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Sunshine. High 86F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Cloudy skies with periods of rain after midnight. Low 59F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch.

The Newcomb-Stillwell House, now the Quincy Museum.

The Newcomb-Stillwell House, now the Quincy Museum.

At one of the 10 most architecturally significant corners in America sits the Quincy Museum. The Quincy Museum is located at 1601 Maine and is the standing legacy of Mr. Richard Newcomb. The historic home became known as the Newcomb-Stillwell Mansion after being the family’s residence from 1891-1939. It has become one of the most iconic buildings to line Quincy’s Maine Street.

Attracted by the possibilities of westward expansion in 1866, Newcomb investigated the Mississippi Valley. In 1867, he became the President of the newly organized Northwest Paper Company in Beloit, Wis., with another mill in Chicago. In 1871, the company suffered heavy losses during Chicago’s Great Fire He heard of an opportunity in Quincy. Richard and his brother, John, purchased the Gem City Paper Mill property on south Front Street. Richard was named vice president and superintendent. The company was renamed Newcomb Brothers. In 1880, Richard organized the Quincy Paper Co. and developed it into the second-largest strawboard mill in the country.

Richard wanted to have one of the most distinguishable homes in town. He purchased the two-and-half acre lot at the corner of 16th and Maine St. for $11,000 on April 10, 1880. The property originally had a Greek Revival-style home on it but was razed to make way for “[t]he most beautiful and imposing residence in Quincy.” The home was built in the Richardson Romanesque Revival style named after Boston architect, Henry Hobson Richardson–whose work set a new standard in architectural design. The architectural style was inspired by the ancient Romans and stressed intricacy, unusual, sculpted shapes, and individuality, a very eclectic style. 

The buff-colored stone was mined in the Berea Formation near Amherst, Ohio. The Quincy based architects who built the home, with the help of German craftsmen, were Harvey Chatten and Ernest Wood. The general structure of the mansion had a tower effect on the southeast corner with alcoves going up all three floors. Along the west side, visitors see large, curved bay windows on each floor. The roof was originally red slate with heavy terra cotta caps along the ridges. Visitors can note the exquisite carvings from the ground up to the chimney tops. 

This style of architecture is characteristically known for its massive stone exterior, broad and rounded archways (in the Newcomb House it is located on the outer west-facing wall), and spiky or leafy ornamental carvings. The gutters and downspouts are capped with beautifully designed scuppers. The wrap-around porch has a total of seven pillars supporting its roof, and no two capital stones are alike. Each capital stone offers visitors a new design, the most noteworthy of them is the lion face on the east side of the home, near the porte cochère. The 54.5-inch wide entrance doors immediately attract attention. 

The interior of the house has its own architectural appeal. The house contains 20,800 square feet of useable space and originally had 33 rooms. Some of those rooms were closets but for tax purposes were counted as rooms. It had three living floors, a basement, and an attic. The house had all the popular amenities for the time period. It had steam heat, electricity, and indoor hot and cold-water plumbing. The upper floors contained bedrooms, linen and sewing areas, and a billiards room attached to a formal ballroom. Today, the attic is used as the Museum’s archives and the basement is currently used for storage, but it originally had a wine cellar, laundry, and a one-lane bowling alley.

As patrons walk through the home today, they notice all the original elements: wood flooring (except in the kitchen), 24k gold leaf inlays, mosaic tiling features, stained and lead glass windows, hardware, and more are all original. The amount of wood used in the home is remarkable. Ten types were used. The most notable is the quarter-sawn oak seen downstairs and on the second floor. Each floor and room had its own unique design carved into the wood and hardware.

After the death of Richard Newcomb in 1904, his daughter, Elizabeth, moved in with her husband, John Stillwell. Stillwell was one of the founders of Electric Wheel, now Titan Wheel. In the 1920s, they made decorative changes to the home that are still present today. They lived there until they passed in the 1930s. Their deaths changed the course of the home’s story. Once a family home, their children offered it to the city, to be used as a public library. The city declined the offer, and the building was then offered to the Red Cross to be used as a headquarters space. When the Red Cross left, Quincy College now Quincy University, used the mansion as a dormitory for participants in the Civilian Pilots Training Program during World War II. Quincy College called the building Stillwell Hall and for the next forty years used it as a dormitory for their male and later, female students. In the last years of occupancy, the residence was used for seminarians and the School Sisters of Notre Dame. As on-campus housing increased, the College made the decision to sell the building. The Board of Directors of the Quincy Indian Museum, located then on Quinsippi Island, leased it for one year with an option to purchase. After two years of fundraising, grants, and donations the building was purchased by the Quincy Museum, Inc. and achieved designation on the National Registry on June 3, 1982.

The Newcomb-Stillwell Mansion has become one of the most visited places in Quincy and offers a unique experience for all those who come through those very large front doors. The first floor has been restored to appear to be a Victorian home. The rooms on the second and third floors have been developed for rotating and permanent exhibits and educational programming, including discovery areas with hands-on activities that highlight local and natural history.

Benz, Nancy. “The Quincy Museum.” #TrackingHistory (Blog). May 5, 2020.

https://trackinghistorydotblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/05/the-quincy-museum/. Accessed Aug. 16, 2022.

The Quincy Museum. “The Newcomb-Stillwell Mansion.” Website.  https://www.thequincymuseum.org/ Accessed

The Newcomb Stillwell History. Brochure. 

The Newcomb Residence as Described in the Quincy Whig January 15, 1891. Brochure.

Nancy Benz, MA is the Assistant Curator of Collections and Exhibits at the Quincy Museum. A Hancock County native, Nancy has had a passion for history since a young age. She received her Bachelor’s in History with a concentration in gender studies from Quincy University in 2014 and her Master’s in American History with an emphasis in the Newcomb-Stillwell House, now the Quincy Museum public history from Western Illinois University in 2018.

The Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County is preserving the Governor John Wood Mansion, the History Museum on the Square, the 1835 Log Cabin, the Livery, the Lincoln Gallery displays, and a collection of artifacts and documents that tell the story of who we are. This award-winning column is written by members of the Society. For more information visit hsqac.org or email info@hsqac.org.

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