The LuLac Edition #4,471, February17th, 2021

 

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY 

 Our Write On Wednesday” logo.

This week we turn to the Times Leader for a great editorial on The Nathan Denison House in Forty Fort. The editorial tells the story of an immigrant woman who saved th landmark.  

                                         

OUR VIEW: IMMIGRANT BUSINESSWOMAN LED WAY IN HISTORIC PRESERVATION

In Monday’s Look Back feature, reporter Ed Lewis recounted the story of Marie Youssoupoff, and how she played a significant role in saving the historic Nathan Denison House from demolition nearly a century ago.As Lewis reported based on archival newspapestories, Youssoupoff, a Russian immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1919, was the oriental rug connoisseur at the Boston Store in downtown Wilkes-Barre in the 1920s, bringing quality carpets from Asia to Wyoming Valley consumers.

In January 1927, Youssoupoff purchased an old home that would become a new home for her rug business: The Denison House in Forty Fort.

Built in 1790, the house off Wyoming Avenue had been built by one of the valley’s pioneering settler families from Connecticut.

Col. Denison, who was among the first 40 settlers to plant roots here in 1769 (Forty Fort takes its name from them), was a militia commander who served at the Battle of Wyoming in 1778 and later became a county judge. The house which bears his name was built in a style common to his native Connecticut, with the rooms arranged around a large central chimney.

Denison lived there until his death in 1809 and it continued to be occupied by members of his family for over a century.

Richard Reilay, a direct descendant of Denison, lived in the home until the 1920s, and then it was vacant for about a year — but threatened with demolition for real estate development.

Friends interested in local history brought the home to Youssoupoff’s attention. She agreed it was worth saving.

Youssoupoff continued to sell oriental rugs from the Denison House and frequently took her business on the road speaking to many civic and women’s organizations across the Wyoming Valley, as Lewis reported.

She was reported to have restored the interior in “strict accord with early American standards,” he added.

The Denison House would remain under private ownership until efforts got underway in the late 1960s to preserve the historic property. In 1976 the Bureau of Historic Sites and Properties of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission completed restoration of the house to its 1790 appearance.

It has been owned by the Luzerne County Historical Society since 2010, and has become a beloved centerpiece of local history, visited by students and the general public during events at which interpreters in period garb often demonstrate cooking and crafts of the early 19th century.

While it took the work of many hands and significant funding to make the Denison House the treasured landmark it is today, none of that would have been possible if Youssoupoff, inspired by civic-minded friends, had not stepped in nearly 100 years ago to prevent what could have been an irreversible loss to the Wyoming Valley.

Her efforts echo the contributions of immigrants to American independence in Denison’s time, including figures such as the Marquis de La Fayette, Tadeusz Kościuszko — and, lest we forget, John Wilkes and Isaac Barré.

They also echo the more recent contributions of many people and organizations in our community who have fought to save other historic structures, such as the Wilkes-Barré Preservation Society, which in recent years purchased the Zebulon Butler house in Wilkes-Barre, built by a contemporary of Denison.

Then, too, there have been adaptive reuse projects such as re-development of numerous vintage homes and commercial structures by King’s College and Wilkes University, as well as private sector developments that have found new uses for downtown Wilkes-Barre’s towering old bank buildings.

Much has been lost over the years, and we know it’s not always feasible to save everything. Last year’s demolition of the former Frank Clark Jeweler building in Wilkes-Barre was a sad example of that. But with Wilkes-Barre’s move late last year to advance a historic preservation ordinance there emerged another tool for those looking to protect the fabric of our region’s past.

May the example of Marie Youssoupoff inspire us all.