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The “Brick” or Duncan Place & The Cunningham Place or Trippet Home

Many people are familiar with the large two-story brick home on Highway 65 North. It is unusual to see a two story all brick house just before the road leaves the hills into the valley formed by Pond Run and the Patoka River. The brick house is on the same group of hills group as Bammer Hill. Highway 65 runs right over the top of these hills.

Jesse Glaze built the “Brick” about 1885 with brick made from the clay from the surrounding hills. The brick was fired right there on the premises, all clay contains bauxite in varying quantities and it is thought that the higher the bauxite (raw aluminum) content the stronger the brick. The “Brick” has the Patoka River on the east side and the Trippet Ditch (Pond Run)on the west side. J. Wilbur and Mary Kolb’s daughters’ Unalea and Mary Lou currently own the property.

My grandparents, Joe and Maggie Kolb lived in this brick house and four of their children, Aunt Frieda Turpin, my father Herdis and Uncles Chester and Noel Kolb were born there. Noel Kolb was born in 1914 the same year Grandpa Kolb was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives. Noel died of pneumonia during Grandpa’s term of office and Grandpa Kolb refused to run for reelection. He wanted to build his own home and Grandma Kolb said she didn’t want to raise any more children in that cold, damp brick house.

In the Kolb and Phillips families this house is often referred to as “The Brick”, the beginning of the family. My grandparents were married in 1900 and lived a short time in “the Weaning Pen”, as it was known, it was a house owned by Great Grand Father Jacob Kolb for any of the boys when they married, they could live in the house until the next son married. I believe Uncle Leotis was born there before Uncle Sam Kolb was married and Grandpa had to move.

Grandpa Kolb moved his family to the Rainey House, which was a two-story house that sat just off Hwy 65 at what we called the Huey curve, just south of the crossroads that goes to Wheeling or Patoka. This crossroads was called Gieseke Crossroads for many years; Old Man Gieseke lived where Jerry and Claudia Blanton live today. Uncles Wilbur and Jacob Kolb and possibly Aunt Beulah were born at the Rainey House. Aunt Beulah was born was born 1-31-06 about the time the family moved to the “Brick”.

Grandpa and Grandma Kolb moved to the”Brick” in about 1905 or 06 they rented this house and farm ground from Jesse Glaze for $600 a year. It sure seems like a bargain today, but in the early 1900’s it probably wasn’t easy to come up with cash. The property included everything south along the Patoka River to the rock quarry at Bammer Hill and east along the Patoka River to where the New River was dredged later about 1920. This was quite a few acres, but much of this along the river was still wooded. Grandpa did clear up a good bit of wooded ground. Grandpa Kolb did farm some ground on the other side of the Patoka River owned by Tom Carithers.

Tom Duncan, a prominent Princeton attorney, once owned this brick house and considerable acreage. He purchased this property about 1918 when Grandpa moved his family to the home place, which was completed in 1918. Maurice was born at the home place.

Uncle Chester remembers Freddie Duncan, Tom Duncan’s son, coming out from Princeton to work on the farm. Freddie mostly cleared brush and cleaned out fencerows. Uncle Chester remembers several disagreements between Freddie Duncan and Irvin Moore until Freddie refused to work if Irvin was going to be around. Chester and Dad often referred to Irvin as ”The Old Cat”. I never knew how he got that nickname.

Tom Duncan owned this property until Leotis and Wilbur Kolb purchased it in the mid 1940’s. Today it is owned by Wilbur Kolb’s daughters Unalea and Mary Lou.

The property directly across the highway was the Trippet Home. Wateland “Wate” Trippet owned a house and considerable acreage along the Trippet Ditch “Pond Run”. He owned most of the property on the west side of Hwy 65 from Severns Bridge and on both sides of the Trippet Ditch all the way up Pond Run to where Great Grandpa Phillips. Property began. His brother owned much of the property on the west side of Pond Run the rest of the way up the valley.

The Trippets hired families to farm their acreage and had money to invest. They were stockholders in the Patoka Bank& Francisco Bank and started the Hazleton Bank. Wate Trippet had a son Paul who was quite an athlete, an example was when hay was being put in the barn using a hayfork Paul would grab on to the hay as it was being lifted from the wagon into the loft and drop off into the hayloft. Paul was a motorcyclist in the early 1900’s and never married. He was 25 years old when one day he said he was going to Princeton, Paul was never heard from again. His draft notice to report for duty In World War I came the day after he disappeared. He was never seen or heard from again and no body was ever found. There was speculation about Paul’s demise, but never any proof.

Much of the Trippet’s hill ground was sold to Dr. Cunningham a Princeton dentist. He did not live on the property, but spent a lot of time there. My Dad took me to see Dr. Cunningham once when he was having dental work done. His office was in his house and he had two bulldogs lying on the floor, Maggie & Jiggs were their names. I was 4 or 5 years old and frightened of Dr. Cunningham.

Dr. Cunningham sold most of his property to Leotis and Wilbur Kolb. When they divided up their property Wilbur had the Cunningham Place and the Tom Duncan brick house and property. His daughters Unalae and Mary Lou are the current owners.

I want to acknowledge that what I write about family and area history is from my memory of what Dad, Uncle Chester and others have told me. If others have a different idea about the chronology of events they’re probably correct. I don’t use any written records, just memory.