Researched and written by Ruth Ann Montgomeryca. 1990

The Allen-Meredith Funeral Home has in the past served as an elegant residence, and a cooperative restaurant and laundry known as the Evansville Cooperative Home. It is one of the most architecturally significant buildings in the city, an excellent example of the Greek Revival style of architecture that was popular in the mid-1800s.

The land was originally purchased in 1846 by Lewis Spencer and some believe that he built a house on the site. In February 1857, Lewis Spencer sold two lots and part of a third to Mary A. Quivey, wife of Dr. William Quivey, for $400. This is a small amount to pay for two lots that included even a small house.

It is more likely that the Quiveys built the house after they borrowed money for the improvement. In April 1858, Mary took out a mortgage on the property for $479.58, borrowing the money from Eliza A. Grannis. An 1858 map of the city shows a house on the site belonging to Quivey.

Quiveys' sold the house to Isaac Bennett for $2,500 in March 1861 and moved to a small house they purchased from Hiram Griffith that was located on the site of 129 West Main.

The Bennett family lived in the house for more than 20 years. Bennett was an early settler in Evansville. He was born in Schoharie County, New York in 1824 and at the age of twenty got the "western fever" and decided to move to Wisconsin. He came by way of the Erie Canal to Buffalo New York and around Lake Erie to Milwaukee. From Milwaukee he walked to John Winston's home, six miles east of Evansville. In his belt, he had sewn his life savings, $250, and he hoped to purchase a quarter section of land near the Winstons.

Bennett's mother was a cousin of Winston's wife, Amanda, and they invited the young pioneer to make his home with them and work on the farm until he could buy land of his own in Center township. Isaac and his cousin, Nelson Winston, traveled to the land office in Milwaukee to purchase the land. Winston had gold and Bennett had paper money and the government land office would not accept anything but gold.

After making the money exchange, Bennett found that he was seventy-five cents short of the cash needed to purchase land and borrowed the money from Winston. It was the beginning of a partnership that would last for many years.

During the winter of his first year in Wisconsin, Isaac Bennett taught school at Union, just three miles north of Evansville. The following year, he and his cousin, Nelson Winston, opened a general store in Oregon. In 1847, Bennett married Elizabeth A. Kierstead, a native of New York state. She died in 1860, leaving Isaac with four small children. In September 1861, Bennett married Hannah Pettigrew.

Bennett purchased Quivey's house in March 1861, just a few months before his marriage to Hannah. At the same time Winston & Bennett purchased the store at 1 West Main and established a general store in Evansville. Nelson's brother, Rueben, also had a general store in the next block of East Main Street.

Bennett was active in organizing the little settlement along Allen's Creek into an official political unit. The village of Evansville was chartered in 1867 and at its first election the following March, Isaac Bennett was elected a village trustee.

His mercantile business continued to grow and the inter-connections with other businessmen that often occurs created a new partnership. In 1870, a competitor, L. T. Pullen joined Bennett and his partner, Nelson Winston, in the mercantile business. Because the Winston and Bennett store had one of the strongest safes in the little village, farmers often left money they had earned from sales of grain and livestock for safe keeping with the merchants. When Pullen joined the firm, the men chartered the first bank in Evansville.

Bennett remarried, Hannah Pettigrew and they had a daughter. With the family size increased, in 1867, they decided to enlarge their house. The local newspaper, the Evansville Citizen, reported that Mr. Bennett had a large pile of bricks in his front lawn to make an addition to his house. Today, one interior wall of the house is more than a foot thick.

Bennett invested in land in the Rocky Mountain country of Colorado. His sons, Willie and Jay, graduates of the Evansville Seminary, operated the land for their father. The Bennetts purchased sheep from Evansville farmers and shipped them by rail to their ranch in the spring of each year. In 1873, the Bennetts leased two railroad cars and shipped 400 sheep and 100 lambs, a mower and other machinery for the ranch.

Bennett served on the boards of several community organizations. He was a member of the Evansville Seminary board through the administration of the Methodists in the 1860s and the Free Will Baptists in the 1870s. He served on the board again in 1880 when it was taken over by the Free Methodists. Bennett was instrumental in getting the legislation passed that created the charter for the new organization. His business partner, Nelson Winston, also served on the Seminary board and in the 1880s, another partner, L. T. Pullen served as treasurer of the trustees. Bennett was active in his church and served on the board of St. John's Episcopal Church.

By the 1880s, Bennett's not only owned the land in the Colorado but also owned 400 acres of land near Evansville. He retired from the banking and dry goods business and entered the rapidly developing livestock business. In the spring of 1880, the local census taker reported that Bennett owned 600 sheep and had sold 3,000 pounds of wool during the year. Only eight of the 400 acres he owned was devoted to crops. The rest was pasture.

He was raising young livestock with a partner, Reuben Johnson. Bennett and Johnson chartered an entire train of twenty-six railroad cars and shipped 1,300 head of yearling cattle to sell in Ogallala, Nebraska.

Bennett's life was not without tragedy. His oldest son, 31-year-old, Edwin A. Bennett, died after a short illness in November 1882. His two younger brothers were summoned from Fort Collins, Colorado and the funeral was held in the Episcopal church, across the street from the residence.

Following the death of his son, the sixty year old Isaac Bennett decided to retire from an active business and civic life. In 1884, Bennett, his wife, and daughter, announced they were going to sell their beautiful home on West Main Street and move to the south. They especially enjoyed the city of Atlanta, Georgia.

Later they decided to purchase a home in Chicago and maintained a summer home at Lake Beaulah. Bennett died in 1908, the same year as his business partner, L. T. Pullen. His obituary described Bennett as a man with a dignified and austere appearance, but to those who knew him, he had a kind demeanor and offered wise counsel.

In April 1884, Bennett's home was purchased by a newly formed group of Evansville citizens for $2,100. Incorporated under the name, Evansville Cooperative Home, the group used the home as a restaurant and laundry.

In an attempt to relieve the work load of the women, and to save hiring housekeepers and cooks, many prominent Evansville people joined the Cooperative Home. The members drew up a charter, elected a board of directors, established rules for the organization and brought furniture and other household items to furnish the house.

The Cooperative paid an additional $600 for land west on the west side of the home to use as a garden. Members shared the work of growing food for their meals. Levi Leonard served as the first president of the organization and according to his diaries, he also provided potatoes and wood for the home. During the summer months, Leonard mowed the lawn. Other notable members of the "home" were the original owner of the property, Lewis Spencer, Almeron Eager, T. C. Richardson, and Charles F. P. Pullen.

Members of the Home could invited potential members to share a meal. In September of that year, the local newspaper editor and his wife, Mr. & Mrs. Isaac Hoxie, were invited to join the members for a noon meal. They found a Mrs. Ames in charge of cooking, along with her daughter and four girls.

The tables were set in two rooms connected by folding doors. Places were set on long tables occupied by family units. There was polished china and white napkins for each diner. According to Hoxie, the bread was "snowy", moist and delicious and the steak was reported to be "tender, well cooked and exceedingly juicy". Each person paid $2.50 a week for meals

When Mrs. Ames quit, Mrs. James Powles was hired as matron of the home and supervised the staff who cooked and served the meals. Often there were 40 to 60 people who ate their noon and evening meal in the home.

The group soon found that the fees were not meeting the expenses and asked for a special assessment of $15 from each of the members. The group also had problems keeping staff at the home. The lack of sufficient help caused Mrs. Powles to resign. She was replaced by a former employee.

The Cooperative Home experiment lasted just three years. In the spring of 1887, the company sold the property at a loss of $500 and declared they were glad to get out of the Cooperative Home business. The members met at the house to divide up the kitchen utensils and sold the rest of the household goods at auction.

C. B. Morse, a jewelry store owner, purchased the property from the Cooperative company for $2,500 in April 1887. His wife was delighted with the house and told the local newspaper editor that she was now living on "Grand Avenue". The editor agreed that it was a pretty place and one of the finest residences in town.

Morse's lived in the house for only two years when he sold his real estate and his jewelry store and contents. Morse had decided to move to Chippewa Falls. He sold the house to David Stevens and his wife. David Stevens was a long-time resident of Evansville, having moved to the area from Fort Covington, New York in 1861. He was a grain and livestock buyer who traveled the countryside purchasing products from farmers, shipping them to Chicago for sale.

Stevens had married Amelia Little in 1867 and she died a year later, after giving birth to a daughter, May. Four years later he married Winefred Regan and together they had seven children, four sons and three daughters. Bessie, the youngest daughter, was just a year old when the Stevens moved into the house.

Stevens was a well established business man by the time he purchased the house. In 1867, Stevens, Reuben Johnson (a former partner of Isaac Bennett) and Samuel Norton purchased a warehouse to store the grains they were purchasing from farmers. A few years later, in the 1870s, David and his brother William Stevens opened a stock yards near the Evansville depot to hold the livestock they purchased from local farmers.

The cattle, sheep, and pigs were brought into the yards on wagons, and sleds or herded into the village on foot. The Stevens brothers then shipped the livestock to Chicago's livestock yards. By 1875, the men enlarged their warehouse to store the grain for shipment to the Chicago Grain Exchange. The company office was in the warehouse.

The stockyard was operated the entire year. Business was usually heaviest in the spring and fall. In the summer and winter, Stevens traveled to the farms to inspect the animals and make a contract with the farmer for purchase. David became well-known to members of the Stock Exchange in Chicago as one of the best buyers and shippers of stock in the area.

Stevens also began to raise Aberdeen Angus cattle and showed them at the Rock County Fair at the turn of the century. He was active in business until a sudden illness ended his life in December 1903. His funeral was held at the Methodist Church and was one of the largest ever held in Evansville, with members of the Chicago Stock Exchange attending.

Winifred Stevens was left to raise three children still at home, Ralph, Anna and Bessie. Mrs. Stevens and her daughters often spent the summers with other Evansville residents at Camp Kegonsa near Madison. She sold the house in June 1910 to Jay Baldwin and moved to Pasadena, California.

Jay Burdette Baldwin was the first native-born Wisconsin owner of the home. His parents Anson and Eleanor had farmed on Jug Prairie, west of Evansville. Jay was born in November 1876 on their farm. After attending the Evansville Seminary and graduating from Evansville high school in 1895, Baldwin attended the University of Wisconsin, graduating in 1899.

For ten years he taught school. He was superintendent of Schools in Reedsburg before moving to Evansville. He married Meta Selle of Poynette in August 1900 and they came to Evansville in 1908. The Baldwins had three children, Orrel, Betty and Robert.

Baldwin commuted from Evansville to Chicago by train, working as a salesman for the Laurel Book Company. He became a manager of the company and later president and general manager. He lived in Chicago during the week and took the train home on weekends.

The children attended the local schools and many happy family events were held in the home. Plays and other social events where held in the large rooms on the first floor of the home.

Orrel attended the University of Wisconsin. After her graduation, she married James Noble, a member of the Noble & Noble publishing firm in New York City. Her wedding took place in the family home at 103 West Main in June 1927.

The bride was dressed in an Ivory satin gown and carried orchids and lilies of the valley. She had five bridesmaids, including her sister, Elizabeth. Little Richard Eager was the ring bearer and his grandmother, Gertrude, played the wedding music. Following the ceremony, 150 guests were served a buffet supper. The young couple left for their honeymoon, a world cruise on the ship the Empress of India. They sailed from Vancouver, British Columbia to New York City where they made their home.

Elizaberth (Betty) Baldwin who attended the University of Wisconsin was twice chosen queen of the U. W. prom, first in 1928 and again in 1929. She was also a member of the Wisconsin players. Betty majored in speech and hoped to become a dramatic coach.

When the children were raised, Jay and his wife began to spend their winters in Chicago, where they were closer to his work. For several years, he was secretary and treasurer of the Laurel Book Company and in 1929 was named the company's president. The couple began making plans to move permanently to Chicago.

The house was sold to Malcolm Allen who opened an elaborate funeral parlor. Allen had attended the Western School of Embalming at Chicago and received his diploma in August 1927. He apprenticed at the Bigelow-Roderick furniture store and funeral parlor on East Main Street.

When he decided to go into business for himself, Malcolm asked his uncle, ? Hile, to help him finance the purchase of a home that could be used as a residence and a funeral parlor. Allen purchased the Baldwin's home in 1930 and it remains a funeral home to the present day. Many of its former residents were buried from the establishment including, Anna Stevens, Jay and Meta Baldwin.

Through its many owners, there has been constant care given to the home. Malcolm Allen once said that not a year went by without some repairs, replacement or painting being done on the building. In an interview that was later made part of a video program about Evansville's Historic District, Malcolm described the maintenance of the egg and dart decoration under the eves. When the wooden pieces were taken apart for repair and painting, square nails used by carpenters in the mid-1800s were found, indicating the age of the building. Malcolm's efforts preserved this historic home as a showplace in the community.

Malcolm's widow, Carolyn continued to live in the home and operate the business for a few years and then sold the property to Tom Meredith, a native of Evansville, who also operates a funeral home in Racine. Within the last year, new cement drives, and a ramped entrance have been added to the south side of the home. The building is one of the show pieces of Evansville's architecture.