What’s happening to the Grime Homestead at the Village?
Work has started on the Grime Homestead - the first phase in the expansion of our historic timeline into the 1920s. We are proceeding with upgrades to the home that include new siding, replacement of windows and doors, installation of a new heating/cooling system, new perimeter drainage and the addition of an ADA accessible ramp. We are also restoring the interior plaster work, woodwork, chimney, and will be redecorating the house based on paint and wallpaper found during the renovation project.
Once construction is finished we will furnish the home to the 1920s period based on oral histories from family members and other contemporary local residents. The changes to the interior of the Grime Homestead will help illustrate the beginning of modern times. The research into the Grime family, and other rural families in our region during that time period, show that they are accepting some modern technologies, while still clinging to some of the old ways. The house will have a whole new look, and lots of new stories about the move into the modern age. We plan to open this new exhibit this spring.
A bit of Grime Homestead History . . .
The Grime Homestead was built by Pierre Henri (Peter Henri better known as Henry) Grime (1832-1915) in 1860 for his new wife Adeline Felice Druhot (1842-1936). Henry was the son of John Peter Grime (1789-1885) who immigrated with his wife, Francoise Flory (1810-1876) and six children in 1843 from the Alsace Lorraine area of France. Adeline was the daughter of Jean C. E. and Elinora Eulilia (Bollett) Druhot. Henry and Adeline had nine sons, of whom two died in childhood. They sold their farm to their fourth son, Gustave Grime (1869-1943). In 1894 he married Amelia Anna Kretz (1874-1953) the daughter of Joseph and Anna Catherine (Griewald) Kretz. They had one daughter Ethel Adeline who married Floyd Edwin Dominique in 1911. The family was French Catholic and attended St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Archbold.
The Grime Homestead was built in the Georgian style in 1860 and added onto in the T pattern about 1875-1880. It originally sat further from the road and was moved to its current location around 1910 and placed on a basement when Gust purchased the farm from his parents. The original front porch added during the expanse in the late 1800s was enclosed at some point prior to its move in the teens and a new porch was added to the front.
