Edmiston House

The Edmiston House faces east and is covered with narrow clapboard siding. A chamfered front gabled end in the south portion of the main facade has decorative woodwork applied. The gable peak has two small windows surrounded by wood sunburst patterns and a decorative frieze is below the gable. The hipped roof is covered in asphalt shingles. The original front door deteriorated and has been replaced. Due to the site's slope, mush of the foundation is exposed on the home's north and west sides. A non-historic garage used to stand in the rear yard but was demolished in the early 21st century. A former cistern west of the house has become a septic tank.

James Martin Edmiston was born in 1848 in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, where his family was friends with the family of John A. Martin, a future governor of Kansas. Edmiston moved to Atchison in 1870, thirteen years after Martin moved to the same place. He moved to Marysville, Kansas for a few years and then returned to Atchison. Edmiston married Hannah Loretta Peak, an Ohio native, in 1877. Edmiston bought the lot for $350 in 1879 and the family resided in the house on 7th Street by 1881. In early June of 1880, James M. (age 31) and Loretta (27) were boarders in the home of Loretta's sister, Ellen Peak (age 34) on Park Street; another sister, Olive Peak (32) and a servant also resided in the Peak home. The Peak home was on Park street, the first intersection street south of the 7th Street house. Edmiston was a talented carpenter but it is not known if he built the 7th Street house; descendants possess some of his handiwork in pieces of furniture. Edmiston (age 50) was not residing in the house on 7th Street in 1900; he was head of a household at 414 Park Street that included his wife, Loretta (47); son William J. (19), a bookkeeper; niece Myrta O. Peak (30); and three male boarders. Edmiston worked as the assistant superintendent of the Atchison Water Company by 1885 and was listed in the 1900 census as the foreman of the company.

The Edmiston family sold the house to a German immigrant named E.S. Breuer in 1908 for $1.600. Edmiston died in 1913. No Breuer or Brewer family was enumerated in the 1910 or 1920 census within Atchison. The household of Edmund S. Breuer was residing in the house by 1930. The 66-year-old had been married at age 21 to his wife, Rickie (67), a Wisconsin native with German parents. Mr. Breuer was a shoe clerk for the Hillegos Shoe Company. Also in the 7th Street home was their divorced son, Edmund J. (31), a Kansas native who had married at age 22. The elder Breuer owned the home which was worth $1,500; the home contained a radio.

Michael and Sherry Coulter bought the house from the Breuer family in 1983, and still owned the home in 2005. When the Edmiston House was documented for listing in the National Register in 2005, the Coulters were using the basement and first floor as living space. Not many changes to the interior structure of the house has been made since 1879 except for the addition of a bathroom in the southwest corner of the first floor. The original, wide plank wooden floors were covered in carpeting. The owners used a city grant in the 1990s for plaster repairs, upgrades to heating and cooling, and extra insulation for the walls and attic. The main entrance is on the south side of the home, with a secondary, basement entrance on the rear facade near the north end.

Chaturvedi, Sherri. 005-0260-01255 Edmiston House, 311 S 7th St, Kansas Historic Resources Inventory. Accessed July 19th 2020. https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=005-0260-01255.

Ford, Susan Jezak. Lane, Elizabeth L. NRHP Nomination for Edmiston House. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 2005.

Koch, Augustus. Bird's Eye View of Atchison, Kansas. Map. Kansas City, MO. Ramsey, Millett & Hudson, 1880.

US Census. Household of Ellen Peak on Park Street in Atchison, Kansas, Enumeration District 1, dwelling 51, family 51. Heritage Quest. Washington, DC. US Government , 1880.

US Census. Household of James M. Edmiston at 414 Park Street in Atchison, Kansas, Ward 1, dwelling 74, family 82. Heritage Quest. Washington, DC. US Government, 1900.

US Census. Household of Edmund S. Breuer at 311 S. 7th St. in Atchison, Kansas, Ward 1, dwelling 98, family 145. Heritage Quest. Washington, DC. US Government, 1930.