Sam the Builder

By Karen Walk

If you have little boys, or even grandsons, you may have heard of “Bob the Builder.”  Well, at the historical society, we have learned about “Sam the Builder.”

Earlier, in researching records at the court house, we found that the Washington Ames House was on the tax rolls in 1900, and there was no information earlier than that. By the Victorian style of the house, I wondered if it might have been a little earlier than that. But, we couldn’t prove anything different.

Recently, while reading the Wichita County History Book Vol 1, page 203, I came across some information to document the building of the “Big House!”  In the history book’s story of the Samuel Anderson Robison family, written by Mildred Robison, it says Samuel Robison was a builder and that at the time the history book was written, (1980) there were two homes still standing that Sam had built.  One being the W.B. Washington house, and the other the Felix Jones house, respectively the Margie Ames Taggert and the Buddy Allaman houses.   Then it goes on to say that after his wife passed away, Sam left Wichita County, in 1896 and went to Oregon and did not return to Wichita County until he was brought back for burial.  So, we now know the house had to have been built before 1896.

There it was right before our eyes!  This very same article had been copied several years ago because Samuel Anderson Robison was a Civil War Veteran, so, stories, clippings, and pictures had been copied and put  into the Civil War Veteran notebooks.  And we missed the information because we were not yet researching the Washington house.

The story says that Samuel and his second son, Winfred built the house. Winfred was called Fred.  Fred was the father of Galen Robison, and Samuel was his grandfather.

Also, we have a small article written in the Leoti Standard in October 13, 1892, which says, “County Attorney Washington is still enhancing the value and beauty of his home, by the judicious and liberal application of fresh paint.”   We wondered was it the house at 110 North 3rd street or another house?  Finding the history book story now tells us that, it is probably the present day house and it was built before 1892. 

Then in the Leoti Standard on April 23, 1896, it says…..”S.A. Robison is building quite an extensive chicken house for W.B. Washington.”  

In an envelope, along with the Deed to the house, was a small scrap of paper in Margie’s hand writing.  The names of Samuel Robison and Fred Robison are written on it.  We didn’t really know what that meant at the time, but, now we do.  Then, Lorna found some blueprints.  What a find!  She was so excited until she looked at them and realized it was two proposal for remodeling the home, not the original blueprints.  There were no dates on the blueprints, but the name of the owner of the house was Herschel Washington.  It had to have been after 1934 when W.B. passed away and he inherited it.  

And again pops up the Robison name.  The Architect on the blueprint was Emmit M. Robison.  So, was he related to the other Robisons?  Researching that name, I find that in the 1930 Federal Census, Herschel and Emmit M. were room mates in Jackson Co., Missouri. And at that time the occupation of Herschel was a Magazine Editor and Emmit was a Draftsman/Architect. 

We are very happy that the extensive remodeling project was never done and the house has retained its historical integrity.  So now, do you suppose it may have been Sam the builder, or maybe the 19 year old son, Fred, that painted the “face on the parlor wall?” Hmm!

Marie’s Mother’s Day

By Karen Walk

Recently the Wichita County Historical Society received a letter from Carole Johnson and Darlene Zentz, daughters of Marie Cibulski Van Den Langenburg, of Janesville, Wisconsin.   The letter included a check to be used for a project in the restoration of the Washington – Ames House in honor of their mother.  A certificate was made by the historical society and sent to her family to present to their mother on Mother’s Day 2010.    

Marie Cibulski, daughter of Walter and Lula Cibulski lived in the Washington - Ames House as a child after the depression and dust bowl years.  Some time after the passing of W.B. Washington in 1934, Walter and Lula rented the home from Herschel Washington, heir of W.B. & Julia.  Marie loved living in the beautiful home.  She felt like a princess as she walked down the grand staircase with its elegantly turned spindles and carved newel post.  The woodwork in this home is still outstanding. Years later the steps and upstairs hall were carpeted by Margie Ames Taggert in a striking red. It is in beautiful condition and will be left on the stairs as a remembrance of Margie. The wallpaper has been selected to co-ordinate with the red carpet and the hall will be decorated in true Victorian style.  The entrance hall was where a visitor got their first impression and they only had one chance to do that, so that area was decorated with the finest of furnishings. After the walls are finished, a settee and other accessories will be placed on the landing near the top of the steps. As a person stands in the entrance hall, they can look up at this elegant area.

The decision was made by the historical society to use the money from the family to purchase wallpaper for the entrance hall in honor of Marie Cibulski Van Den Langenburg.  

Marie has not been inside of her childhood home since she left Leoti for Wisconsin as a teenager. The children and grandchildren of Marie would like to bring their mother (grandmother) to Leoti for a tour of the house and would also like to participate in a working project at the house.  The tentative date for their arrival will be June 16.  What an exciting and fun memory for Marie from her loving family!  We hope to get lots of stories and memories recorded while she is here.

Marie has been to Leoti to visit the graves ofher grandparents through the years and always longed to go inside of the bighouse.  Soon her dream will cometrue.  
  

May 1, 2010

By Karen Walk

We had another great work day at the Washington - Ames House today.  Deb Case and her sister, Sandra Haile from Las Vegas, NV, came to help with the scraping wallpaper project.   Very soon afterwards, April Hernandez came. Wow!  What a crew!  I can’t believe how much we got done today.   We found that water and fabric softener in a spray bottle works great to help in removing the 4 or 5 layers of wallpaper, much of it coming off one layer at a time.  April thought we needed a fund to buy fabric softener!  We all had a good laugh at that one.  It seems when you get a group of women together doing a big job, it doesn’t seem quite as big! 

There were so many other events going on today that we didn’t expect much of a turnout, but were very well pleased that we had 7 of us working, 6 women and our good buddy,Don French, who has been working on making new screens for the exterior of the house.  He said that there are 39 windows, and we believe him! 

 In the afternoon, Jeanene French and Glenda Ford came and worked on the wallpaper stripping project.  Glenda brought a steamer and went to work on the big wall in the dining room.  Boy, she got a lot done.  She also came up with the idea of getting a bucket of water and a rag and just “glob on” the water and she got a lot of wallpaper off.  But she may find that she used some muscles that she forgot she had.  We’ll see how all of these girls feel tomorrow morning when they get out of bed!  I told them the best cure for that is to come back tomorrow and work those same muscles again.  I don’t know if they really believed that! Ha!

 We had a special little visitor.  We are going to call him, “the Guardian of the Big House.”   When the house was being built, and before the first layer of wallpaper was hung, a worker stained and varnished the woodwork and left us a smile. On one of the walls was a face made from the stain.  He is so cute that we had to take a picture of him.  At least, I think it’s a “him,” but then, how do you tell?    I almost feel bad about covering him up!  As I have said before, “If only walls could talk.”  I bet the person that did that, didn’t figure that at least 110 years later, he would make a bunch of ladies laugh.

 We did have a few real visitors, too.  Peggy Gillian came and Jeanene gave her a tour of the house.  And then since it is May Day, here came my 5 grandchildren (known as the Smadey Bunch) with a cute May Day card that they had made. It had some verses of Scripture about seeds on it and attached was a package of Pansy seeds.  What a sweet surprise! Lorna Wiegers, who knows her way around the big house, gave a tour to Emma Cook.

 We will soon have all of the wallpaper off of the parlor walls.  It is looking great, except for all of the mess. We will hang wall liner after we have the walls clean and the cracks all filled and sanded.  Then the wallpaper can be hung.  It is going to be beautiful.  I hope others will come join the fun.  And if you don’t like to do wallpaper, there are other projects to do.

   

 

Saturday, April 10, 2010
By Karen Walk

We had a great workday at the Washington Ames House today.  A little cooler than we expected, but not bad.  The morning started about 8:30 am with Curt, Lana, Chris and Dennis Kreutzer, Donna and Colton Northrup, Dean Wiegers and Kelley Burch working in the yard.  Curtis dug a rose garden with a backhoe from Cargill.  An antique rose bush from Donna Krenzel was planted in the garden.  This rose bush came from the old Johnson’s Store, a business that was in Leoti many years ago.  Donna said this is a very, very old bush.  Several other rose bushes were transplanted from the north side of the  “big house” property.  A vintage bird bath will be mounted on a disc, painted and put into the garden a little later.   Ties, mulch and some of Margie’s prize rocks were added to finish the “historic rose garden.”  We’ve still got a little extra dirt pile that we will go ahead and use to fill small holes and low places in the yard.  

The guys, along with Lana and Donna worked removing a lot of tree stumps and a huge cactus from the yard, with the help of the back hoe.  Those young boys did great swinging axes to cut off the roots of the trees.  They stayed pretty clear of the cactus, though!    Kelley was on hand with a Wheatland Electric tractor loading the cactus on a trailer,  filling in huge holes, and loading several big trailer loads of yard waste to be taken to the landfill.  Lana and Dennis were our truck drivers in their pickup and a Cargill trailer from the mill.  It was great to have such hard working people and their equipment.  

While all of this action was going on outside, there were a number of people inside working.  Jeanene French, Deana Reh, Virginia Knobbe, Glenda Ford were busy removing wall paper in the parlor.  Don French and Donna Northrup were out on the back porch, priming wood for new screens, and putting several together.  That will be great to have them all done.  Hank Knobbe was in the basement cleaning up the furnace room and then worked on another project replacing a bunch of round headed screws with countersunk screws in a large piece of peg board that is hanging on a wall.  I know this sounds real weird, but… trust me, I think it will look cool after it is wallpapered!  We will have to get some pictures of this to show you all what we are doing there!   

The coffee pot was on this morning with cookies by Jeanene. Then we all stopped for a great lunch prepared and served by the WCHS football players at the Western Hardware.  Throughout the day, we had several people taking a tour of the house, these included Kenny Farr, Tere Howard, Charlie Blau and Doris Langdon.  People are always impressed with the beautiful woodwork and especially in the fact that it has never been painted.  All in all, we had a great day and really appreciate everyone’s  help.

     

 
 

Karen Walk - Design and make studio glass windows
Glenda Ford - Photographs
Derald Walk - Use of trailer to haul waste to landfill
Wheatland Electric - Use of tractor with scoop
Cargill - Use of Bobcat with backhoe
Cargill - Mill trailer to haul waste to landfill
Glenda Ford - steamer to remove wallpaper
Marcia Mehl - Use of Little Giant Ladder system
Derald Walk - Mowers
Marcia Mehl - American Flag
Marcia Mehl - two iron benches
Kathryn Ford Memorial - ornate ceiling fan above staircase

Curt Walk
Derald Walk and his mower
Karen Walk
Don French
Deanna Reh
Arden Knobbe
Virginia Knobbe
Dean Wiegers
Jeanene French
Donna Northrup
Colton Northrup
Kelly Burch and the Wheatland Electric tractor with scoop
Curtis Kreutzer and a Cargill Bobcat with back hoe
Lanna Kreutzer
Chris Kreutzer
Dennis Kreutzer
Glenda Ford
Deb Case
April Hernandez
Sandra Haile
Cade Crouch
Laney Crouch
Shannon Crouch
Lane Wells
Ann Wiles
Terry Haines - roofing labor
Roger Long - electrical labor
Jim King - sheet rock labor
Bob Nichols - sheet rook labor
Donna Nichols - wallpapering upper stair landing

Bernice Crouch - Amber stained glass light shade
Marcia Mehl - Green stained glass light fixture
Bernice Crouch - door knob and lock set for parlor door - 1/2
Jeanene French- door knob and lock set for parlor door - 1/2
Western Hardware - Russ and Kathy Wiegers - roofing materials
Janet Droste - Wallpaper
Woofter Construction & Irrigation - pvc pipe for electrical upgrade

The family of Marie Cibulski van den Langenberg
Marie van den Langenberg
Jeanene French - Funds to hire an exterior Painting Consulting Company

We now have a bid to replace the roof - $12,400.00! 
The historical society board has decided to use historic asphalt shingles on the roof and donations are now being accepted.  Remember, all donations to the project, in any amount, are tax-deductible and will be publicly recognized.
Future costs include a wiring inspection and some wiring replacement; push button light switches, outlets and plates; heating system (and possibly cooling), several window glass replacements; wall paper and border; wood,screen wire and brackets for window screen replacement; wood to repair the front porch rail and newell posts; a new parlor door (which will have  a beautiful studio glass insert), and lots of miscellaneous supplies for repairing wall cracks, etc.
We will be listing more needs in the future!