep commitment to civic involvement. After the tragic passing of her father, Oscar, the ambitious and driven publisher of The News-Sentinel, Helene Foellingerâjust 25 years old at the timeâleads the newspaper to even greater levels of success.
She and her mother, Esther, form the Foellinger Foundation, formalizing their commitment to uplifting the lives of the residents of Allen County. When Helene passes away with no heirs, the Foellinger Foundation receives her estate. https://www.foellinger.org/documentary
Last night, Foellinger Foundation premiered 'An Influence for Good: The Helene Foellinger Story' at the Arts United Center. We're proud to have worked with the Foundation to share the history of their founders, and the three generations of the Foellingers who preceded them in Allen County.
Everyone in Fort Wayne should watch this documentary to learn how Helene Foellinger became "An Influence for Good." Her influence continues to live on through the many initiatives and causes she funded and continues to fund through the Foellinger Foundation.
Brightpoint also has a cameo appearance in the film as our main offices in Fort Wayne are located in the former News Sentinel Building. Congratulations to all those involved in the telling of this beautiful story. Well done.
The History Center proudly contributed video segments from our collection and footage of our displays for the Foellinger Foundation documentary, "An Influence for Good: The Helene Foellinger Story". Use the link below to watch the documentary on the Foellinger Foundation's website.
Hope Methodist Hospital was located on the corner of Lewis and Harrison Streets from 1917-1953 on the south side of the conservatory block. The conservatory opened November 20, 1983, was named in honor of News-Sentinel publisher Helene Foellinger and Frank Freimann, president of Magnavox. "Surround yourself with nature at the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory ~ an oasis in the heart of downtown Fort Wayne Indiana. Visit the Showcase Garden with its lush seasonal displays, wander through the Tropical Garden where orchids and palms thrive in the shadows of a cascading waterfall, or retreat to the quiet beauty of the Desert Garden." Fort Wayneâs Botanical Conservatory a Breath of Fresh Air on Visit Fort Wayne blog.
Here is the second video segment from the History Center's collection that was provided for "An Influence for Good: The Helene Foellinger Story". It is from our collection of WANE-TV videotapes and is from groundbreaking of the Botanical Conservatory on October 9, 1981. #sociallyhistory
The FoellingerâFreimann Botanical Conservatory is an enclosed conservatory in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. Opened in 1983, the conservatory contains a 25,000-square-foot (2,300 m2) seasonal showcase garden, a tropical oasis display, with a waterfall, Sonoran Desert display, and outdoor terrace and exploration garden, encompassing a total of 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m2). The gardens display over 1,200 plants of 502 different species and 72 types of cactus. From Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia .
Many of us living in the area drive down Fairfield each day without noticing this beautiful home. Built in 1872 by Jacob Foellinger, a wealthy individual who was a shoe merchant. The current home sits on W. Wildwood; however, in 1872, Wildwood did not exist and the rectangle bound by Fairfield, Hoagland, Pontiac, and Kinsmoor appeared to be an open plot (as of an 1897 map).
The plot thickens though as you read the obituary stating the home is on 441 Fairfield. Perhaps this was the original address. Nevertheless, this is a beautiful home worthy of us spending some time to learn more about.
With black & white photo. The Foellinger family's home on Old Mill Road was designed by prominent local architect Guy Mahurin in the late 1920s. Mahurin also designed Fort Wayne’s Scottish Rite Auditorium, Chamber of Commerce, Plymouth Congregational Church, and other iconic structures.
Since September 22, 1917, twin monuments have marked this rural intersection. Four Presidents Corners is the intersection of Maples and Sampson Roads in southeastern Allen County, Indiana, just northwest of Monroeville. This intersection is the junction of four townships, each named for a former president. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and Andrew Jackson (the third, fourth, fifth, and seventh presidents) are the namesakes of the four townships. Copied from the Four Presidents Corners page of the Four Presidents Corners Historical Society Monroeville, Indiana.
About 1 year ago (February 28,2012) We wondered if any of you had ever heard of "Four Presidents Corner" in Allen County, Indiana. Several of you knew it was where four Townships, with Presidential names joined each other. From such modest beginnings, it has evolved into the ever popular Hofer and Davis, Inc. - LAND SURVEYORS "Riddle of the Week". Just last week when heading to Monroeville, Indiana, we snapped this picture of the monument documenting the site.
Owned by German born druggist named M.L. Frankenstein, located at the corner of Barr and Washington. The old Foellinger Building now occupies this spot. Listed in the 1890 city directory. Frankenstein Drug Store, 1890 by
Randy Harter, Fort Wayne historian and authorpublshed September 23, 2014 in Fort Wayne Reader. Frankenstein Medicine bottles can be found for sale online.
The refrigerator "Frigidaire was founded as the Guardian Frigerator Company in Fort Wayne, Indiana and developed the first self-contained refrigerator (invented by Nathaniel B. Wales and Alfred Mellowes) in 1916." copied from Frigidaire on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia and Our History Frigidaire on Frigidaire-la.com. "Two of the first home refrigerators both appeared in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where, in 1911, General Electric company unveiled a unit invented by a French monk. In 1915 the first "Guardian" refrigerator - a predecessor of the Frigidaire - was assembled in a wash house in a Fort Wayne backyard" copied from The Story of the Refrigerator formerly on the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers www.aham.org website. A father of the refrigerator in City was home for many inventions by Michael Hawfield from the archives of
The News-Sentinel newspaperpublished December 13, 1993. There is also a YouTubeRefrigerator Marketing: "The Proof Parade" 1937 Frigidaire published March 27, 2013.
FACT 
at 1510 Fairfield Avenue.
which used it as a distribution center. Finally, from the mid-80s to the 2000s, 1510 Fairfield was home to Karen's Antique Mall.
but its basement remains available for lease! The basement would be a great speakeasy, retro game lounge, nightclub, or tasting room! 
