Magnetic Mansion
EVANS CITY — Members of three families from five states met Saturday for a different kind of reunion. Unlike most reunions, these families weren't all related, and many of them had never met.
What brought them together was a binding connection to the 1889 Queen Ann Victorian house at Harrison and Jefferson streets, where each of their families at one time had lived.
Although two of the five previous owners of the house were not represented, the three families illustrated the home's history with stories, photographs and artifacts.
Clyde Jr. and John Griesbach, grandsons of the original owner, spoke of the house through stories that had been passed down through generations.
Others, like the three King brothers, John, Bill and Earle Jr., shared memories of their childhoods spent there.
The discussions of about 15 people were facilitated by the current owners and history enthusiasts, Joyce Yasko and Lee Dyer.
After toying with the reunion idea for about three years and being contacted by several Griesbach descendants, the couple decided it was time to try to get the families together. The plans took shape about five months ago when the two sent out e-mails and letters, searching for a convenient meeting day.
"Our desire was to know what it was like to live in the house and what changes had been made to it," Dyer said.
According to Yasko and Dyer's research, the house was built about 118 years ago by German butcher Gustave "Gus" Griesbach. Griesbach, who immigrated to the United States in 1873, made a fortune in the Connoquenessing Creek oil operations. He lived in the house with his wife, Catherine Dombart, and their seven children.
What seemed like a happy ending resulted in tragedy in 1914, when Griesbach committed suicide in the house."No one would buy it for years because someone committed suicide in it," said John Griesbach, who now lives in Arizona.Along with his brother Clyde Jr., he said that growing up his family rarely spoke of Evans City because of the tragic event.However, while viewing the home's 11 original rooms, it was Gus Griesbach's love of theater, not the tragedy, that prevailed through the conversations. Nestled within the three-story turrets were several stages originally constructed for private performances and entertaining.Eventually, the house was sold in 1920 to Nancy Bishop, who made several changes to the house, which she used for renting and boarding. Among the changes were a greenhouse for her flower shop and a basketball court in the attic.In 1959, the late Earle and Margaret King bought the house from Bishop's heirs for $9,000. After restoring the house with 96 gallons of paint, the couple raised their three sons and daughter, Peggy, in the house."Remember how we used to play red light, green light and wait for the bus on this porch?" John King said, stirring up childhood memories with his brothers.The men also spoke of rooms in the house where they played and watched television, as well as the formal rooms like the dining room and parlor where, except in the case of company, they weren't allowed.
After more than 30 years in the house, Earle King Jr. said the home became too much work for his parents to keep up and was sold to Conrad Kost in the summer of 1991 for $115,000.Following less than a decade of ownership by the Kosts, Yasko and Dyer purchased the home for $239,000 in 1998 as a restoration project."From the beginning it has been (our) desire to make the house, to the best of our knowledge, the way it originally was," Dyer said.To accomplish this goal, the couple has furnished the inside of the home with late 19th and early 20th century furniture, complete with paintings, rugs and chandeliers similar to what Gus Griesbach might have owned. They have even gone as far as attempting to use the same type of shelving in the library that they believe the home originally had.Among the furnishings are antiques from all 50 states and six countries, Dyer said.
Also involved in the reunion was Randolph Pfeifer from the Evans City Historical Society and his daughter Ann, who filmed the event. Pfeifer presented the group with blueprints, newspaper clippings, paintings and other artifacts from both the house and the town at the Evans City museum, two blocks down from the house at 204 S. Jackson St.Other artifacts from past home owners were brought by the families, each adding a unique piece to the home's history. They included Gus Griesbach's Army papers, several wills, postcards, family trees and many photo albums.John King also brought a glass-plate negative of the house, which is a reversed photographic image transferred onto glass, that his father had owned."I didn't even know he had it until we were settling his estate," he said, "so I don't know how he got it, but it's at least 100 years old."After sharing stories in a house tour led by Dyer and Yasko, the group enjoyed an old-fashioned picnic in the backyard, ending the daylong event with a bit of living history.
