Hostetler’s Houses: 1002 Brady Street

Here at the Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center we are fortunate to have not just one but three photographs of the house at 1002 Brady Street in our collection of images from the J. B. Hostetler Studio (click side arrows to view slideshow):

The photographs were taken about 1908 or after, when the house was occupied by its second owner, Julius Casper Hasler and his wife Josephine Gertrude Nahlen. We are also fortunate to have these images of the couple (and possibly Josephine’s niece Mayme Leonardy) enjoying the home’s porch as part of the same set (dplx529, volume 32):

Julius C. Hasler was Cashier at the Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank at the time; he later became its president.

This caricature from A Portfolio of Cartoons as Published by the Davenport Times 1912-13 (SC 741.5 POR) shows Julius Hasler in his role at the bank. The accompanying verse makes his occupation clear: “The rustle of a greenback or the mellow clink of gold / Is music to the ears of many men…” And it goes on: “… let me tell you of the tune that Hasler likes to hear / When starting on an outing, full of hope; / ‘Tis the deeply basso murmur and the highly powered throb / Of the engine of his new and nifty Pope!” These lines refer to the high-end Pope touring car we believe is pictured in the above photographs of the house.

One fact we know about the care of 1002 Brady Street was that its carpets were cleaned with the newfangled Electric Suction Sweeper, precursor to the vacuum later manufactured by the Hoover Company.

The first owner of the house, and its builder, was John Hoyt. He was the president of a successful piano dealership on West 3rd Street and very active in both the local business and music communities.

Construction of the residence was nearly complete in October 1900, mere months after the 71-year-old widower took Laura G. Campbell as his second wife. [1]

Some features of the home’s interior (including a music room, of course!) are mentioned in this article from the Daily Times for June 3, 1903 (page 11) describing the wedding of Laura’s daughter, Amy Campbell, to A. C. Tobias:

The Hoyts were only to enjoy the home for a few years. John passed away in December, 1904; Laura in March 1906. The house went to Amy Campbell Tobias, who sold it to the Haslers for an estimated $12,000 in April 1908. [2]

In March of 1919, the Haslers purchased a new home near Vander Veer Park and sold 1002 Brady Street to B. J. Palmer for $16,000. [3] The house served as a Palmer School of Chiropractic Health Home for a time, as Palmer was apparently unable to find a buyer willing to remove the house:

The house was razed in 1920 to make way for the Palmer School of Chiropractic Classroom building. Images of its construction from Palmer’s collection, as well the RSSCC’s images of the Hasler house, may be viewed online on the Upper Mississippi Digital Image Archive. Take advantage of this excellent resource, a database of digitized images from multiple organizations in the QCA, to find out more about local history!

(Posted by Katie)

Sources: [1] Daily Times, October 8, 1900, page 2; [2] Daily Times, April 10, 1908, page 6; [3] Daily Times, March 21, 1919, page 8.