Mark Bennett: Sisters visit historic roots, a century after their mother's birth

Sep. 22—History, family and timing converged Wednesday afternoon in the historic Markle House's dining room.

Three sisters came to visit the two-story structure, built 175 years ago on Terre Haute's north side by Frederick and Sarah Markle. One of the women lives in Terre Haute. The others traveled more than 130 miles, one from Hebron and one from Kokomo, assisted by younger relatives. All three sisters are in their 70s and 80s.

Roots motivated them.

The sisters' mother, Rose (Williams) Johnson, was born in the Markle House's dining room in 1923, one century ago.

Across the road from the house's front gate is the equally historic Markle Mill Dam, part of Vigo County's Markle Mill Park. The original dam was built with wood in 1817 to power a gristmill at Markle Mill, but was rebuilt with concrete in 1910. The sisters' grandfather worked at Markle Mill, and their grandparents lived in two rooms on the first floor of the Markle House.

Markle House — constructed in 1848 by the son of one of Terre Haute's founders, Abraham Markle — lives on under the care of new owners Ben and Rachel Porter, who reside with their young family in the striking, white, 18-room structure. Though the private residence isn't open to the public, the Porters gave sisters Nancy Walls, Ruth Harbour and Barbara Hicks a chance to see their mother's birthplace.

That small reunion also gave the sisters, and Rose's granddaughter Debby Cacovski, the opportunity to see Markle Dam one more time. Demolition of the dam is scheduled to begin 17 days from now. Safety, environmental and cost concerns have led to the dam's demise, according to the Vigo County commissioners.

Wednesday's tour was a powerful moment for the sisters — 73-year-old Nancy, 79-year-old Barbara and 82-year-old Ruth. In this place, their mother's life began 100 years earlier.

"The thoughts of her playing in this yard and playing on this porch are just special," Ruth said, glancing at the lawn and the house's brick façade.

"To be able to go in and see what it looks like is a thrill," Barbara said, "and a privilege."

It's also bittersweet. Like many nearby residents and folks with special memories of the dam, the sisters and their families feel sad about its impending removal.

"I hate it, but I understand it," said Cacovski, who accompanied her mom, Ruth, on the trek to Terre Haute.

Markle Mill Dam measures 215 feet long and stands 9 feet tall. Its top is 3 feet wide. Its foundation is an estimated 8 feet wide. Its "low-head" style allows Otter Creek to flow continuously over its crest from bank to bank. Low-head dams can cause "turbulent currents," according to the National Weather Service, "which are extremely difficult to escape." A fatality occurred in 2010 at the dam site, which became a county park in 1999.

Replacing it with a safer "step-down" dam would cost Vigo County as much as $5 million, according to the commissioners. By contrast, its removal will cost $220,000. The county will use $190,000 in state funds to pay the remaining share as its obligation.

A fire in 1938 destroyed the mill, once the longest-operating gristmill east of the Mississippi. Only the dam and remnants of the mill's foundation remained. The dam no longer had a practical purpose. Still, the site and the nearby Markle House remain on the National Register of Historic Places.

Demolition of the dam is scheduled to begin Oct. 9.

"The community has been very sad about this news," said Markle House homeowner Rachel Porter, as she guided Nancy, Barbara, Ruth and their relatives on the private tour of her family's home.

Porter, her husband and their children moved into Markle House in March 2020, just days before the pandemic hit. The Porters purchased the property from Sallie and Don Cox, who had bought the place in 1983 and rehabilitated it, according to Indiana Landmarks.

Maintaining a house built when James K. Polk was president will keep the Porters busy for many years to come. "I would say we've got two decades worth of projects," Rachel said, grinning. "I mean, it's 175 years old, so there's a lot of work to be done."

Markle House has eight fireplaces and its bricks were made on the site. Abraham Markle's son and his wife Sarah built the house in 1848. They made the walls four feet thick at the foundation and nearly two feet thick on the upper floors, according to a 1973 historical account by Ronald Andrews.

Its legends are thick, too. The Porters' online blog says the house "served as a stagecoach station, a place for mustering militia, a prison for Confederate soldiers during the Civil War, and possibly a stop on the Underground Railroad."

Several locations in Terre Haute served as a stop on the Underground Railroad, a network of safe places for African Americans escaping slavery in the South through the end of the Civil War. Markle House might've been one of those safe places.

"It's possible," Rachel said. "I think there's stronger evidence the mill was. But if the mill was, it's likely the house was, too."

In the early 20th century, some of the mill's workers rented rooms in Markle House. Those included Rex Johnson, his wife Bertha and their children, which included Rose — the mother of Nancy, Barbara and Ruth, and grandmother of Debby Cacovski.

Nancy was too young to remember being in the house as a child, but Ruth recalled, "I spent a lot of time at Mill Dam" as a girl from age 7 or 8 until her teenage years.

"I remember going down to sandbag to keep [the nearby area] from flooding," Barbara said Wednesday.

Cacovski recalled hearing family stories about her great-grandfather Rex Johnson's pulley-driven steam engine being capable of powering a second mill at the site. Cacovski, a 57-year-old Terre Haute North High School graduate, also recalls sunbathing with her sister beside the nearby bridge.

"I kind of felt like we owned a little part of it," Cacovski said of the site, as she stood on the Markle House porch.

Across the road, the parking lot of Markle Mill Park was almost full, an unusual sight for a Wednesday afternoon. Some visitors snapped photos of the dam, probably for the last time.

The influx of visitors to the park "is definitely picking up," Rachel Porter said.

Mark Bennett can be reached at 812-231-4377 or mark.bennett@tribstar.com.