Since moving our office to the Goodwin House, we have had several questions asked about the century-old historic home. We checked with Julie at the library and she afforded us with the following information, which was taken from the Interim Report of Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory, the unpublished The Old Houses of Brookville by Don Dunaway and the Franklin County Glimpse of the Past, by Whitewater Publications.

According to the plaque in front of the large two story brick home at 812 Main Street, it was built by John D. Howland circa 1856-1857, later occupied by John H. Farquhar, Merchant and Member of Congress, followed by Aaron C. Miller, Merchant, John C. Hitt, Banker and Dr. John R. Goodwin.  The Goodwin family, who will be remembered primarily as bankers, by profession, can certainly be called one of Brookville’s most prominent and prosperous families during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The first Goodwin to come to Brookville was Samuel in 1816. The last of his descendants living in the home, John P., died at his home in northwest Brookville in 1972. During this 156 years, four generations of men by that name lived and died in Brookville.

It is not generally known, and was not mentioned in any of the standard references such as Reifel’s History, but Dr. John R. Goodwin was murdered by his brother, Robert, on the streets in Brookville. Robert was an attorney in Indianapolis, and had been made a brevet Brigade General for his service in the Civil War. When John was returning to his home from the Goodwin and Son Bank, he was shot by his youngest brother, Robert. John died a few hours later. Robert committed suicide in Jeffersonville prison in 1884, after his appeal to the State Supreme Court was turned down.

The older brother of Dr. John Goodwin, Rev. Thomas A. Goodwin, wrote a treatise on the accident: A Brother’s Inquest over a Brother’s Grave; or the Question Who Murdered Dr. John R. Goodwin? Rev. Goodwin blamed “the men who sold the man (Robert) the liquor which made him a drunkard and a murdered as really the guilty party.”

John P. Goodwin was born in 1880 in the family residence at 813 Main Street. He attended the local schools and graduated from Brookville High School in 1897. There were seven students in his graduating class. John P., like his father and grandfather, attended the Methodist College at Green Castle, which had been renamed DePauw, and graduated in 1901. After a year at Columbia University in New York, John P. became a traveler and adventurer for several years spending 2 years in the West and later made a barge trip down the Ohio River and the Mississippi to the Arkansas River where he hunted and fished. He disposed of the barge and returned to Brookville by train. In 1905 he replaced his mother in the Whirk and Goodwin Bank and became its Vice President. He held this position until the bank was dissolved in 1939 and sold its assets and transferred its deposits to the Franklin County National Bank directly across Main Street. John P. held the rank of the Major in WWI and had been the highest ranking officer from Franklin County at that time.

John P. was interested in local and state history. He and his sister bought the old church in the cemetery in 1924 and deeded it to the Brookville Library for preservation and as a memorial to their mother, Martha Shirk Goodwin, widow of Charles E Goodwin. Later the building was deeded to the Franklin County Historical Society. The Franklin County Historical Society restored it in 1966.

Mr. Goodwin along with several other Brookville citizens formed the Whitewater Canal Association to restore a section of the old Whitewater Canal from the Laurel feeder dam to Metamora and Brookville. This is now a State Historic Site and is administered by the Department of Natural Resources. Mr. Goodwin was a member of the Indiana Library and Historical Board and was active in the Indiana Historical Society. He died in 1972 at age 92. According to his obituary, Mr. Goodwin and his wife lived at 74 Metamora Road since 1920. The Goodwins were married in 1913. With the death of John P. Goodwin, there were no longer any members of the family living in Brookville.

Mr. Goodwin sold the old family home on Main Street in 1944 to Elmer and Lydia Strohmier who operated a feed mill in the old carriage house behind the residence.  Mr. Strohmier died in 1960 and the business was sold to Louis and Rose Wilson. The house was sold in 2004 by the Wilson heirs, Mike Wilson and Jane Gengler. When the Wilsons owned it, the white paint on the exterior of the brick building was removed in 1980.  This exposed the outline of an earlier roof line which can be seen onthe north end, when the house was enlarged to its present size. At this time, the house is owned by Michael and Amy Martino who have opened a gift shop in the front north room, featuring the work of local and western artists.  The Brookville Tourism Board uses the north front room where the feed business office was.

The Martinos deserve a great deal of credit for preserving this old Brookville landmark. Michael and Amy Martino along with Mike and Darlene Kohlsdorf purchased the property in October of 2006. Since their purchase they have completely renovated the building on the site of the original carriage house that in the time of Wilson’s Feed housed the grain. The renovation consisted of turning the building into a beauty shop for Darlene which now is the Touch of Magic and Carriage House Gifts. In the main house they have cleaned, painted and removed all of the carpet to expose the original wood floors in addition to replacing most of the windows and adding a new heating and air conditioning system. All of the work that they have done has either been by themselves or by the use of local contractors.

Mike and Amy are using half of the first floor for their gift shop; The Gift Shoppe on Main, which is all handcrafted works by both local and national artisans.

Filed under: Chamber News

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