Yellow House aka the Entler-Weltzheimer House
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Beneath this yellow wood siding are the logs used to build this cabin in the late 1700s.
The exterior of the house in 1940-one of the final years in which it was used for home economics courses. A campus sorority used the building in the 1950s and it later became an annex.
The former log cabin was used as a home economics laboratory and classroom from the mid-1920s to the 1940s
The current interior of the building as preservationists and university administrators work to determine a new purpose for this historic structure.
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
This house is over two hundred years old, built sometime between 1770 and 1793. After their home on German Street burned in the 1912 fire, Annetta “Nettie” Entler and her son Fredrick Weltzheimer moved there. Fredrick and his wife, Mary Catherine, operated a tavern on Princess Street. After his death, Mary Catherine Weltzheimer continued to operate the tavern; her success was shown in the property she amassed. The Entler- Weltzheimer family owned the house until 1926, when the University acquired the property. The house is called the “Entler–Wletzheimer house” after this family that owned it for so long. The building has also been called the “Yellow House” since the University owned the property.
The “Yellow House” was purchased by the West Virginia State Board of Control in 1926. Shepherd University initially used the building as a Home Economic Cottage. It was remodeled to house a kitchen, living room, dining room, bedroom and lavatory. In the late 1940s the use of the “Yellow House” changed, it became the sorority house of Phi Sigma Chi.[1] At some point during the 1950s, it became the home of the Supervisor of Buildings and Gounds. In the 1960s the house was used as a nursery school and then in the 1970s as a science annex. Although the building has been used for many functions, the architecture still remains its historic character.
The University has received grants to restore the house to its initial state. The University is considering making the building into a classroom for preservation education. "This could be a place where students could practice plastering and other techniques, a place where preservation technologies and skills could be demonstrated," Alexander said.[2] The Mills group has rendered a plan for the restoration of the building.
Local tradition has it that the ghost of a murdered cobbler haunted the building. “In 1910, the house’s owner, a cobbler named George Yontz, was found murdered outside the home.”[3]
[1] Yellow House. Historic Tour of Shepherd University. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.shepherd.edu/lib/shwebsite/historic_tour/yellowhouse_campus.html.
[2] Belisle, Richard. Shepherd's Yellow House could be Converted into Classroom. Herald Mail Media. May 04, 2015. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/tri_state/west_Virginia/shepherd-s-yellow-house-could-be-convert....
[3] Why some folks call this the "Most Haunted Town in America". Wild, Wonderful West Virginnia. Accessed April 26, 2017. https://gotowv.com/most-haunted-town-shepherdstown/.
Sources
Yellow House. Historic Tour of Shepherd University. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.shepherd.edu/lib/shwebsite/historic_tour/yellowhouse_campus.html.
Belisle, Richard. Shepherd's Yellow House could be Converted into Classroom. Herald Mail Media. May 04, 2015. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/tri_state/west_Virginia/shepherd-s-yellow-house-could-be-converted-into-classroom/article_cfafdfb6-f2c5-11e4-b7d2-dffb7f97d2bd.html.
Why some folks call this the "Most Haunted Town in America". Wild, Wonderful West Virginnia. Accessed April 26, 2017. https://gotowv.com/most-haunted-town-shepherdstown/.
Mary Catherine Weltzheimer. Historic Shepherdstown Commission. Accessed April 26, 2017. http://historicshepherdstown.com/portfolio-item/1120/.