The original Launchley - or Launcherly, as it was also known. Highlighted are the lands owned by Simon Rendall's father, William, in the 1840s in Somersetshire, England. The house is shown in red toward the upper right.
Pictures of the Towanda Iron & Nail Works. The house's original owner, Simon Rendall, relocated from Milton, PA to Towanda in 1880 with two colleagues, Charles Godcharles and Richard Bostley, to open the Nail Works.
Nearly 40 years after he emigrated to America, Simon's wedding to Isabella is announced in a Somersetshire newspaper.
Newspaper description of Simon and Isabella's March 1888 wedding.
In December 1890, Simon Rendall bought lots 6, 7, and 8 of this subdivision from the family of L L Moody. While a piece of lot 8 has since been subdivided and sold, the bulk of this land (about two-thirds of an acre) remains our yard!
Hiram Bull, the man who created the subdivision map for our land, was county surveyor for more than 40 years.
Joseph Hart Pierce was the house's architect.
The 20 October 1892 issue of the Bradford Reporter Journal reports that the house has been completed, and Simon and Isabella Rendall have moved in!
Showing the house circa 1900, this picture includes the driveway portico, which was removed 1950. Also visible are the rear kitchen chimney and the original main chimney - in the 1950s, the kitchen chimney was removed, and the main chimney was later shortened and capped due to deteriorated brick quality.
Circa 1905, this shot from a Towanda Men's Business Association brochure also shows the driveway portico and original chimneys.
This photograph, taken from the hill across the Susquehanna River, is undated but must have been taken before the house next door was built in 1905.
Isabella Pratt Rendall, first owner, circa 1905-1915.
Isabella Pratt Rendall, first owner, with unknown friends, circa 1890s.
Isabella Pratt Rendall's obituary, April 1926. Of note - Henry Newell, the man to whom she sold the house six years prior, was one of her pallbearers.
Henry Passmore Newell, second owner, circa 1905. Henry is wearing a Lin-Ta firefighters uniform. We have no record of him serving as a firefighter, so his choice of attire is a mystery!
Second owner Henry Passmore Newell was the cashier at the Citizens National Bank, a prominent building which still stands at the corner of Bridge and Main streets. This $10 note has Henry's signature, bottom center.
Photograph of the Citizens National Bank, corner of Bridge & Main Streets, where Henry was the cashier. His granddaughter, Mary Gail Miller, told us that Henry never learned to drive an automobile, but had a horse who would take him to and from the bank every day.
This close-up shot of the store fronts on Main Street shows the Citizens Bank at far-left. The first doorway went into the bank, while the smaller doorway next to it went upstairs to the Ott & Hay photography studio. Examples of photographs can be seen on a display case by the doorway. A large collection of glass plate negatives from Ott & Hay are now at the Bradford County Historical Society. From this collection, we have found photographs of Isabella Rendall and Henry Newell.
This photograph was found behind the fireplace mantel in the library. Although it has no names, we believe it to be Henry Jr and Adelaide Newell, who lived here in the 1920s.
This envelope, postmarked June 1923, was also found behind the fireplace mantel in the library. It contained an end-of-year report card for Henry Jr from the Towanda High School.
Adelaide Newell, circa 1923. Photograph courtesy of Adelaide's daughter and son-in-law, Suzanne and Walt Weiskopf.
Adelaide Newell, circa 1930s.
Adelaide Newell Miller was six years old when her parents, Henry and Bertha, bought the house in 1920. This extensive article discusses her return to Towanda in the 1970s, including some fun facts about the house.
This photograph, taken sometime in the late '20s or early '30s, was one of the photographs found behind the library fireplace mantel and has "Eleanor Green" written on the back. Eleanor lived in the house with her mother and grandmother, who rented the house from the Newell family for a number of years around 1940. Her initials can still be seen where she carved them in the brick of the basement stairwell.
Although Henry Newell died in 1931, his wife Bertha owned the house until the mid-1940s, renting it out to at least one family. This advertisement from the Philadelphia Inquirer is from 1945, shortly before the house was purchased by its third owners, Roscoe and Marion Robinson.
A March 1950 article discussing Francis "Bob" Archer's purchase of the house and intention to turn it into a funeral home. The Archers - Bob, wife Mary, and children Bobby and Mary Ellen - lived in the upper portion of the home, while the ground floor and basement were used for the funeral home operations.
A reprint of the photograph taken for the 1950 newspaper article.
An unpublished view of the house from Third Street, taken for the 1950 article on Bob Archer's purchase.
An advertisement for Bob Archer's funeral home
This photograph was taken around 1952 and shows the house as it was early in its life as the Archer Funeral Home. Courtesy of Mary Ellen Archer O'Shea, who was born 18 months after her parents bought the house and grew up here in the '50s and '60s.
Francis Mitten "Bob" Archer and Mary Nash Sullivan on their wedding day, 9 August 1941. Bob and Mary bought the house in March 1950 and used it as a funeral home. They lived here with their two children, Bobby and Mary Ellen. Photograph courtesy of Mary Ellen Archer O'Shea.
We found this advertisement in the basement when we first moved in - we now know that the room we found it in served as the casket showroom for the funeral home.
The five McCloskey children on the main staircase, circa 1980s. Jack and Joan McCloskey bought the house from Bob Archer in 1968. It continued to be a funeral home until 1976, when it was converted back into a full private residence.
Circa 1980s - Jeanne McCloskey sits on the front porch. The color scheme of the exterior trim - Tuscan red shingles and dark green columns - was on the house at least from the 1950s and is thought to have been original to the 1890s.
The Van Haute family on eldest daughter Heidi's wedding day in 1999. Ed and Maria Van Haute bought the house from Joan McCloskey in October 1993. Despite having been married for twenty years, Ed's military career meant that this was their first home purchase!
2001 exterior shot