Granger House
970 Tenth Street Marion, Iowa 52302-0753
(319) 337-6672
grangerhou@aol.com
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

The museum is called Granger House after the family who lived in the home for nearly a century. Their story is important not because they were special, but because their everyday experiences were widely shared by others living at that time.  The museum is fortunate, indeed, to have so many of their original furnishings and to possess such an ample supply of family papers.

The Granger Family

Earl staked a claim near Cripple Creek with three other men, but after barely surviving a Colorado winter for which they were ill prepared, they sold the claim. Earl arrived back in Marion in 1861 and bought a partnership in what was to become the leading slaughterhouse in Marion, with a contract to sell fresh meat to the railroad after the Civil War.

Nearly thirty-three and with his economic fortune seemingly assured, Earl married Clara Lockhart in 1869. Tragically, she died in childbirth a year later. In 1872 he married Dora Krouse of Toddville and settled into city life. In addition to tending his business affairs, Earl managed the family farm, raised Morgan horses, invested in real estate and became involved in local politics. He was elected to six consecutive terms on the Marion City Council (1875-87). Earl died in 1907.

Earl and Dora moved into the existing house in 1873 and surviving records indicate, that not unlike young Couples today, they redecorated. New carpeting was installed and the woodwork faux grained. A wide sidewalk of fine limestone from J.A. Greene's Champion Stone Quarries at Stone City was laid at a cost of $41.37. Of the six children born to the Grangers, only two survived to adulthood.  Arthur graduated from Cornell College and worked for the U.S. Post Office, serving as Assistant Postmaster in Marion for a number of years. He built the house next door on Central Avenue in 1912. Alfred operated the family farm, and, for a time, operated a dairy in Marion. His horse-drawn Buena Vista Dairy wagon is still parked in the carriage house. Alfred lived in the house until his death in 1969.

In contrast to most of their children, Earl and Dora Granger lived long and prosperous lives. Earl succumbed to heart disease at the age of seventy-one, Dora at eighty-seven. On the occasion of her passing, the Marion Sentinel noted that she had "lived as long as most Marion folk can remember ... in that brick house on Tenth street, near Central Avenue."
 

Home page | Programming & Events | Architectural Significance | Membership Information |