Wylie House
Museum
The Wylie House in Bloomington, Indiana is a
historic house that was built in 1835, to become the home of
Andrew Wylie, the first president of Indiana University, until
his passing in 1851. After his passing, and then his widow's
death in 1859, Theophilus Adam Wylie, a professor at the
university, and half cousin to Andrew, bought the house from
their heirs and his family would live there until 1913, when his
widow would pass on. Now, the Wylie House is an historic house
museum that is operated by Indiana University Libraries so that
it can interpret the lives of these outstanding families. In
1915, Dr. Amos Hershey, one of the professors of political
science at the university purchased the house from the Wylie
heirs, and as he and his wife, Lillian lived there, they began
the first important changes to the structure. They would
modernize the bathrooms and kitchen, adding a furnace, screened
in the front porch along the first floor, enclosed the second
story porch and removed the ground floor pantries. They also
added pediment awnings over the front entrance and a small
slanting roof over the east door to the kitchen. Herman B.
Wells, the president of the university would help it acquire the
house from Hershey's widow in 1947, who would continue to live
there until 1951, and between that year and 1959, it would be
used by the Indiana University Press. Between 1960 and 1965, the
college would make significant restorations that brought the
house back to its original configuration. It now called the
Wylie House Museum and showcases the house as it looked before
1860, using an inventory from 1859 as a guide, with many
excellent Wylie family heirlooms and period pieces.
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