Adams House

Perfect symmetry and mature landscaping make this Colonial Revival style home, built by widow Eliza Elliott circa 1910, quietly inviting. The home initially served as an investment, where retail merchant Peter Iverson and his family were the first tenants. Watchmaker Frank Sheets, the Reverend Alexander Pringle of the Evangelist Presbyterian Church, and newspaper reporter William Greene were residents at different times during the 1910s.

These early occupants well reflect the East Side’s diverse mixture of neighbors. Jess Adams of the city fire department purchased the home in 1923. Adams and his wife, Ila, raised two of their own children and four others here. Upon Jess’s retirement as fire chief in 1944, the couple moved to a farm west of town.

The home appears today much as it did in 1910. An open porch spanning the front, central dormers, and evenly spaced windows reflect the Colonial Revival style, but wide bracketed eaves and exposed rafter tails are inspired by the Craftsman style.