LeMars Globe-Post
May 30, 1963
CAROLINA TERRACE TO BE RAZED.
The stately old Carolina Terrace at 11 2nd Avenue N.W. in LeMars will be torn down in the near future, according to the former owners, who have sold the property to APCO oil company.
Tenants will be vacating by July 1. (Photo by Bud’s Advertising service.)
A new super service station will be built at the corner.
The LeMars Daily Sentinel, July 11, 1963
Pages 1, 2, 10
THE CAROLINA TERRACE, as seen from the southeast, soon will disappear from the LeMars scene. The stately old house built in 1892 is being demolished to make way for a service station. Of English colonial architecture with gabled roofs and a variety of bay and dormer windows, the structure has dominated the corner of Plymouth St. and 2nd Ave, NW.
This photo was taken Tuesday after the wrecking crew had begun work inside. The appropriate parked car at the curb is a 1929 Ford model A owned by Fred Haring, route 3, LeMars.
Tear Down 1892 House
CONSIDERABLE interest has been expressed in the wrought iron fence, shown here, which encloses two sides of the Carolina Terrace. An auction is to be held to dispose of salvaged fixtures. Sod on the terraced lawn was rolled up early this week for use elsewhere.
Wreckers have begun tearing a page from early LeMars history when family life was lived on a grander scale.
Work began Monday to demolish the Carolina Terrace, a stately residence which has dominated the corner of Plymouth St. and 2nd Ave. NW since before the turn of the century.
Built by LeMars banker, W. H. Dent in 1892, the 21-room house was the scene of many social gatherings and dances during the period of occupancy by the Dent family and later by Mr. and Mrs. A. Reichman and their nine children.
Eighteen years ago the property was purchased by Mrs. Annie McCormack, who at the time was operating the Union Hotel. She sold the Union hotel to Dr. Paul Brauch and opened an apartment hotel in the “Reichman house.” (Ironically, the Union hotel was closed by Dr. Brauch, July 1.)
It was Mrs. McCormack who named the structure the “Carolina Terrace” for her native state of South Carolina.
Mrs. McCormack moved the bus depot and telegraph office to the Carolina Terrace, remodeled the third story, and installed plumbing in the two upper floor apartments. Later, her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Marcene McCormack, opened a beauty salon at the rear of the house.
After Mrs. McCormack retired and left here to make home with daughters, the Carolina Terrace was sold a year ago to Earl (Shorty) Hentges, John Mayrose and Selmer Bergerson. They took possession July 1, 1962.
Mr. Bergerson, former superintendent of parks here, left earlier this year to make his home in California and sold his interest to the other two partners.
Announcement recently was made that Mr. Hentges and Mr. Mayrose had sold the property to the Anderson-Prichard Corp. of Oklahoma City, who will construct an APCO service station on the corner lot. The sale was handled by the Bill Pew Realty Co.
Upon construction of the new gasoline station, there will be three service stations on the corner. The First Baptist Church is located on the southwest [corner] of the intersection.
Workmen for the J. Daily Wrecking Co. of Sioux City by Thursday had removed the roof from the rear wing of the house, which formerly served as quarters for servants.
An auction sale will be cried by H. H. Jones, Sioux City, at 3 p.m. Saturday to sell whatever can be salvaged.
Mr. Hentges said items which will be offered for sale include the wrought iron fencing, a prominent feature of the lawn on both street sides of the house, flagstones imported from Italy in which the fence is imbedded, seven fire places, house timbers believed to have come from England and other fixtures.
According to Mr. Hentges, all the fireplaces are constructed of a different type of wood. They ranged from cherry and walnut to maple and oak, with ceramic tile facing.
Originally used to heat the house, the fireplaces have gas logs which also will be sold. Two gas furnaces heated the structure in recent years. One of the fireplaces is located in the basement.
Other articles to be sold are two antique hutches and several stained glass windows used to light entrance hallways and bedrooms.
Mr. Hentges said the Daily firm has 60 days in which to complete the job of demolishing the house, with work to be done Sept. 1. Mr. Daily, Monday received a permit from the city to demolish, posting a $25,000 property damage bond and $50,000 public liability bond, according to city officials.
Apartment tenants were requested to move several weeks ago and the Mam’selle Beauty Salon owned by Mrs. Madeline Dalton, Cherokee, will occupy space in the Athens Real Estate building now under construction. Elmer Athens said the portion of the building for the beauty salon is to be ready next week.
The Bus Depot and Telegraph office were moved several years ago from the Carolina Terrace to the home of Mrs. Arlene Wycoff on Highway 75.
Original owner of the house, W. H. Dent who was president of the LeMars bank established here in 1872. The business has since become the First National bank. He was born in 1843 in Illinois and moved west in 1875. The Dents had two daughters, the late Mrs. Alex (Edith) Reichman, Chicago, and the late Mrs. Harriet Scott, who moved to Canada. Both girls received their educations in England.
Mr. Dent selected a style of architecture which was called at that time “modern” English colonial. These two storied houses were typified by two imposing entrances, brick chimneys, pillared porches and living rooms high above the ground to catch the breeze.
Main entrance to the Carolina Terrace was on the Central Ave. side, with large double doors, and a long porch around the south and east. A front extension of the house and porch jutted out to the southeast, facing the business district.
The imposing structure featured tall gables, reminiscent of the House of Seven Gables in Salem, Mass., made famous by Hawthorne. Windows in the gables and dormers have leaded glass.
The top stories were sided with rived shingles designed to catch a pattern of shadows in the sunlight, one of the favorite decorations of master builders. The ground floor is clapboards. Vertical matched boards with curved designs and ribbing added interest to the mansion.
Planned to resemble an English town house, servants’ wing was at the back with a sunken garden surrounded by a lilac hedge.
A. Reichman bought the house after his family of nine was nearly grown. The young people entertained their friends at many social events in the rambling rooms and halls.
Born in 1840 in Germany, Mr. Reichman came to this country as a child with his parents to Buffalo, N.Y. He became a dealer here in 1877 of dry goods, notions, ready made clothing, gents’ furnished goods, hats, caps, groceries, crockery, glassware, etc., according to an 1882 History of Western Iowa.
Miss Carrie Reichman, now of Sioux City, lived in the house alone for many years after other family members moved away and her parents died. She sold the house to Mrs. MacCormack.
Other members of the well known Reichman family were: Mrs. R. J. (Minnie) Koehler of LeMars, who died recently in Sioux City; Alex Reichman of Chicago; Mrs. Rose Hoffman, of Sioux Falls; Eugene who was killed when he was thrown from a horse in Dakota; and Ernestine (Tena) of North Dakota. These five children are dead.
In addition to Carrie, there are Mrs. Theresa Wilson in Glendale, Calif., Monty of Lead, S.D., and Mrs. Hermina Raven in Sioux City.
The house in which they lived has stood throughout years as a silent testimonial to another way of life. Then, as now, progress moves on. Despite the death of an historic LeMars landmark this summer, several million dollars of new building construction here has captured the interest of most residents as the clapboards and timbers come down of the Carolina Terrace.
LeMars Daily Sentinel
July 15, 1963
Buyers and Spectators crowded around the porch of the Carolina Terrace Saturday afternoon for one of the most unique auction sales ever held in LeMars. Buyers purchased fireplaces for $19, stained glass windows for $22 and brass door hinges for $1.50 each. The old home is being demolished this summer, with a new service station to take its place. |
UNIQUE AUCTION DRAWS CROWD.
Brass door hinges decorated with butterflies sold for $1.50 each and stained glass windows went for as high as $22 at an unusual auction of salvaged items from the Carolina Terrace held Saturday afternoon.
A large crowd of spectators was on hand to bid and to inspect the 21-room house built in 1892, which is being torn down to make way for a service station at the corner of Plymouth St. and 2nd Ave. NW.
Touring the three-story house for the last time were a number of longtime LeMars residents, who could recall the social gatherings held in the mansion around the turn of the century.
The wrought iron fence on the south and east sides of the property were sold in one piece to Bob Bullington of Union Township. He paid 75 cents a foot; $125 for 180 feet. “I plan to fence in my dog,” Mr. Bullington said.
Paul Eich, of Seney, bought all the flagstones in which the fence was imbedded for $18. Mr. Eich reported he plans to use the stone for a 6-foot high, 150 foot long rock fence. Mr. and Mrs. Eich and six children reside on the former John Alderson acreage/lot in Seney.
Stained glass windows ranged in price from $18 to $22. Three of them were purchased by James Fletcher of the Westmar College art department, Bill Duster of LeMars bought the window with owl and books, and another window went to H. F. Shrauger, LeMars.
The above gorgeous stain-glass window was purchased at the Carolina Terrace auction by Mrs. Frances Shrauger, July 13, 1963. This window is still in the Shrauger family. **The photograph was graciously shared by a granddaughter. |
The wife of a Cherokee, Iowa, doctor, who requested her name be withheld bought double doors with stained glass double panels, a stained glass double door transom, most of the brass hinges, doorknobs and an upstairs fireplace for her new home under construction in Cherokee. She also bought the decorative wood top of the hall newel post for $3.50, which she plans to use as a lamp base.
Another Cherokee woman was the buyer of the matched oak fireplace and built-in china closet in the dining room, for $32 and $40, respectively. The fireplace was trimmed with chestnut wood.
In addition to the two Cherokee women, other fireplaces were sold to Mrs. Kenneth Burkett, LeMars, (downstairs sitting room); Mrs. C. A. Brownmiller, of Marcus (master bedroom), and a Sioux City man, (bedroom.)
The cherry wood fireplace in the front parlor, formerly the Bus depot, was purchased in advance by a representative of the APCO firm which will construct the service station. Fireplaces averaged $15 in sale price, ranging from $47 to $32.
Found behind the fireplace purchased by the Burketts were an old photo of a 2-year old child, a calling cared with the name Miss Richards and an eight of hearts playing card.
But the “find” of the afternoon probably was an 1882 Indian Head penny picked up by one of the wrecking crewmen. He sold the penny for $10 over the weekend to a Sioux City man, it was reported.
The two gas furnaces went to Don Kellen, LeMars, at $25 a piece. Three relatively modern kitchen cabinets went for $31.50. Bob Kass, LeMars, bought a built-in hall rack of wood and decorative metal for $43.
Wood from only one floor was sold. Flooring in the master bedroom went for $14. All buyers were to remove their own purchases.
A number of LeMars contractors and plumbers attended the sale, along with antique hunters. Lawrence Sitzman, LeMars, was a buyer of plumbing fixtures.
Shorty Hentges, one of the recent owners, bought gas logs and a set of andirons. Frank Bogenrief, Hinton, is the new owner of an antique brass lamp which graced the hall stairway.
J. Daily of Sioux City wrecking firm said the auction was “most satisfactory.” He added heavy house timbers will be sold here and elsewhere later. Many of the timbers are full measure 2-by10’s used where 2-by6’s are employed nowadays.
The house is to be completely demolished by Sept. 1.
LeMars Daily Sentinel
Thursday, July 18, 1963
* J. Daily of Sioux City wrecking firm which is demolishing the Carolina Terrace stopped in the newspaper office this week to report an unusual feature of the house. Mr. Daily said two lead window weights were found in the downstairs east wall. Each weight was marked 60 pounds. Mr. Daily said he believed the extremely heavy weights were at one time attached to rope pulls on a large bay window which was walled up to make an entrance for the Bus Depot.
