Last week I shared the history of the building that stood at 141 E. Main St., Cardington.
This week, I am describing the house that stood across the street at 130 East Main Street. Sadly, it was destroyed in the 1981 tornado. The structure was built in the time of the Civil War by W. F. Armstrong. It became the residence of Dr. H. S. Green whose office was located across the street at 141 E. Main St.
A member of the Green family and her husband, Henry Shunk, were also owners of the this residence. Shunk was an entertainer with the Al. G. Fields Shows and other troupes. The property was later owned by Sam George who sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Breckner. Mr Breckner died in 1980 and Mrs. Breckner owned it at the time of the tornado.
The house was modified so often it was hard to determine the original appearance. A Victorian Gothic balcony was added in the late 1930s.
The interior stairway was probably changed as the same time as evidenced by the oak newel post and balustrade of that period. Although the house was covered in asbestos siding at the time of the tornado, it was thought there were features underneath that could identify it as a Greek Revival home.
The lot on which the house stood extended to the abandoned mill race at the rear of the house. Mrs. Breckner, who was not home at the time of the tornado but was having lunch at Al’s Restaurant, sold the lot to the Carding-ton library after the state razed what was left of the structure. Today’s expanded library includes the original structure and the addition constructed on what was the Breckner lot.
News from…
October, 1949: F. W. Gandee, who owned the Gandee Bakery, attended a National Bakers’ convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
October, 1959: Seventy-five Cardington first grade students visited the turkey farm of Charles Henry north east of Cardington on U.S. 42.
October, 1969: Cardington village council set the minimum pay for labor employees working for the village at $1.50 per hour.
Navy Commander Kent W. Curl attended a graduate level course at the U S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
October, 1989: A teenage girl, a refugee from South Vietnam, Thi Mai Vu, was enrolled at the Cardington-Lincoln High School. Miss Vu and her mother were sponsored by a local couple, Bobbie and Wennie Lloyd.
Do you remember when?: It took five minutes for the TV to warm up?
Nearly everyone’s mom was at home when the kids got home from school? Nobody owned a purebred dog? When a 57 Chevy was everyone’s dream car to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races — and people went steady?
Finally, do you remember when decisions were made by going ‘eeny-meeny miney moe?”
Some information for this column was furnished by Charlene Dahlquist.
