I had no idea that this house was historically significant when I photographed it. It stands among many others along the Michigan Road on the north side of Plymouth, Indiana. I took pictures of many of these houses, but lingered longest before this one. It had the strongest presence.
When blogger Hoosier Reborn saw this photo in my Old US 31 trip report, he pointed out that this house was built by Plymouth’s “first mayor/judge/state senator/land speculator.” I had stumbled onto some history without knowing it! And then, while doing research on the Michigan Road, I came upon this image of the house as it stood in 1876. It’s from the David Rumsey map collection; click here to see the page from the Indiana atlas from which it is taken. While the house appears to be out in the country in this image, today homes are tightly packed along this block, and you have to drive a couple miles north from here to reach the country.
I’m sharing this image because I thought it was nine kinds of cool to have stumbled upon it after having photographed the house in modern times without knowing its significance. I also really enjoy comparing then to now as I follow the old roads.
The atlas called this “the residence of Judge Horace Corbin.” I did some Internet sleuthing on his name and learned that he came to Marshall County in about 1852. He became a prominent lawyer, which launched his career in government, including his stint as Plymouth’s first mayor when the town became a city in 1873. He built this house in 1865 and lived in it with his wife until 1903.
The house has been restored in the past twenty years. My hat is off to the current owners for the effort and expense involved in keeping this link to the city’s history alive.
Two other significant older houses on the Michigan Road are the Boardman house in Indianapolis (here) and the Fairmount house in Madison (here).
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