Perhaps the most "famous" house in Bronaugh (yet today) is the former home of Vernon and Gladyce (Linn) Holland. This house was featured in the October, 1948 issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine as part of a series of articles about remodeling houses.
This article is intriguing because it was in a famous magazine and Bronaugh seldom made national news. It is also interesting in that it shows the before and after photos of the home. Can anyone tell us who had built or lived in the old abandoned square house before Vernon and Gladyce remodeled it? In the bottom photo, I assume that is Gladyce in front of the house. I think everyone loved Vernon Holland. He was the long time rural mail carrier.
September 24, 2015 update: I was in
Nevada visiting my mother. Marjorie Noel Range is a
resident at the same place. Marjorie recently celebrated her
97th birthday and has a great memory for things historical,
having grown up near Bronaugh. I had the Better Homes &
Gardens magazine with me and so I showed this article to
her. I asked her if she remembered the Vernon Holland house
when it was the 30 ft.² house - she said "Yes in fact I
stayed there a couple of times because I was a good friend
with Nelma." She went on to say that it was one of the
places where Pearl (Feller) Thompson had lived. She also
said the Pearl actually lived many different places trying
to "get by" with her many children after the early death of
her husband, Chauncey, who died in 1923. Nelma was the
youngest daughter and she and Marjorie had been childhood
friends who stayed in each other's home. Continuing the
story about the box house that Vernon remodeled, she said
that she thought before Pearl lived there, the house was
vacant for a few years because nobody would live in it
because the man who had lived there had committed
suicide. September 26, 2015 update: While at the
Bronaugh Fall Festival, I visited with Linn Holland (son of
Vernon and Gladyce) about the article. He also has a copy.
He indicated that there is some doubt that the "before"
picture in the magazine was truly the house that was
re-modeled. He thought that it might just be a similar one
in town. However, he went on to say that the re-modeling of
the Vernon Holland house was done by Percy Hawkins. When I
mentioned the suicide story, he confirmed that he had heard
it also and that the man who committed suicide in that house
did so because he had been spurned by his girlfriend.
It will be interesting to see if we can
find that story! Regarding the Holland/Thompson
relationships. Vernon Holland was the son of
Forest
Holland and his wife, Carrie
Feller Holland. Pearl
Feller was Carrie's sister and
she had married Chancey Thompson who died in 1923. Pearl was
a widow for many years. Carrie Feller Holland died in 1951
and in 1953, widower Forrest Holland married his widowed
sister-in-law, Pearl. They were married until their deaths
in 1974.
This page is designed and maintained by Lyndon Irwin.