Mark the Dates

Leigh Gross Day, Susan’s close friend from childhood to adulthood, was a professional photographer and writer.  Often using Susan’s house and yard as background for her photographs (click here and here for examples), she authored several books and was published in national periodicals. 

Leigh created one unique book for her daughter Henrietta.  It was an album of photos embellished with colored drawings depicting Henrietta’s childhood.  This very personal book survives today in the Sangamon Valley Collection in Lincoln Library, Springfield’s public library.  One page in the book is a series of photos of Leigh and her daughter Henrietta with the notation in the bottom left hand corner reading: “Pictures taken and finished by—Susie L. Dana, May 2^nd 1900.”

Due to space limitations, I only printed one picture from that page in Susan’s biography. Since all photos in the printed book are black and white, and there are no images in the e book version, the full impact of Susan’s artistry is missed in Susan Lawrence: The Enigma in the Wright House. The staff and volunteers in the Sangamon Valley Room were able to scan the entire page for me, and a miniature of the stunning colored result is above.

I plan to use the full image as a part of a special tour entitled “Living the Wright Way” which I will be leading  at 10:15 every other Saturday morning at the Dana-Thomas House during August and September.  Guests on the tour will discover through images, artifacts, and anecdotes how Susan showcased the visual and performing arts, entertained friends and celebrities, and made a home for her family in her Wright-designed mansion.  Tours will be limited to 15, so reservations at 217-782-6776 are required and donations suggested. The exact dates are August 3, 17, and 31 and September 14 and 28. I look forward to sharing my discoveries with old and new friends of Susan and me.

A Visit to the Old Neighborhood

835 South Fourth Street

Tim Smith, president of the Dana-Thomas House Foundation, announced this week that the vacant house at 835 South Fourth Street (one-half block south of the Dana-Thomas House) has been donated to the Foundation. According to The State Journal-Register, Smith said, “We have a mission to improve the area around the Dana-Thomas House.” If the Foundation Board plans to restore the block to its original grandeur, they have a big job ahead of them.

According to the 1902 Springfield City Directory, there were 16 families on the west side of the 800 block of South Fourth Street the year Susan commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to remodel her father’s home. The house now owned by the Foundation was the home of the Lucius M. Castle family that year. Mr. Castle was the principal at Springfield High School. He had been on the faculty for several years before assuming the principalship in 1899. His wife was on the Board of Directors of the Springfield Woman’s Club, and presented a program at the Lawrence House for the Art Department of the Club (Susan was chair of that department.) on “How to Hang a Picture” in December of 1895.

Their neighbors to the north were the family of Christopher Columbus Brown, an attorney who was admitted to the bar by none other than Abraham Lincoln. Brown’s wife Betty was the daughter of John Stuart, one of Lincoln’s law partners. Lincoln attended their wedding. The William L. Gross family lived on the south side of the Castle home. Gross was a respected judge and close friend of Rheuna Lawrence, Susan’s father. Both Brown and Gross were honorary pall bearers at Rheuna’s funeral. The house on the other side of the Gross home was occupied by the family of George (another attorney) and Leigh Gross Day, artist, author, and close friend of Susan (see Chapter 16 of Susan Lawrence: The Enigma in the Wright House).

The Day home was on the south corner of the block, and the family of Mathias Bartel, manufacturer and dealer of boots and shoes, lived on the north corner, across the street from the Lawrence home. A diverse group of Springfield citizens inhabited the elegant homes in between. Among them were an engineer, a teacher of elocution, an entrepreneur, two widows, and a jeweler/optician. Not surprisingly, the neighborhood was called “Aristocracy Hill.” Today many of the houses are replaced or gone. (The site of the Day home is a parking lot.)  Most of the eight buildings remaining have been converted to apartment houses or vacated.  Improving the neighborhood seems a monumental task. I wish the Foundation Board well.

801 South Fourth Street Now

801 South Fourth Street (Bartel Home) Then

Courtin’ in the Courtyard

Leigh Gross Day, a professional photographer and one of Susan’s closest friends, created this composite picture of a lovely young woman being wooed over tea by a dapper gentleman in the courtyard of the Lawrence House. The image comes from a book of photos and poems by Mrs. Day entitled Borderland and the Blue Beyond published in 1908. The photo not only gives us a look at the styles of the day, but we can get a glimpse of the multiple plants that adorned the yard at that time. A team of volunteers is attempting to bring back to the Dana-Thomas House the natural beauty that surrounds the couple.

Under the leadership of Susan Helm, 12 to 15 University of Illinois Extension Service Sangamon-Menard Master Gardeners have been researching, planting, and maintaining the long neglected vegetation in the yard this spring. They have planted a butterfly garden, an herb garden (near the kitchen door, of course), and two new trees–a weeping Japanese maple and a sumac tree. As a result of the team’s research into what plants and flowers were grown in gardens 100 years ago, visitors now see hosta, ferns, estilbe, lilies of the valley, and forget-me-nots in various beds around the property. Small plaques identifying plants and trees will be placed throughout the yard.

To achieve this, the Master Gardeners have partnered with multiple individuals and organizations. The Dana-Thomas House Foundation is the primary financial supporter of the project. The staff at the Jens Jensen designed Lincoln Memorial Garden provided plants and technical assistance for the butterfly garden. Guy Sternberg from Starhill Forest Arboretum aided in the selection of the trees.

Gardens are always a work in progress, and this project is no exception. The team plans to improve the soil in the beds and to continue the weeding and maintenance tasks. Future projects include yet another partnership. The Land of Lincoln Water Gardening Society has agreed to fund the repair of the cracks in the reflecting pool and the purchase of heirloom water lilies. The Master Gardener team also envisions re-planting the perimeter beds with flowers and greenery similar to those in the Leigh Gross Day photos. When the replication is complete, the courtyard will be the perfect setting for a 2012 romantic encounter. Tea and rabbit are optional.