The Woodburn Guild

Contact: Joan Curts
Phone: (812) 855-0075

With its origins very near to those of Indiana University, the Woodburn House in Bloomington reflects the university's rich heritage and its living continuity toward an even greater future.

The original section of the old historic home, at 519 North College, dates back to 1829 and its first owner, Mr. Samuel Hardesty. Built mainly of brick, the structure consisted of two rooms with a fireplace in each, a frame lean-to addition, and a frame kitchen located "back of the two rooms."

Be sure to take our file Tour of the Woodburn House!

The house was sold in 1846 and again in 1853 before Professor James Woodburn purchased the home and land occupying the surrounding city block for $1,100 in 1855. It was the beginning of an 86-year occupancy by the Woodburn family. Today, the Woodburn name is synonymous with IU tradition.

In 1858-59, Woodburn enlarged the house to approximately its present structure, adding to the east, south and west, as well as a second story. The front addition included the present parlor and front hall. Two long porches, upstairs and down, on the south side, added "galleries" reminiscent of South Carolina from where the Woodburns had come.

The total cost of the addition was $2,196.06. A professor of Mathematics, Civil Engineering and Language, Woodburn's $1,100 salary also had to support a family of nine children, and the venture caused some hardship later in the home's history.

The elder Woodburn's son, Dr. James Albert Woodburn, recalled both the hardships and good times of his family's early years in a letter written to Dr. Herman B Wells in 1934. Bedrooms were typically unheated, and when weather fell below zero, he recalled "In the mornings I would have to break the ice in the pitcher to get water from the bowl to bathe my face."

There were also good times "the old home was an 'open house.' We entertained visiting ministers. Young people's parties and parlor chances were always welcome."

In 1865, the elder Woodburn died intestate, with debts of $1,200 according to court records. Lots were sold off from the grounds to settle the estate and Mrs. Woodburn, who never remarried, took in student boarders to help defray the expense of raising a large family. These student boarders are one of the richest traditions of Woodburn House, in achievement as well as in spirit. William D. Bynum of Daviess County and George W. Cooper of Columbus later became members of Congress.

In his letter to Dr. Wells, the younger Dr. Woodburn called the home "quite a student resort" in those boarding years, recalling the organization there of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and a notorious "bogus" publication, "The Dagger," which was kept a dark secret from "me" after lampooning the faculty and students alike.

Following his mother's death in 1889 and completion of graduate work at John Hopkins University in 1889-1890, Dr. James A. Woodburn began his distinguished career as a professor of history and political science at IU.

A number of distinguished faculty and wives had rooms at Woodburn in the late 19th century, including Professor and Mrs. William Lowe Bryan and Professor and Mrs. Amos Hershey, the former to become a president of the university, the latter an international jurist renowned in international law.

Dr. Woodburn, his wife Carolyn Louise, and their children, James Gelston and Janet, assumed residency in the early 19th century. The home became "modernized" with the addition of electricity, running water, gas, baths, and furnace heating.

The "open house" for students, faculty, friends and neighbors continued, but without the boarding house condition of earlier years. A quieter life at Woodburn House was perhaps conducive to Dr. Woodburn's authorship of recognized poetry and eight book publications, including a "History of Higher Education in Indiana."

Dr. Woodburn's distinguished teaching career at the university concluded with his retirement in 1924, and he and his wife moved from the home where he had lived most of his life. Their new residence was in Ann Arbor, Michigan, his wife's former home. The era of family residence giving Woodburn House its name was ending, but a tradition would continue. While an instructor with IU's Department of Economics, Dr. Herman B Wells leased the home from the Woodburns in 1932. With an assistant from an Indianapolis decorator, Dorothy Helmer, the house was, in Dr. Wells' words, "put in order."

Dr. Wells set up what he called his establishment, with housekeeper/cook and houseman, and soon, he recalls in his biography, "Woodburn House began to function quite well for me, not only as a place to live, but also as a suitable accommodation for entertaining official guests of the university."

When Wells became President of Indiana University in 1938, he requested that Dr. Bryan, the outgoing president, continue to occupy the President's House until his death. Dr. Wells continued to reside at the Woodburn House until 1957 when Dr. Bryan died, occupying the President's House less than five years before his own retirement in 1962.

Enclosure of the porches, landscaped gardens, a new addition for live-in staff or students, and conversion of the old summer kitchen to a utility room were among the improvements made during Well's long residency.

"Much of my official and unofficial entertaining was done at Woodburn House rather than in other university or local facilities," Dr. Wells recalls. Perhaps most notable, he recollects, were the garden parties held for the Metropolitan Opera's annual visit to Bloomington. Among those most pleased with the treatment and use of the Woodburn House were the Woodburn family, and in 1941 Dr. Woodburn presented the home as a gift to Indiana University.

Following Dr. Wells' move to the Presidents' House in 1957, the Woodburn House has continued its tradition of gracious hospitality for the alumni, faculty, staff, students, and friends of Indiana University.

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Franklin, Sr., and later, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Cosgrave lived in the home and hosted various alumni groups. In 1976, the IU Alumni Association was assigned responsibility for the Woodburn House and its function as a university hospitality center. In the years since, the Alumni Association has continued and enhanced the tradition it holds in trust and esteem. The mid nineteenth century character of the home has been enhanced by the association's addition, in 1980, of a large, landscaped south garden.

The "open house" for the Indiana University's family and friends remains a very special tradition we are privileged to share.

In his 1934 letter to President Wells, Dr. Woodburn wrote, "So the old house has been in touch with the university for a long time and with many worthy people."