Durant House
(Norris Funeral Home)
100 S. 3rd Street

Click to enlarge image.

Ira Minard bought the property on which this sprawling house sits from the U.S. Government in 1842. After changing hands several times over a short period, Amos Locke, a native of Vermont who settled in Charleston in 1836, bought the property. This building, originally a one room home built in 1843, has experienced great growth and seen many different owners over its 160 year history.

From the late 1840s through the 1890s, the home remained in the Durant family. The Durants built the two story brick dwelling in the 1850s. One of the home's many owners was apparently involved in abolition. It is reported that there is evidence in the cellar that the home served as a station on the Underground Railroad.

For additional photographs, see these sources, more fully described in the Bibliography.

Business Binder L-Z
Celebrating History p 16

Also see...

Beith House
Collins Home
Durant-Peterson House
Durant Home
Klink's Wagon Shop

Sources

• "Passing in Review: Reminiscences of Men Who Have Been Residents of St. Charles." St. Charles Chronicle 20 Nov. 1903, 1.
  
• Clauter, Hazel. Our Community Works, Development of the Village from 1836 to 1840. 1976.
  
• Scanlon, Meredith. "Biography of the Norris House." St. Charles Chronicle 25 July 1962.