Contents     Previous Page     Next Page

THE TOWN GETS A NEW NAME
LEWIS BRADLEY HOUSE
The Bradley house on Race Brook Road must have been built prior to 1800. The exterior of the house has been changed so that it has lost its original style of architecture. However, a picture is in existence, showing the way it used to look. It has a massive fireplace in the kitchen, which shows that the house was built long years ago. The Bradley farm was part of the plot which became Tyler City. It now belongs to William A. Knight.
COLONEL ASA PLATT HOUSE
Still another fine type of early architecture was the house built in 1810 by Colonel Asa Platt. It stands at the corner of Race Brook Road and Tyler City Road. This was built to be a show place, to be used as an inn. The carving and paneling are especially good, and there are numerous spacious rooms. Originally there was a lookout on the roof.
But the Colonel met with financial difficulties and was forced to dispose of the property through foreclosure. In 1840 it was bought by William Eli Russell, and has been in the Russell family ever since that time. At present it is occupied by Clarence and Inez Russell Hall. There are some amusing anecdotes connected with this house.
At one time there was to be a wedding. The bride was all dressed in her wedding finery, the guests were all assembled. But when the appointed hour arrived, the bride was missing. They searched high and low. Finally she was discovered hiding behind a huge iron pot out in the shed. When pressed for an explanation, she said that she had found out that the wedding cake wasn't quite done, so she had taken this method of delaying the ceremony until everything was ready.
Because of its size, in later years some of the town poor were boarded in this house. One day, during a terriffic [i.e., terrific] downpour of rain, one of these paupers was discovered out-of-doors, under the eaves, getting the full benefit of
57