The Man Who Built the "Brick House"

Oftentimes one story leads me to another. When I had written the story about the Morrison folks moving to Clark County, Dakota, I asked my readers for any additional information they might have concerning the people involved.

I got a call from John Toman. He asked if Charles Foster, builder of the Brick House, had been involved in the Clark experience. I found that Foster had owned land at Clark and traveled there regularly, so being the businessman he was, I assume Foster was involved in the establishment of the area.

His oldest child, Robert, was at one time the Deputy Treasurer of Brown County, Dakota, as well as the co-owner of the abstracts of that county. I also discovered a lot about Charles Foster that I didn’t know. Former Morrison resident Dr. Curt Gronner had written about the family in the past, but perhaps some of you haven’t heard of Mr. Foster and his family.

It was Charles Foster that built the impressive house on Lincolnway that we still refer to as the “Brick House,” now owned by John Toman. Mr. Foster and his family were involved in a lot of the history of Morrison, and I would like to share a little about this fascinating man. Charles Foster was born September 2, 1831, near Ithaca, New York, and died in Morrison at the age of 82 years, 2 months, and 16 days. (The old-time obituaries were very precise.) He, his two wives, and three of his children are buried in Grove Hill Cemetery.

Charles farmed with his family until the age of 23, and then he purchased 53 acres to farm on his own. That lasted a year, when he moved to Sycamore, Illinois, where he worked on a farm. A year later we find him as a clerk in a dry goods store in Sterling, Illinois.

Evidence of his future business skills must have been obvious, because after only three months, his employers moved him to Morrison to take charge of their branch business, buying grain and livestock. It wasn’t long before he left this job to start his own grain and livestock brokerage business. From that small beginning, in a few years he was doing $150,000 worth of business yearly--a lot of money in those days! He expanded his livestock and grain business to include butter, eggs, and poultry. One year he purchased and sold 310,000 pounds of butter. Foster was the biggest dealer in butter in Illinois outside of Chicago.

Foster had expanded his investments to include large holdings in Iowa and Nebraska, while still owning his original land in New York. In 1882 he closed out his business in Morrison to organize and manage the First National Bank of Norfolk, Nebraska. A lot of Morrison residents were moving to the Norfolk area as their “new frontier.”

There seems to be evidence that perhaps Foster ran into some financial problems during this time, but he seemed to recover from them. In 1883 he withdrew from active business life, but still was involved in real estate and loans.

Early investments in land in Morrison had left him one of the largest holders of real estate in Morrison. At one time he owned 60 acres, a large part within the corporate limits of Morrison. He also still had his large holdings in Iowa, Nebraska, and, yes, 320 acres at Clark, Dakota. I think it is obvious that Charles Foster was, at one time at least, a very wealthy man.

His first wife, Lydia, died in June, 1875, leaving him with their five children. He married Charlotta Corey in October 1876. It was in 1878 that he started to build what is still a legend in Morrison: the construction of his brick home, on what was then called Grove Street. The August 7, 1879 edition of the Sentinel told of it being constructed with one hundred and twenty thousand red bricks, five thousand Milwaukee bricks, and forty-seven thousand feet of lumber. It told of its walnut-trimmed interior, which is still just as beautiful today!

At that time the home sat on one and one quarter acres of land. Prior to building the home on Grove Street, the Fosters had lived in the one hundred block of Wall Street. We have a picture of their house in our Morrison’s Heritage Museum files. An item in the 1880 Sentinel told of Foster building a corn crib adjoining the two cribs already standing on his property on Wall Street. It didn’t say where on Wall Street, but I doubt if it was next to his house. Remember, he owned considerable acreage in the city.

Then, there is the interesting story of his daughter, Gertrude. She was only seven when her mother died. She had an illustrious music career before becoming a leader in the Women’s Suffrage movement in this country. Perhaps we can explore her life next month.

Morrison Historical Society welcomes your suggestions for stories that might be explored. The museum is always looking for pictures of events, things, and people from The Good Old Days. We can copy your old picture and return it to you. Thanks for your interest and help.

(by Orville Goodenough, Guest Columnist)