1701, 1711 Woodland Avenue - 1896
Henry S. Butler, born in Oneida County, New York and his wife
Aurilla Everett, of Kalamazoo, Michigan were the first owners
of this property. From 1881 to 1897, Butler and his family
lived at 1711 Woodland Avenue (the carriage house). He
planned to build his dream house at 1701 Woodland Avenue, but
it took a long time to buy the land and acquire the financial
backing. When he built the large Colonial Revival home at
1701, he also remodeled the small structure at 1711 into a
carriage house. If you'll look at the sides you can see the
brick arched entryways - now bricked up. The outside of the
carriage house is rich in architectural detail - Eastlake
brackets, pendants, panels, decorative lintels. The interior
is charming with high ceilings, oak staircase, tiled bedroom
fireplace, and butler's pantry.
In 1909, Butler sold the property to Annie E. Henry and her
son Thomas Fred Henry. From 1909-1911, Mr. T. Fred Henry and
his wife, Flora, resided at 1701 Woodland and his mother,
Annie, lived in the former carriage house at 1711. T. Fred
Henry was a musician and bandleader. Henry put "Professor" in
front of his name in 1924 and advertised as a music teacher
at 817 Walnut Street. However, his new teaching career was
short-lived, he passed away in April of the same year. It is
rumored that T. Fred Henry was "passing" as white, and caused
quite a todo when his African-American relatives came to
mourn, there were racists who objected to his burial in the
"white" Woodland Cemetery, and the matter was resolved with
the family when they negotiated his burial in the Jewish
section of the cemetery. Flora Henry became temporarily
imbalanced after his death and was committed to a State
Hospital. The courts appointed Continental Trust and Savings
Bank (Banker's Trust) guardianship, and maintained the
property until November 4, 1925 when she had apparently
regained control of her faculties.
From 1926-1930, Flora rented the properties. From 1930-1943,
the main property slowly evolved into a 12 furnished room boarding
house, and the carriage house into 2 apartments. Rumor has it that the
house was a speak-easy during prohibition and traces of the
house's colorful past still remains in the beautiful
tiger-oak wood dance floors and bootlegger's closet in the
attic and the back stairwell which hid patrons during police raids.
Prior to its purchase in 1977, the property had been abused
badly as a rooming house. Robert Mickle, Director of City
Planning for Des Moines purchased the property for $10,000
cash in 1977. He began the arduous task of returning the
property back to a single family residence, meticulously
keeping all artifacts. Even the number of each apartment
still remains on the doors throughout the home - and the
current resident toddler will gladly tell you his home
address is "Number 5 Woodland", the number on his bedroom
door.
The home has a large entry hall with fireplace, an attempt
typical of its style to duplicate the main living space of
Colonial American houses. The house still has original
elaborate interior woodwork and leaded windows. In 1997, a
beautiful transformation of interior walls was achieved by
resident Nelda Barrow-Mickle, city attorney, and Robert Lower,
local designer. Their efforts in restoring period reproduction
wall paper in each room and respective ceilings are beautiful.
In 1999, the Mickles sold the properties to their son Greg
Wells, and his wife, Helen Groves-Wells. Current restoration
and renovation efforts are ongoing, e.g. bathroom, interior
& exterior painting, windows, woodworking, outside porch,
and then some.
