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Shortly after the First Congregational Church, on the
corner of Maple and Center streets, was completed in 1890, the
parishioners began to make plans to build a parsonage nearby. This
house was built on land either donated or purchased from neighbors
on each side. It was completed in 1896, the year after the street was
paved with brick. No doubt some of the church members gathered
on this porch to watch the carriages and wagons travel over the solid
pavement and marvel about the great improvement over the dust and mud that they used to contend with.
The home didn’t remain a parsonage for very long. By 1912, theRev. William Smith, pastor of the First Congregational Church, was living at 14 Maple Street, in a house which later served as the parsonage for Peace Lutheran Church who had taken over the Congregational church building.
The neighbor to the south was Dr. Benjamin Myers, who with his two daughters, had moved into his newly completed house the year before. The neighbors to the north in the big red brick house were Mr. and Mrs. Philip Shearer. Together with David Shearer and Martin V. and John Kagey, he operated the Shearer Kagey Lumber Co., on the site of the present Scarborough Square apartments on East Washington Street.
Lamfrecht and Rittenhouse had a florists’ business at 621 W. Walnut and Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Rittenhouse moved into the home at 308 Center Street. Mrs. Katherine Lamfrecht followed them in 1919. Many people have referred to the home as the Moherman home since Mrs. Anna Moherman and her daughter, Carrie Diers occupied the house for years until it was made into apartments in the 1960’s. In 2016 the old parsonage received a new lease on life as the owner has taken this Queen Anne home back to a single family dwelling.
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