The Manse
This postcard sent as a Christmas greeting by the Rev. Dr. Eugene Abbott and his wife in 1922, one year after the First Presbyterian Church purchased the house as its manse (a Scottish term designating a church-owned property provided for the minister). An examination of the Abstract indicates that this Colonial Revival style home was built between 1914 when the lot sold for $2,500 and 1921 when the Presbyterians purchased the property for $9,500.
Over the years, modifications to the roof and porte cochère have changed the exterior appearance of the original structure. From 1937, when the Rev. Dr. Abbott, in poor health, resigned after 26 years of service until its sale in 1944, the house continued to serve as the Presbyterian manse although it was occasionally vacant or leased to others if the congregation did not have a permanent pastor. In the early years of WWII, a Westminster College fraternity was occupying the residence when a fire broke out. Along with other considerations, extensive damage to the third floor and roof prompted the church to sell the house for less than half the original purchase price. In repairing the structure, the new owner altered the roof line and eliminated the dormers on the third floor. In 1946, he resold the house for more than triple his purchase price.
In the 1922 postcard, the open porte cochère (on the right) has already been replaced by a rudimentary driveway leading to a small garage - just as carriages had given way to automobiles. One owner divided the house into two apartments, enclosing the porte cochère to provide a separate entrance to the upstairs. The interior stairway to the second and third floors was also removed. When the current owners moved in and restored the structure to its single family origins, one of their first projects was to reconstruct the interior stairway.