National Register of Historic Places

Darwin, Mary, House

Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa
Listed
January 24, 1980
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
80001445

About this property

The Mary Darwin House is a historic house located at 537 Summer Street in Burlington, Iowa. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 24, 1980. This house served as the residence of Mary Abigail Platt Darwin from 1866 to 1886. Darwin was major figure in the Women's suffrage movement in Iowa in the late 19th century. She and her husband, Charles Ben Darwin, resided together in Burlington from 1851 until he left for Washington state in 1870. They later divorced. That same year Mary Darwin chaired the first meeting of the executive committee of the Iowa Woman's Suffrage Association. She became a popular speaker on the subject throughout the state, but she was eventually shut out of the statewide movement because of her more liberal attitudes on such topics as free love. After living in Washington, D.C. from 1876 to 1880 she returned to Burlington and became involved with the Woman's Christian Temperance Union on both the local and state levels. The house is a brick structure in a vernacular Italianate style. It is composed of a two-story main block that is three bays wide, and a projecting full-sized projection with a polygonal bay on the north side. The whole structure is built on a limestone foundation. The house features shallow hipped roofs; wide, bracketed eaves; brick friezes that are painted white; and two wooden verandas.

Location

537 Summer St.
Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa
40.80170, -91.11425

Categories

SOCIAL HISTORY
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Church of St. John the Baptist
Industrial
0.5 mi
Forney, James M., House
Industrial
0.5 mi
Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Passenger Station
Early Republic
0.5 mi
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Station
Industrial
0.7 mi
West Jefferson Street Historic District
Pre Contact
0.7 mi

Questions about this property

When was Darwin, Mary, House listed on the National Register?

Darwin, Mary, House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 24, 1980.

What type of historic resource is Darwin, Mary, House?

Darwin, Mary, House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Darwin, Mary, House?

The period of significance for Darwin, Mary, House is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Darwin, Mary, House?

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