|
When Thomas W. Miller married Helen Myers in 1909, he
promised to build a fine residence when he could afford it. Five
years later, construction began on this Spanish mission-style home,
a type of architecture the Millers had admired on their visits to
Florida. The smooth stucco surface, arched doorway and windows,
rear courtyard, and palatial drawing room with its vaulted veiling
and galleries are characteristics of this style.
The steps at the north end of the lard room led to the family’s
recreation room. The French doors to the right of the steps opened
into the dining room. The second floor at the south end of the lard groom was an apartment where a couple employed by the Millers lived. Also in the drawing room is a fireplace outlined by symbols which depict Columbus’s voyage to America. The family coat of arms is outside over the front door, and the original copper downspouts had the letter “M” and the date “1914” cast in them.
In 1928, a $17,000 addition and alterations were made on the original home and again in 1935, a $10,000 renovation took place. The Millers were the first people in town to have a private swimming pool.
Mr. Miller died in 1945: his wife in 1968. Among her bequests were $20,000 to Trinity Lutheran Church, $10,000 to Samaritan Hospital, and $10,000 to the Family Y campaign. In 1969, the children as heirs of the Millers gave the home to Samaritan Hospital to be used for housing for student nurses. When the nursing school was discontinued, the home was temporarily used as a hospital annex. Later it was converted into doctors’ offices, and the former large Miller family library, used for a time as the office of William C. Kelley, Samaritan Hospital President, now contains records surgeons’ records. The doctors’ examining rooms are located in the formed bedroom wing. Offices were created in the library sitting room, recreation room, breakfast room, kitchen, and pantry. The drawing room now serves as a waiting room.
|
