George Ade House, also known as Hazelden, is a two-story, fourteen-room,

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

-style home in Iroquois Township in

Newton County, Indiana Newton County is a county located near the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 14,244. This county is part of Northwest Indiana as well as the Chicago metropolitan area. The county seat is Kentla ...

. Chicago architect Billie Mann designed the frame dwelling, built in 1904,

George Ade George Ade (February 9, 1866 – May 16, 1944) was an American writer, syndicated newspaper columnist, and playwright who gained national notoriety at the turn of the 20th century with his "Stories of the Streets and of the Town", a column that ...

(1866–1944), a syndicated newspaper

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

, author, humorist, and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

. Ade named the property Hazelden, after his English grandparents' home.

History

By the early 1900s, after twelve years of working as a newspaper reporter and columnist in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

(1866–1944) decided to return to

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and retire to a life in the country. Ade was born and raised in Kentland, another farming community in

. He gained national notoriety as a newspaper

writing "Stories of the Streets and of the Town" for the ''Chicago Daily News'' (which later became the ''Chicago Morning News'' and the ''Chicago Record'') at the turn of the twentieth century. Collections of articles from his columns were also published as books. In addition, Ade wrote a syndicated weekly newspaper column and a book series of fables in slang, which were humorous stories that featured vernacular speech and the liberal use of capitalization. Ade was also a

for the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

stage whose best-known plays, The County Chairman and The College Widow, and some of his other literary works were adapted into motion pictures. Using the earnings from his writing career, Ade invested in Newton County, Indiana, farmland, eventually owning about . ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs. In 1902, William Ade (George's brother) purchased on George's behalf a site of wooded land along the Iroquois River near the town of

Brook A brook is a small river or natural stream of fresh water. It may also refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler *BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming ...

in Newton County, Indiana. Ade named the property Hazelden, after his English grandparents' home, and had a two-story, fourteen-room home built on the site. He moved from Chicago into the newly built residence in 1904 and owned the home for the remainder of his life. Following Ade's death in 1944, ownership of Hazelden was transferred to

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

(Ade's alma mater). The university relinquished the property to the

State of Indiana State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

when it could no longer afford its upkeep. The state government, also unable to maintain the home, turned it over to Newton County, Indiana, officials. In 1962, the George Ade Memorial Association raised funds to acquire, renovate, and restore the home, which was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1976.

Description

Ade initially planned to build a summer cottage, but Chicago architect Billie Mann, one of Ade's

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American fraternal literary societies. The fraternity has 244 active (undergraduate) chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has initiated more tha ...

fraternity brothers, designed a country manor for the site. Ade's two-story, fourteen-room,

-style home was constructed in 1904 at an estimated cost of US$25,000. The frame dwelling features half-timbering and

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

on the upper floor, leaded glass windows, and beamed and vaulted ceilings. Ade made additional improvements to property that included landscaped grounds, a swimming pool, greenhouse, barn, and caretaker's cottage, among other outbuildings. He also added an adjacent golf course and country club in 1910.

Use

Ade frequently entertained at Hazelden, where he usually spent the summers, and vacationed during the winter months at a rented home in Miami, Florida. He was also a world traveler. In addition to serving as his summer home, and his permanent residence beginning in 1905, Hazelden was used for political gatherings and community events. In 1908,

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

announced his candidacy for

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

at Hazelden. In 1912, Hazelden was the site of a political rally for

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

Bull Moose Party The Progressive Party was a third party in the United States formed in 1912 by former president Theodore Roosevelt after he lost the presidential nomination of the Republican Party to his former protégé rival, incumbent president William ...

, and, in 1924, it served as a venue for an address from vice presidential candidate Charles W. Dawes. Ade also hosted a homecoming party for soldiers and sailors on July 4, 1919, as well as parties and gatherings for the community, local children, alumni of Purdue University, his Sigma Chi fraternity brothers, members of the Indiana Society of Chicago, and golf tournaments."Biographical Sketch" in "Biographical Sketch" in The George Ade Memorial Association, the group that raised funds to acquire and renovate the home, disbanded in 2018. As of 2019, Newton county officials are assessing the home's condition and plans for restoring it for use as a historic site open to the public and an events venue.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ade, George, House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Tudor Revival architecture in Indiana Houses completed in 1904 Buildings and structures in Newton County, Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Newton County, Indiana 1904 establishments in Indiana