1617 Hawthorne Park - Little House

1617 Hawthorn Park

This 6000 square foot house was built about 1900 for William Parker Little. The home sits on lots 29 and 30 of the Amended Plat of Woodlands Addition.

Little, sometimes billed as a Columbus native, was actually born June 5, 1850 in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Dr. Robert Parker and Cynthia Dow Scarrett Little. He married Fanny Platt Bates in Columbus on October 22, 1889. Fanny was born about July 1858 in Ohio. They had six children, one born after 1900 died before 1910; Helen Kelly (1891), Evelyn D. (January 1892), Robert P. (February 1893), Mary B. L. (August 1897), Alene S. (September 1899).

Alfred Kelley Mansion, circa 1960

Fanny was a granddaughter of Alfred Kelley, a banker and state legislator, whose 1838 Greek Revival mansion at 300 East Broad Street was the Governor's residence from 1890-1892 and later as a Catholic school. The vandalized and neglected mansion was sadly dismantled and demolished in 1961. The facade was saved, and may survive somewhere.

Little's 1878 U.S. Passport Application uniquely notes that Little "exhibits autograph letters from the President vouching for him in very flattering terms." He is described as being 5'4-1/4" tall with a high forehead, dark hazel eyes, a prominent nose, medium mouth, full chin, dark brown hair, an oval face and a dark complexion.

In the 1870 Columbus City Directory Little is listed as an assistant book keeper for Hayden, Hutcheson & Co.. His widowed mother, Mrs. Cynthia D. Little runs a boarding house at 28 North 7th Street and William is living there.

In 1887, William is listed as being "of" R.O. Smith & Co. and also teller at P. Hayden & Co's bank. He resides at 40 North Grant Avenue. In 1890 he is still with the bank, but living at 42 North Grant Avenue.

The 1900 Census shows the Littles living at 67 Grant Avenue. They employed a live-in nurse, Alzina Andrews, age 49.

In 1910 they were living at 1617 Hawthorne Park. William's occupation is bank cashier, an officer of the bank. They had one live-in servant, 52-year-old Margaret Doyle.

A scarce Hayden National Bank issued $10 bill. At the time, local National banks issued currency rather than the Federal Reserve. Little's signature appears on the lower left.

Hayden Clinton Bank Building,
20 East Broad Street, circa 1953.

The Hayden National Bank became the Hayden Clinton Bank in 1910, and was taken over by Huntington Bank in 1923. The tan sandstone bank building at 20 East Broad Street, built by Peter Hayden in 1869, now stands as the oldest building on Capitol Square.

Paul Hooge discovered a trove of Little's photography at an auction in Newark, Ohio in 1992. Hooge purchased 600 vintage prints, 2,500 negatives, 40 autochromes, and a large number of glass slides. Hooge has publicized his find well and the Columbus Museum of Art staged an exhibition from the photographs in 1999. Two of Little's photographs were shown at the new art museum when it opened in 1931 in an exhibition called the First All-Ohio Salon of Pictorial Photographers.

The museum's summary of the 1999 exhibit states, "William Parker Little worked in the soft-focus, atmospheric style known as Pictorialism, popular at the turn of the century. This exhibition illustrates the extent to which Little also experimented with straight photography, producing countless unmanipulated, documentary-style pictures. The exhibition will include Columbus sites such as The Ohio Stadium (very possibly the first autochrome ever made of the new stadium, soon after its construction in the 1920s), as well as many other examples of Columbus and its environs, including Broad Street under construction and Hayden Falls."

Children Cooling Off in Front of the Columbus Library
c. 1925 by William Parker Little

William died at home on of a heart attack on June 15, 1937. Fanny died in Columbus on Christmas Day 1958. William is buried at Greenlawn Cemetery.

On November 19,1946 title of the home transferred from Fanny solely to Fanny P. B. Little and Harold B. Black, Trustee under a trust agreement dated November 12, 1946.

Harold C. Black is listed in the 1945 City Directory was the assistant secretary of the Columbus Bolt Works at 291 Marconi Boulevard. He and his wife Mary C. live at 1593 Cardiff Avenue in Upper Arlington.

On June 12, 1961 Carolyn B.W. Sanford, and William and Essie Washington purchased the home from the trustee, who was then living in Houston, Texas. Ms. Sanford taking 1/2 interest and the Washingtons taking the remaining half interest.

Carolyn Sanford was a teacher at Pilgrim Junior High School. In 1957 she lived at 131 North Nelson Road.

William Washington was born about 1891 in South Carolina. He married Essie about 1910. Essie was born about 1891 in South Carolina.

In the 1925 City Directory, William is listed as working as a cook and he and Essie live at 218 North 18th Street.

In 1930 the Washingtons lived at and owned 218 North 18th Street, valued at $5,000. William was a laborer at the railroad shops. James Washington, listed as William's brother-in-law lived with them and was also employed at the railroad shops.

Essie Washington died in Columbus on August 15, 1970.

65 North Monroe Avenue

On August 23, 1965 the property was purchased by Edward S. Robinson of 65 North Monroe Avenue.

Edward Sullivan Robinson was born on January 23, 1893 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Edward served in WWI and at that time he lived at 1352 Hawthorn Avenue. In the 1930 Census, Edward and his younger brother Howard are roomers with John Mule at 288 North Ohio Avenue. Edward's occupation is salesman and Howard is working as a bell man at a hotel.

Edward's WWII Draft registration card (1942) gives his address as 1616 Hawthorn Park. His employer was is the Kibler Company at 48 North High Street. Kibler was a one-price clothing store in business from 1905-1944.

Edward Robinson died in Dayton on November 10, 1971.

On April 8, 1975, Lloyd Thomas Dillard II and Gloria Hannah Dillard purchased the home from the estate of Edward Robinson.