I am responding to an article in the Aug. 4 Leader about the townhouses planned for the Franklin site.
The plan looks great, but my concern is the house on the property which the Leader refers to as the Franklin House. The article mentions that the house was part of the McLeod Treatment Program, but this house has a history that is much more interesting.
Originally, the house was the home of Jack Riesberg. He had a grocery store on Main Street where the Gold Coin is located today. Joe also was a fireman and a fire chief for many years. That connection is where the story gets interesting.
One of the early members of Historic Hutchinson, Jay Beytien, told the group of his memory of Jack’s house. He said the house had a former life as the barn located on the northwest side of the Harrington/Merrill property. The measurement of the old stone foundation of the barn and the measurement of the main part of the house match perfectly.
Jay remembered that Jack brought fire trucks to hose down the barn. This continued for four or five days and was probably done to strengthen the barn for moving. Jay remembered that the move took place after WWII, and records at the county museum show that the Riesbergs had a phone listed to the Franklin Street property in 1946.
The barn did not have the gambled roof or hip roof that we associate with the barn in our area, but it was a two-story structure with a copula on top. Historic Hutchinson would like to move the house to the original barn area. We asked the City Council for help in funding this project but they refused our bid and did not make a counter offer. We thought they would consider some funding as the building will have to be demolished at a cost. We also think the barn is part of Hutchinson’s history.
Once the house is torn down and put in a landfill, it is gone forever. I am asking the city to reconsider funding the moving of the Franklin House to the Harrington/Merrill property on Washington Avenue. There are funds available for projects like this in the Community Development Fund. I am asking the readers and citizens of the area to ask members of the council to fund this project.
