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511 West Colfax
<br />legal description
<br />B.O.L. 15
<br />Mid loo.68 Ft.
<br />Key Number: 3-01-18/23-9%
<br />historical notes
<br />The first plat of Bank Out Lots list Lot 15 as being rectangular in shape and contain-
<br />ing one acre. This lot was purchased by Joseph Benjamin Birdsell and his wife, Olive
<br />Tarbell Birdsell, from Casius Caldwell and others on September 11, 1897, for $8,800.00.
<br />The Birdsell's lived in the West Colfax area, but it was not until 1908, that Mrs.
<br />Olive T. Birdsell, widow of J. Benjamin Birdsell, was listed as living at 511 West Colfax.
<br />Her desceased husband came to South Bend from Dbnroe County, New York, in 186+, with his
<br />father, John Comley Birdsell, inventor of a clover huller. The Birdsell Manufacturing
<br />Company was incorporated in 1870. J.B. Birdsell became president and treasurer of the
<br />company in 189+. He retired in the spring of 1906, and died September 27, 1906, at his
<br />residence, 415 West Colfax.
<br />Pairs. Birdsell lived at 511 West Colfax until 1927, when the Income Guarantee Company
<br />took possession on January 1, 1928, and remodeled the home into offices. It was also
<br />during this year that Williams Street was extended from 500 West Washington to West
<br />LaSalle.
<br />The house became known as the Income Building. The property was purchased by the
<br />L.R. Corporation, January 6, 1959.
<br />Birdsell House - 511 West Colfax Avenue
<br />This residence, built in 1898, has some classical details, and could be
<br />classified as Queen Anne style.
<br />In 1866, J.B., V.O. and B.A. Birdsell, sons of John C. Birdsell, became
<br />co-partners of a firm that manufactured clover separators and
<br />threshers. In 1870, the co -partnership was merged into a joint-
<br />stock concern under the name of the Birdsell Manufacturing Co., with
<br />a capital.of $50,000.
<br />John C. Birdsell waa born in 1815 in Westchester County, New York. He died
<br />in South Bend in 1894. The clover huller which he invented and perfected
<br />was patented in 1885 and he owned the largest factory building in 1870
<br />in South Bend. He was a Quaker and very prominent in early prohibition
<br />movements.
<br />In 1927, this residence was sold to A.N. Hepler, Sr., president of Income
<br />Guarantee Co. It was then remodeled into offices.
<br />source of information
<br />Deed Book:
<br />105, Page 53
<br />South Bend
<br />Directory 1906, 1908
<br />South Bend
<br />Tribune, Obituary,
<br />September
<br />27, 1906
<br />South Bend
<br />Tribune, Obituary,
<br />1,4arch 29,
<br />19+2
<br />History of
<br />St. Joseph County,
<br />Chapman's,
<br />1880 page 879
<br />401 491
<br />History of
<br />St. Joseph County,
<br />Howard's,
<br />Page - 405 - 408, 490 -
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