Thomas Brown's Home |
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Major Thomas Brown's House North of Berkshire Corners on Galena Road |
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As in most
pioneer settlements, the first homes were round log cabins.
However Moses Byxbe brought a brick layer rather than a carpenter to
Berkshire on one of his early trips east early permanent homes were
brick. It was a sign of his standing in the community when in
1811, Maj. Brown built the
first brick house in
the township, a little north of the corners, on the right hand side
of North Galena Road. (Some
dispute the exact location but folklore has always called this house
Major Brown's.) Maj. Brown opened a hotel at his house. Single meals were from 15 to 20 cents and board by the week from one dollar to one dollar and a half. The home held the first church service in 1818 which was preached by Bishop Chase. There were slits on the upper outside walls designed to be used as gun holes should the settlement be under attack During the war of 1812, this house was used as a rallying point, and a place of security for the families of the Berkshire settlement. In 1906 the home was owned by Mrs. Gibson. I remember it in the mid 1950s as being in bad shape. Then there was a pile of bricks where once the house stood. |
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Berkshire 1906 Return to Berkshire Township Return to Local History Index |
(07/22/2006) |