Schleter 1

Brooke Schleter
Dr. Kevin Allton
ENG 316
Microhistory Final Draft
May 3, 2016
The Henry Cook House: A Blighted History
My initial interest in the abandoned house located on 610 N Fulton Avenue was
simple. I drive by it and look at it every day on my way to work. The home is so massive
and in such a striking state of disrepair that its
actually quite difficult to ignore. I took interest in
it upon moving to an adjacent neighborhood last
November, but my involvement with this house did
not extend far beyond curiosity about its origins
and taking caution when biking in the area at night.

The Breakthrough
It was not until I found this article by Thomas B. Langhorne of the Evansville Courier
and Press that I felt a strong interest in and connection to the case. In his article, WHO
OWNS THAT: Historic Preservation Voice Often Late and Unfunded, Langhorne discusses
the issues surrounding the abandoned house:
Back in the day, the opulent turn-of-the-century mansion at 610 N. Fulton Ave., was
a nerve center of high society in Evansville and home base for one of the city's
richest and most prominent families.
But the 15-room house that was home to business leaders Henry E. Cook and Grace
Warren Cook is long-empty and barely up to code these days, and its owner is

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looking for private and government grants to restore the structure. The 1899
residence, which once featured crystal chandeliers, an Italian marble floor and
ornate murals, has been a fixture on local lists of "most endangered" historic places
for years. Dennis Au, city government's historic preservation officer, calls it
probably one of the top preservation concerns in Evansville, (Langhorne).
The rest of the article informed me of several things that piqued my interest. It explained
that the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Building Commission found eight separate
exterior violations of the city's property maintenance code in its inspection of the house on
January 2, 2014. The owner also explained to Langhorne that restoring the home to its
former glory would cost close to $1 million, a sum which she does not have.
The part of this article that prompted my extensive research was when Langhorne
was describing Dennis Aus perspective on the house. He wrote that Au was holding a 330page architectural survey that he had compiled twenty years prior.
Au clutched his dog-eared copy of the survey book as he spoke, calling it exhaustive
and saying a new and updated survey will require local government funding that
hasn't materialized. Although he said the field inspectors made decisions ahead of
time, the book is unquestionably outdated.
The document rates the stately but neglected colonial revival house at 610 N. Fulton
Ave., as notable, but if the survey were done today, Au said, it would be rated,
outstanding, (Langhorne).
I didnt understand what the ratings notable and outstanding meant, and Id never seen
or heard of an architectural survey. My limited understanding of this is what prompted my
quest to find the book Au was holding during Langhornes interview.

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The architectural survey he was holding is called
the Vanderburgh County Interim Report, and it
was composed by Au, and others, in 1994. It
features a variety of homes and buildings in
Evansville that are architecturally significant. A
section at the beginning of the report explained the
ratings system used to rank homes based on architectural significance. Quoted directly
from the text: A ranking of N means that the property did not quite merit an
Outstanding, but still is above average in its importance. Further research or investigation
may reveal that the property could be eligible for the National Register listing.
As mentioned, Notable was
the rating for the Henry E. Cook
House in this report in 1994. What
struck my interest was that in
Langhornes 2014 article, Au said the
house would be rated Outstanding
if the survey were done today. The
explanation for that ranking is as
follows:
The O rating means that the property has enough historic or architectural
significance that it is already listed, or should be considered for individual listing, in the
National Register of Historic Places. Outstanding resources can be of local, state, or
national importance, (Davis, x).

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I was well aware that several buildings in Evansville were on the National Register
of Historic Places such as the Old Courthouse, Willard Library, and The Carpenter House,
but all of those buildings are in excellent condition today and are integral parts of
Evansvilles community and culture. It was naturally very shocking to me to learn that this
ugly, abandoned old house on Fulton Avenue was considered by our citys preservation
officer to be equally qualified to be on the National Register, with significance and status
among some of the citys most well-preserved pieces of history. All of this information
prompted my microhistorical investigation of the Henry E. Cook house on Fulton Avenue.
The following paragraphs will provide a summary of my findings.

In its Prime
The year is 1889, and Evansville is striding along with the rest of America to the
beat of the Second Industrial Revolution. Many Evansville men are fathers and Civil War
veterans, occupying working class roles in factories and coalmines. Mothers of Evansville
are often widowed or remarried, and many women are revolutionizing the workforce by
occupying secretarial work for the first time. Amid the thriving economy and technological
advances pushing Evansville closer to the turn of the century, a new home is constructed
on Fulton Avenue.
The newly built Henry E. Cook mansion smells of fresh lead paint, pressed linens,
and wood burning in spotless fireplaces. Stained glass windows decorate the floors and
textile rugs of the home with colorful patterns of light. Unreachably high ceilings take
responsibility for the acoustics of the home, composing an artfully subtle echo for each
footstep, laugh, and word spoken by its only two tenants.

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Each room is a universe of its own, containing its own unique gravity, atmosphere,
and design. Among these universes are six bedrooms, each with its own colorful
personality. Through a pair of windowed pocket doors, standing proudly near the front
entrance lives an ornate, white ballroom with a crystal chandelier and dainty fireplace. Its
neighbor is a boastful dining room with interior stained glass windows and custom
cabinetry. Beyond the noise of the entertaining area and into the back of the house lurks a
dark and secluded study with oil paintings and cherry wood paneling. No two rooms are
alike in purpose or in stature, making the newcomers journey through the home an artfully
designed experience.

Significant Findings
One hundred and twenty-seven years later, a journey through the Henry Cook
House is far from a pleasurable experience. The house has remained uninhabited at 610
North Fulton Avenue for over a decade and occupied a consistent spot on Preservation
Alliance Evansvilles Top 10 Most Endangered Historic Places List since 1998, with no
significant success towards its restoration.
Architecturally, the home holds great significance in the Evansville region. It was
designed by leading architectural firm Harris & Shopbell which operated under this
original name from 1897 to 1905. Harris and Shopbell are the architects responsible for
other prominent local architecture including St. Boniface Catholic Church, the original
Jewish Temple, Chandler public school, the Busse Building, the Evansville Foundry
Association Building, and more (Foster).

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Harris and Shopbell built only four Colonial Revival-style homes in Evansville during
their time; the largest of which was the Henry E. Cook House.
The house was originally one of three mansions built on Fulton Avenue for the
prominent and influential Cook family between 1877 and 1889, but the F.W. Cook home
was torn down in 1984 and all that remains of the Charles Cook home after its demolition
in 1998 is a set of concrete stairs leading to an empty lot. The Henry Cook home is the only
mansion still standing, and the only physical evidence of the Cook family legacy.
Despite their influence, the Cook family is scarcely mentioned in todays discussions
about prominent Evansville families. Yet my research indicated that the family, and even
the Henry Cook house itself, were once considered to be significant contributors to
Evansvilles culture.
The leader of the family was F.W. Cook, founder of F.W. Cook Brewing Co. For
reference to his historical importance, F.W. Cook was also founder of F.W. Cook Investment
Co, president of the Evansville, Newburgh, and Suburban Railway as well as president of
the District Telegraph Co. He was director of Citizens National Bank and director of the
Bank of Commerce. In his personal time, F.W. Cook also served as an Evansville city
councilman for the 4th, 5th and 8th wards and as the Vanderburgh county representative at
the Indiana State Legislature. He somehow managed to keep his massive brewing company
in business even through the duration of prohibition and through a controversial lawsuit
between his company and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad that went all the way to the
U.S. Supreme Court. (Cook won.) The point is, F.W. Cook and his family were hugely
important to the growth and success of this area.

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F.W. Cook was featured in A History of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Indiana,
published in 1897. The author of this history had much to say about F.W. Cooks strong
influence on the community:
It is safe to say that there is no more energetic or ambitious
man engaged in the manufacturing or any other line of business
than Mr. Cook. Few names are as well-known as his, which is
synonymous with advancement, only wanting an opportunity to
meet any exigency Mr. Cook certainly deserves the great
credit he has achieved. He is the architect of his own fortune and is to-day one of
the representative men of Evansville, who ranks as one of the wealthiest men in
Indiana His public-spirited beneficence has always been accompanied by a
broad, praiseworthy wish to benefit Evansville and its citizens. His influence has
been seen and felt in every pulse of the citys industrial life, (Elliot, 419-20).
As a native of Evansville, this passage made me wonder why Id never heard anyone talk
about this man or his family.
I found similar passages about the Cook family influence in Evansville and its Men of
Mark (1873), Evansville: Her Commerce and Manufacturers (1874), Biographical Cyclopedia
of Vanderburgh County, Indiana (1897), and History of the City of Evansville and Vanderburg
County Indiana (1910). Some of the highlights include:

F.W. Cook belongs to that class of men to whom is chiefly due the creation of our
industries and the building up of our cities, (Biographical, 3)

But there were brains and business sagacity behind the old Cook and Rice concern,
as can be seen by the enormous F.W. Cook Brewery plant of today, a firm that sends

Schleter 8
its goods almost all over the world and the beer of which has no superior
anywhere, (Gilbert, 78).

(Of the brewing company) The extent of business done by them is the best evidence
of the high repute in which their products are held, (Robert, 391).

A live, thorough-going business man, in 1865 he was chosen to represent

Vanderburgh county in the Indiana Legislature, and but a few men are more popular
or more courteous than our worthy fellow-citizen, Hon. Fred. W. Cook, (Robert,
391.)

Mr. Cook has built additions to the brewery, from year to year, and has also
procured all modern improvements known to the art of brewing; and the
establishment is now one of the most practically-arranged breweries in the West,
and the largest in the state of Indiana, (White, 47).
Once I uncovered this information, I had a better understanding of why Dennis Au

might have regarded the Henry E. Cook house as something of great significance. It seemed
that the legacy of family that resided there is just as deserving of recognition as any other
well-remembered prominent family, despite the apparent lack of interest in the family
today.

Schleter 9
More than just the residents who
lived there, the house itself is
remarkable. Based on the property
record card I obtained through the
Vanderburgh County Assessors Office,
the house is a 6,400 square foot singlefamily home with basement, attic, and
15 finished rooms including 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. This square footage does not
include the massive carriage house also located on the property.
Today, the interior still houses many features of the original design such as Italian
marble floors, oil painted murals, stained glass windows, cherry wood trim, hand-carved
staircase railings, crystal chandelier, grand staircase, and ballroom.
Unfortunately, despite the homes lavish interior details, over a century of
weathering has caused extreme deterioration to the exterior. Outside the home, the white
ionic columns that once proudly upheld the intricate pediment above the front steps on
their own are now accompanied by generic pine lumber supports, an effort made by the
city to prevent the porch roof from collapsing. The house no longer bears anything
resembling an even coat of paint just severely weathered wood siding. The windows on
the first floor are boarded up, and white curtains still hang crookedly in some of the
upstairs windows.
Beneath its rugged appearance, the architectural skeleton of this house is
marvelous. Unlike its Queen Anne and Italianate siblings, the Henry Cook residence
embodies the earliest years of Colonial Revival architecture with dormers, hipped roofs,

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symmetrical front windows, asymmetrical wrap around porch, and fan light windows.
Were its cosmetic details restored to their original glory, the Henry Cook house would be
one of the most breathtaking historic homes in Evansville.
When considering the microhistorical concept of normal exception vs. exception
to the norm, its obvious that this house is an exception to the norm for todays reader, but
the general assumption that all historic homes were large and artfully designed might lead
one to believe that, during its time, the Henry Cook house would have been just as common
as any other house on the street.
However, the average
Evansville citizen in 1889 would
have also considered the Henry
Cook house to be exceptional. To
the left is an image of the Henry
Cook House I found in a book called Artwork of Evansville Indiana, which was published by
Chicagos Gravure Illustration Company in 1901. The book is a compilation of structures
that were considered to be artistically and architecturally unique and significant to the area
at the time. The inclusion of the Henry Cook house in this text indicates that, even in its
prime, the house was considered to be exceptional.
Moreover, while most Evansville mansions were built to house multi-generational
families, this house only held Henry Cook and his wife, Grace. That means each of them
could occupy their very own 3,200 square feet, certainly an exception to even the richest
Evansville families during the late 1880s.

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Socioeconomic Conditions
As I mentioned in the introduction, this house is located quite near my own
neighborhood. To me, it represents not only the slow death of a beautiful piece of art, but
also a place that isnt safe for me to walk at night. The front porch is littered with empty
liquor bottles and beer cans, its No Trespassing signs, clearly not applying to all locals in
the area. There are three other abandoned houses one block west of this house, and the
many other nearby homes are very poorly maintained.
The neighborhood surrounding the Henry Cook house is enclosed by Pigeon Creek,
Oakley Street, the Lloyd
Expressway, and W
Maryland Street.
32.3% of residences
in this neighborhood are
vacant, a vacancy rate
higher than 95.1% of all
neighborhoods in America.
64.8% of the houses here
were built before 1939,
most of which were built
far earlier. That is a
greater concentration of historic homes than in 96.7% of neighborhoods in the United
States. While vacancy and historic architecture are high, income in this neighborhood is

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extremely low lower than 92.6% of the United States, with a staggering 52.9% of children
here living below the federal poverty line (Evansville).
This is a community in which abandoned buildings are a commonplace hazard,
providing the perfect nurturing environment for crime and a daily challenge for parents
trying to raise children in the area. A move toward preservation of this area would prevent
the loss of a beautiful work of architecture while improving the safety of a community and
encouraging the preservation of Evansvilles history.
However, the unfortunate truth to living in a shared world is that while significant
gains are being made in Evansvilles historic preservation districts which receive funding
based on location, older and arguably more significant homes outside of these districts,
such as the Henry Cook house, do not receive the funding needed for upkeep, even though
they are located in neighborhoods that sorely need the attention.
The issues associated with historic home preservation, particularly in this case, are
global, extending far beyond just those concerned with the arts. Advocates of historic,
architectural, and artistic preservation no doubt have plenty to discuss about why we
should restore the Henry Cook home, but in this particular neighborhood, where public
safety is concerned, law enforcement, law-makers, and those driven by community
engagement are also involved.

The Role of Rhetoric

My research findings on the socioeconomic conditions of the neighborhood were
staggering, but the most impactful information I found was that none of my research
findings were even needed to determine that the neighborhood had been marginalized.

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Once I learned the official name of the neighborhood in which the Henry Cook house
resides, it became apparent to me that rhetoric plays a key role in the official naming of
Evansville neighborhoods.
The United Neighborhoods of Evansville is a nonprofit organization made up of
more than forty independent neighborhoods throughout the city, each with its own set of
governing officers, meeting schedules, and unique goals. Some of Evansvilles wealthiest
areas are affectionately referred to as the Oak Hill, Hilltop, Downtown, North Country Club,
and Iroquois Garden neighborhoods. With median residential property values of
$100,000+, the names of these neighborhoods seem to accurately reflect their status within
the city.
The neighborhood in which the Henry E. Cook house is located, however, is literally
referred to as the CHAIN neighborhood. The acronym CHAIN stands for the Cedar Hall
Association for Improvement of the Neighborhood, and its median residential property
value is only $42,000. It was very alarming to me to learn that a newcomer to Evansville
could, without any prior knowledge of these statistics, identify the CHAIN neighborhood as
a lesser area based solely on its name.

Marginalized by Margins
The Evansville Department of Metropolitan Development is the part of Evansville
city government responsible for addressing community issues associated with income as
well as abandoned and historic structures in Evansville neighborhoods. The department is
divided into three major programs: Community Development, Historic Preservation, and
Urban Redevelopment. Community Development is responsible for various grant

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programs that aid low income areas, Historic Preservation is responsible for preserving
historic buildings, and Urban Redevelopment is responsible for stabilizing neighborhoods
that have deteriorated. Therefore, it is not a stretch to assume that the historic Henry Cook
house, originally part of a thriving community that is today one of the lowest income
neighborhoods in the city, would be an obvious candidate for at least one of these
programs.
Upon inspection of these programs, however, I learned that my assumption was
entirely false. The community development program focuses on grants and public services,
and the historic preservation and urban redevelopment programs only benefit specific
areas that are chosen based on geographic location.
The historic
preservation
program focuses only
on the Riverside
Preservation Area
(see map) which is,
incidentally, one of
the aforementioned
wealthy Evansville
neighborhoods.
The urban redevelopment program, which has had incredible success in its progress
toward reviving the once-marginalized Haynies Corner Arts District, Downtown, and
Jacobsville communities, does not reach beyond those already geographically

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predetermined areas.
(Click images below for full reports on these efforts.)

These efforts prove that preservation, restoration, and redevelopment have been
successful in the Evansville area, but these efforts alone do nothing for historic structures
located outside of designated areas, even those distanced from area boundaries by the
smallest margins. The Henry Cook house, for a tragically ironic example, is located only
five blocks away from the boundary of the Jacobsville redevelopment zone and only three
blocks away from the Downtown redevelopment zone. If the house sat just a few blocks
either east or south of its current location, it would be a part of one of these well-funded
revitalization efforts, and it would not be in the state of disrepair that its in today.

Preservation by District, Demolition by Income

Discovery of this frustrating information led me on a painstaking pursuit to
determine exactly which part of our government is responsible for structures like the
Henry Cook House where, once again, the tactful use of rhetoric appeared in my research
findings. As discussed in the previous section, while the names of the urban
redevelopment and historic preservation programs imply inclusiveness, the Henry Cook

Schleter 16
house does not qualify for these programs based solely on its geographic location. The only
program within the Evansville Department of Metropolitan Development that the Cook
house may be eligible for, however, is the Blight Elimination Program, which is a relatively
recent project aimed at the elimination of abandoned buildings.
Mayor Lloyd Winnecke recently published the 2016 Action Plan for the city of
Evansville. This 321-page document was submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development in order to maintain Evansvilles eligibility for federal funding and
various grants. The document outlines 26 goals and 64 programs for Evansville during
2016 that are to be funded by said financial resources. One of these goals is named CD-4
Removal of slum and blight properties through acquisition and clearance, (64). The
project that will help Evansville achieve this goal is legally called Building Commission
Code Enforcement.
The details of this project are outlined in a separate 47-page report I found called A
Report on Blight, Vacancy, and Abandonment in Evansville, Indiana:
Causes/Effects/Solutions. Essentially, the report proposes stronger enforcement of
building codes in Evansville as a solution to the severe blight problem. Building codes will
be enforced more strictly during 2016, and abandoned buildings that do not pass
inspection will ultimately be acquired by the city and demolished. This overall process is
what the city is calling the Blight Elimination Program, which aims to focus on the roughly
1,800 structures in Evansville that are deemed eligible.
In other words, the only city government program in place that addresses decaying
historic structures, like the Henry Cook house, that are located outside of historic
preservation districts, is a program specifically designed to demolish them more efficiently.

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When I conducted further research on the 2016 Action Plan, I discovered that
eligibility for the Blight Elimination Program was not based solely on the condition of the
abandoned houses in question. Rather, a very specific group of neighborhoods was
targeted for this program based on a census tract data analysis prepared for the DMD.
Using U.S. Census data, this analysis ranked the worst neighborhoods in Evansville based
on their poverty rates, population growth trends, homeownership rate trends, median
home sales price, and other related figures. The census tract in which the Henry Cook
house is located is called tract 181630019.00, which was ranked the 5th worst
neighborhood in Evansville. This area, along with the remaining worst 20, are the
exclusive targets for blight elimination efforts in 2016.
This means that, as a city, we choose which homes we preserve and which we
demolish based on their geographic location. This practice is bound within our local laws
and government framework to the extent that, legally, funding may only be allocated to the
geographic locations we have determined. Unfortunately, it would seem that the locations
we chose to deem preservation districts and those we deemed eligible for the Blight
Elimination Program have recurring patterns resulting in an uncomfortable reality: Every
historic home the city preserves this year will be in a rich, downtown neighborhood, and
every abandoned home the city demolishes this year will be in a poor neighborhood.
Intentional or not, the people, cultures, and histories of poor neighborhoods are all being
marginalized by the same forces of human agency.

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Works Cited
Biographical Cyclopedia of Vanderburgh County, Indiana. Evansville: Keller Printing, 1897.
Print.
"CHAIN." United Neighborhoods of Evansville. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2016.
Davis, Ann C. Vanderburgh County Interim Report. Rep. Comp. Dennis Au, Guy Booth, Jon
Carl, John Cash, Karen Heege, and Jacob Jones. Evansville: Historic Landmarks
Foundation of Indiana, 1994. Print.
Elliot, Joseph P. A History of Evansville and Vanderburgh County, Indiana. Evansville: Keller
Printing, 1897. Print.
"Evansville, IN Real Estate and Demographic Information." Neighborhood Scout. N.p., n.d.
Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Foster, D. B., comp. Harris & Shopbell Architects, Evansville, Indiana. Evansville: Keller
Printing, 1904. Print.
History of the City of Evansville and Vanderburg County Indiana. Vol. 1. Chicago: Pioneer,
1910. Print.
Langhorne, Thomas B. "WHO OWNS THAT: Historic Preservation Voice Often Late and
Unfunded." Evansville Courier & Press. N.p., 2 Mar. 2014. Web. 03 Feb. 2016.
Robert, Charles E. Evansville: Her Commerce and Manufacturers. Evansville: Courier, 1874.
Print.
White, Edward, ed. Evansville and Its Men of Mark. Evansville: Historical, 1873. Print.