Hezekiah and Cornelia Goe moved to Irvington in 1884. They first leased the Downey family home at 5433 University Avenue and then bought lot number 35 in Levi Ritter's Addition to Irvington in 1886. By 1890, the industrious grocer and his family moved into their newly-built home at 128 South Ritter Avenue. A year earlier, a local architect named Louis H. Gibson published a book called Convenient Houses With Fifty Plans for the Housekeeper. It appears that the Goes chose "Plan No. 5" from this book with some modifications. Mr. Gibson, who designed numerous residences and other buildings in Indiana, had studied in Paris and worked as a draftsman for Edwin May, the architect of the Indiana State House. Architectural historian, Paul Diebold, first identified the Goe home as a Gibson design in 1994. Later, Gibson historian, Deedee Davis, confirmed that this was one of two Gibson houses in Irvington. We are still searching for the second one. Doreen McGuire Crenshaw, who lived in the house from 1967 until 1982, helped to establish that the plan with some changes matched the Gibson design.
The Goes and later two of their children remained in the tall house for decades. In the next post you will have an opportunity to meet the entire family.
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| Hezekiah Goe posed with his three youngest children, Cornelia (next to him), Grace, and Percy in 1892 at his home at 128 South Ritter Avenue. If you zoom in behind the house, you can see the Scot Butler home located at 124 South Downey Avenue. (photo courtesy of the Kingsbury family) |
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| The Goes likely chose Plan No. 5 from Gibson's book, Convenient Houses (courtesy of Deedee Davis) |
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| Louis H. Gibson, Convenient Houses With Fifty Plans for the Housekeeper, New York, 1889 (Courtesy of Project Gutenberg.org) |
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| Louis H. Gibson, Architect (Find-a-Grave) |
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| Interior of Goe family home at 128 South Ritter Avenue c1905 (courtesy of the Kingsbury family) |
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| Goe family interior at 128 South Ritter Avenue c1905 (photo courtesy of the Kingsbury family) |
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| The chair seen in the photo above still belongs to Goe family descendants. (courtesy of the Kingsbury family) |
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| The Goe home c1905 (photo courtesy of the Kingsbury family) |
I wish to thank Kathy and Dick Meyer for the use of these fascinating historic photographs. I also wish to thank Marion County and Irvington historian, Steve Barnett.
To see a lecture by Deedee Davis on Louis Gibson, click on the link below:
Louis Gibson by Deedee Davis
Sources: "Louis H. Gibson (1854-1907)" Crown Hill Foundation (crownhillf.org); Paul Diebold, "Louis H. Gibson," Encyclopedia of Indianapolis.org; Deedee Davis, "Convenient and Beautiful: The Architecture of Louis H. Gibson," Indiana Landmarks, Youtube, 2018.
