THE GRAY-WILEY HOUSE

1038 Jackson Street, SE

Circa 1927

This house, and the neighboring house at 1036 Jackson, were built for Connecticut Mills to serve as residences for their plant manager and assistant manager. The plant manager, Roland H. Gray lived at this residence with his wife Fannie L. and their children. Mr. Gray served Connecticut Mills until 1933, when the plant was acquired by Goodyear. He then became their Assistant Treasurer. He served in that position until he was promoted in 1940 to Goodyear’s Charleston, Indiana plant, later moving to the Akron headquarters, where was vice president of their cotton mill subsidiary. During his time in Decatur, Mr. Gray served on Kiwanis boards, and was director of the Chamber of Commerce. The family worshiped at Westminster Presbyterian, just a block away. The next owners of the house were Dr. James and Ethel Wiley Sr., who were married at Westminster Presbyterian. Dr. Wiley joined W. P. Baugh in 1947 at his Baugh Clinic on Grant Street, with a second location on Gordon Drive, which is where Dr. Wiley worked. The name later changed to the Baugh-Wiley Hospital, eventually becoming Decatur Morgan Hospital.

The house is Dutch Colonial in style with its gambrel roof and has an unusual sharply pitched front gable entry. It is a pattern book house, the plan is almost identical to the Sears’ “Glen Falls”, which graced the cover of the 1927 Sears’ Honor Built catalogue.

The house underwent a significant rehabilitation in 2020 through early 2021. It was showcased as a work in progress in Historic Decatur Association’s virtual Christmas tour of 2020. Historic features that were damaged or missing were restored, systems were upgraded, and the kitchen and bathrooms were remodeled. The homeowner won a 2022 Historic Preservation Award from the city’s Historic Preservation Commission for the excellent work on this house.