Historic Contexts Study and Phase II Inventory (Downtown Elk River) 2022

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Early Elk River farmhouses were likely much the same, although there are none known to be extant. An early view of the first house built by Oliver Kelley shows the Greek Revival style and clapboard exterior typical of pre -Civil War farmhouses. W. H. Houlton, despite his wealth and standing in the community, did not build a pretentious house. As illustrated in the Elk River Souvenir in 1901, the large, two story Italianate house had a simple roofline and a one-story wing. After the Civil War, and with the growth of a small class of prosperous merchants and millers, a few houses of more architectural pretension were erected. Italianate and Gothic Revival style houses were popularized by a variety of publications that could be copied by local carpenters. Frame rather than brick was chosen for construction. (Prevalence of brick in Elk River Township?) In the 1880s, a Queen Anne Style house was erected by Henry Castle at a cost of 3,000." This clapboard and shingle -clad house with much turned work boasted "devil points" in the cresting at the roofline and the owners pumped interior water from a private tower shared with three neighbors. Frank T. White House in 1981. Photo: MHS. Frank T. White (1866-1947) built one Elk River's most impressive houses at 1135 Main Street. An attorney, politician, and real estate developer, White chose a design from the Radford Plan Company of Chicago. The Colonial Revival design was built on a large lot overlooking the Elk River. It is one of several notable houses in the Houlton Addition to Elk River In the early twentieth century there were many unbuilt lots remaining from the original townsite plans of Orono and Elk River and the general population of Elk River erected a variety of simple houses near the town center. A simple foursquare cube was popular, as was the Arts and Crafts bungalow. Its on-e and one-half story exterior and well -finished interior was adapted from a great variety of plans advertised at lumberyards and other publications. Sporadic new construction occurred until the onset of the Depression in 1930, and housing construction did not resume until after World War II. Elk River Historic Contexts Study Draft 4/2002 30