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The Wright House is a stately Victorian style home built by C.M. Wright I on a five-acre tract of land on upper North Main Street in Altamont, where originally stood a two-story frame house that was the Wright family home. In 1889, anticipating the building of the present home, the frame house was moved across North Main Street onto an acre plot that C.M. Wright I had purchased for five hundred dollars from heirs of John Ehlers; and it remained occupied by the Wrights while their new house was being built. C.M. Wright had aquired additional land north and west of the first five acres until he owned twenty-seven acres lying west of North Main to the railroad and north of West Jackson to Union Cemetery, and also four town lots on the south side of West Jackson. During the Wrights' occupancy of the first house, a number of
outbuildings were constructed for the new house; a large barn on West Jackson, a carriage
shed across West Jackson, an ice house immediately east of the barn (storing ice gathered
from the B&O "tank pond"), a smaller barn and chicken house some
seventy-five feet north of the large barn, a summer kitchen, a smoke house, a fruit cellar
and a wood house all surrounding the back yard and the barn lot; the grove of woods was
then an orchard. The Wright House was built in 1889 by C.M. Wright I, who studied designs and planned the house and most of the details himself. The builder was C.H. Spilman of Toledo, Illinois who agreed to build the house for a total price of seventeen thousand nine hundred sixty-five dollars with the owner furnishing the materials. The total cost, not including furnishing, was approximately thirty-five thousand dollars. The white stones in the foundation and the sidewalk are Bedford limestone from Southern Indiana. The bricks (four hundred thousand) came from St. Louis, Missouri. The cornices and window canapies are galvanized iron; the gutters are copper; the front veranda is cast iron and the original roof was Pennsylvania slate. The front yard was originally enclosed by a cast iron picket fence (painted dark red). Since, in 1889, Altamont had as yet few, if any, of its modern public facilities, The Wright House was originally designed to be virtually self-sufficient. It had, for example, an artificial gas lighting system. An underground tank north of the house was filled with "high test" gasoline, and the gas evaporated there and was piped into the house and distributed throughout by the pressure of a piston powered by the slow decline of a huge drum filled with stones. This was called a Springfield Gas Machine. In each of the main rooms there was a chandelier of brass, with four or five glass-globed lamps; and there were a number of wall-bracket fixtures throughout the house. For 1889 this was very "modern" lighting, and it was the only such system in Altamont. It was used until the mid-1920s, when the house was wired for electricity. Only two of the original gas light fixtures remain today; the newel post lamp on the first floor and the hanging lamp in the first floor hall. Since matches had to be available in each room to light the lamps, there were, and still are, small iron match safes in many of the rooms of the house. The house had, and still has, a water system which was originally supplied from a double cistern west of the house filled with rain water from the roof, which was lifted, by a large pump, into a lead-lined tank in the attic, whence the water moved by gravity to the kitchen, bathroom and second-floor lavatories, one line passing through a hot water tank heated by the kitchen stove. In the 1920s the house was connected to the city water system. The original heating system was a large boiler in the basement, fired by soft coal. In 1977 a gas furnace was installed. The Wright House has 18 furnished rooms, including seven bedrooms. Much of the original furnishings are still in the rooms. It has a full basement and an unpartitioned attic loft, some twenty-five feet high at the roofs' peak. The ceilings in the house are seven and one-half feet in the basement, eleven feet on the first floor and ten and one-half feet on the second floor. The woodwork in the east wing is cherry and in the west wing is oak, and the furniture woods in the wings match the woodwork, except for occasional walnut pieces which the Wrights brought from their old house, hence, could date back to the 1870s or possibly even in the 1860s. There are fireplaces in the parlor, library, living and dining rooms, and each has a marble mantelpiece. The quality and durability with which the house was built and furnished are strikingly exemplified by the mirrors over the mantels which are bevel-edged and still, after one hundred-seven years, in good shape. There are many pictures, photos, paintings, and drawings of this wonderful old house on display in the house and various other locations. One such picture in the house was taken not long after the house was finished and later inscribed as "Maplewood", which was what C.M. Wright II called the place. Notable in this photo is the Victorian style landscaping, featuring flower beds and trellises. The house's modern landscaping, with shrubs and hedges, was effected by C.M. Wright II in the 1930s. On the first floor is located the parlor, the library, the livingroom, dining room, kitchen and one bedroom. On the second floor are five bedrooms and a former bedroom that displays medical items from The Wright Building. The second generation to occupy the home was Dr. C. M. Wright II, who practiced medicine in Altamont for 65 years, his wife and young son, Charles M. Wright III. After retiring in 1977 as a corporate attorney for Shell Oil, Charles III moved back to Altamont to live in the old family home. Charles died in 2001. The Wright home was left in a trust to be preserved, maintained and operated as a public institution by a trustee of the Effingham State Bank. The Wright House Property not for profit) board included the bank trustee and community members. On May 8, 1986 the house was entered in the National Register of Historic Places. The House is open Sundays in June, July and August from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Closed most holidays. Group tours are given by appointment any other day. Phone 618-483-6397 for more information. Admission is $4.00 for adults and $1.00 for students (6-18 years).Special Events:Christmas Trees at Dr. Wright's House - Last Sat. & Sun. in November from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m and first Sat. & Sun. in December from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. The house will be decorated with trees provided by Altamont Chamber of Commerce businesses. Admission is $5.00 for adults and $1.00 for students. |
Copyright © 2000
City of Altamont
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