Pencil Sketches by Ruth Andrews    

509 N. Clark Street - Residence of Amy Katherine and Bob Manseill

This house is believed to have been built in 1902 for Miss Della Goddard. Records dated October 30, 1908, show the sale of the house by Mr. James A. and Mrs. Ella E. Goddard to Miss Sue A. Goddard (a widow) for $500. Sue Goddard apparently repapered the house in 1908 since we found writing on the dining room wall stating "Looking for a gallon November 13, 1908. John and Lenny." In March of 1919, Sue Goddard sold the house to Margaret McDonald Tinsley for $5,000. Mrs. Tinsley paid $1000 down at the time and agreed to four annual payments of $1000 to pay the balance on the house. Mr. R. H. Tinsley is believed to have been a druggist. The Tinsleys lived in the house for a mere nine months before selling it to Mrs. Bertha Montgomery Costner for $6000.

Mrs. Costner had been recently widowed when her husband was killed by a horse in Colorado. She and her two sons, J. Edwin (age 6) and Paul K. (an infant) moved into the house to be close to her brother-in-law and his family who lived on Goddard Avenue. They took in boarders to help pay for the house and to support themselves. Mrs. Costner died in 1925 due to complications from surgery. The boys moved down the street to live with their uncle. The house was left to the boys, so the uncle rented the house to a professor at Maryville College named Curtis. Mr. Curtis lived in the house by himself until 1931.

Edwin and Paul's uncle had advised Edwin to buy Paul's half of the house on several occasions. On a Sunday afternoon in 1931, Edwin was sitting at a drugstore downtown discussing this with some friends when one of them suggested that they all move into the house and sub-divide the home into three apartments. Shortly afterwards, Edwin bought out Paul's half of the house for $2500.

Thrower and his wife as well as Hugh and Ann Hannah. The Costners lived upstairs, the Hannahs lived on the southern half of the lower level, and the Throwers lived on the northern half. Mrs. Shirley told us that as they were doing work in preparation to move in, they pulled off the wallpaper in the kitchen and written on the walls was a statement about the cold weather they were experiencing in 1902.

The living arrangements with the Throwers and Hannahs only lasted about a year at which time the Throwers moved out and the Costners moved downstairs. At that time, Shirley's mother moved upstairs.

The Costners eventually moved out of the house and rented it out as a duplex or triplex until 1992 at which time they sold the house to Stacey J. and Donna C. Mc Bee. The McBees put in the swimming pool.

The Manseills purchased the house in 2001 after falling in love with its charm and the potential the home had for restoration. They immediately began the process of renovation and during the last two years have completely redone the interior of the house. They have installed all new plumbing, electrical, central heat and A/C, refinished the old and installed new hardwood floors where necessary. They also installed custom-made cabinets in the kitchen and remodeled all three bedrooms. Many of the baseboards were replaced with custom-made ones to match the original baseboards of the house. The renovation/restoration has been extensive since the house had not received the necessary maintenance for quite a few years.

Amy Katherine and Bob Manseill claim "this house is now our home!" It is loved by all four of their girls who have found the banister great for sliding down, and the house has many rooms and nooks and crannies for hide-and-seek. The Manseills love it because it has fulfilled their need for weekend projects and the desire to live with the character that only an old house can provide.

Exterior restoration will begin in the spring with the addition of a wrap-around porch and the present-day siding will be removed to uncover the original siding of the house.