Wylie House displays history of IU’s first president

With tall windows, a widow’s walk and porches on both its first and second floors, the Wylie House bears little resemblance to other houses on its block. \nWhile its neighbors are smaller and designed in modern styles, the Wylie House Museum, 307 E. Second St., seems stuck in 1835. \nIn that year, IU’s first president Andrew Wylie built the brick house to accommodate his family, which grew to include 12 children. The house is a combination of Georgian and Federal architectural styles that were usually found in Pennsylvania, where Wylie was raised. \nA formal parlor, master bedroom, family room and kitchen are on the first floor. A workroom is located on the second floor, as well as bedrooms for guests, Wylie’s children and even students who boarded in the house. A mix of furniture from Wylie’s family as well as families that later lived in the house fills each room. An heirloom garden grows in the backyard, containing only plants that could be found in the area before 1850. \nThe house is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday in March through November. It may be a few blocks off campus, but the house is closer to the site of IU’s first campus, Indiana Seminary, bordered by the College and Morton intersection and Second and First streets.\nWylie House Curator of Education Bridget Edwards said the house was a large attraction in town when it was first built. \n“The local people called it ‘the mansion,’” she said. \nThrough the years, the house passed ownership to Wylie’s half-cousin and science professor Theophilus Wylie before being sold to private families. In 1947, under Herman B Wells’ direction, the University bought the Wylie House. For a while, the IU Press was housed in the building, but the University began restoration on the house in 1961. \nIn 1965, the home opened as a museum, which is now managed by IU-Bloomington Libraries and receives about 2,000 visitors a year. \nWhen the Wylie House Museum opens its doors each March, Edwards said the house’s quilt exhibit coincides with a quilt show at the Bloomington/Monroe County Convention Center. A seed sale is also held at the annex next door. The annex houses staff offices as well as rooms for children’s activities and seed saving, a process of extracting seeds from plants before they can pollinate so as to prevent alteration of each species. \nEach fall, the house holds a Family Fall Harvest Fest, which will be put on hold this year due to construction of the new annex, the Morton C. Bradley Education Center. The new annex will replace the current annex next door, which will be taken down in favor of the new project. \nIn December, the house opens for Wylie House by Candlelight, which provides refreshments and live music for visitors, all by the lighted glow of candles. \nSchool of Library and Information Science students often intern at the Wylie House Museum for no class credit or payment. Edwards said they have various projects going on that spur them to intern at the house. One involves the piecing together of letters between Theophilus, his wife and their children and grandchildren. Another includes sifting through embroidery patterns women of the house had written on scraps of paper. \n“SLIS has been fabulous for us,” Edwards said, giving special mention to another student who posted on the Internet hundreds of photos taken by a grandson of Andrew Wylie’s. \nAlthough she said she appreciates the students’ help, Edwards said those who visit the museum are mostly graduate students and visiting parents of undergraduates who want to take a break. She said she was surprised to find that students who attend IU don’t know much about the University’s history or even that the Wylie House exists. \nWhen students do begin to delve into IU’s history, however, Edwards said they seem to better understand their campus and perhaps something more. \n“(One of our interns) says she feels a closer connection to the town itself,” Edwards said.