The Roswell Spencer House was an historic property located in
Pleasant Valley, Iowa
Pleasant Valley Township is a township in Scott County, Iowa, United States.
Geography
Pleasant Valley Township covers an area of and is located on the shore of the Mississippi River between the cities of Bettendorf and Le Claire According to ...
, United States. The house 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 ...
in 1982.
[ It has subsequently been torn down.
]
History
Roswell Spencer was a native of Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
who headed west in 1830 when he was 29 years old.[ with ] He initially settled in Greene County, Illinois
Greene County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2020 United States Census, it has a population of 11,843. Its county seat is Carrollton.
A notable archaeological area, the Koster Site, has produced evidence o ...
before settling in Rock Island, Illinois. After he served in the Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the " British Band", cros ...
he relocated to the newly opened lands of eastern Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...
. He became the first white settler in what would become Pleasant Valley Township when he built a log cabin near the mouth of Spencer Creek in 1833.[ The following year he built another cabin above the mouth of Crow Creek. Spencer was a farmer and an industrialist. He operated ]saw mill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ( dimens ...
s with his partner Stephen Henley on both Spencer and Crow creeks. He established another sawmill on Spencer Creek with John Work in 1837. The following year he and Henley brought down the Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
one of the first rafts of white pine logs from Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
.[ Spencer entered politics and became Scott County's first treasurer.
Spencer built this house in the early 1850s and a steam-powered flouring mill across from the house in 1856. In the Financial Panic of 1857, he lost all of his property, except for his house. He served as the local postmaster and continued to live in Pleasant Valley until 1862 when he moved to ]Cedar County, Iowa
Cedar County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,505. Its county seat is Tipton. The county is named for the Cedar River, which runs through the county.
Cedar County is located between t ...
where he was once again engaged in farming. Spencer returned to Rock Island in 1866 where he worked in the grocery business. He died there in 1876.
Architecture
The Roswell Spencer House was a -story, Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...
structure that overlooked the Mississippi River. The exterior was covered in Wisconsin white pine.[ It was three by four bays wide with a rectangular-shaped main block. There was a single-story wing on its east side. The house had double hung windows with rectangular surrounds and pediment shaped window heads. The first floor featured one-over-one windows and the second floor featured six-over-six windows. Medium pitched ]gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...
roofs capped both the main structure and the wing. The exterior also featured pilaster
In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...
ed corner boards, projecting boxed cornices
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
and a plain frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
on the gable ends where double hung windows were located. The front porch had a hipped roof
A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...
that was supported by Doric columns
The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...
. There was also a small triangular pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedim ...
over the entranceway. There were five rooms on the first floor, four rooms on the second, and a large attic.
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Roswell, House
Houses completed in 1850
Houses in Scott County, Iowa
Greek Revival houses in Iowa
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa
National Register of Historic Places in Scott County, Iowa