Full Beacher

THE TM 911 Franklin Street Weekly Newspaper Michigan City, IN 46360 Volume 27, Number 2 Thursday, January 20, 2011 Always Paddle Your Own Canoe by Barbara Stodola When Modern Woman succeeds in business, opens a high-fashion boutique, deals in real estate, amasses a large quantity of collectibles – in other words, behaves independently – nobody is much surprised. Eyebrows are seldom raised, even if she divorces husband #1, husband #2, #3 and so on. But imagine this scenario 120 years ago, when most women were dependent homebodies, and fi rst- wave feminists were focusing on the right to vote. Anna Safl ey Houston, founder of a decorative arts Large Victorian museum in Chattanooga, Tenn., never paid much house in Chattannooga attention to what most women were doing. In 1901, Arts District, home a lady friend wrote this jingle in her memory book, of the Houston and Anna seemed to adopt the advice as a guide for Museum of Decorative Arts. life: Love many, Trust few. And always paddle Your own canoe. Though she had many loves, and at least nine marriages, Houston remained a loner, a single- minded individual who made lots of money and Anna Safl ey spent it as she pleased, indulging her obsession for Houston (1876-1951), antique glassware, pottery and furniture. Accord- entrepreneur, ing to one estimate, she accumulated no fewer than collector and 15,000 pitchers. Antique dealers across the country founder of decorative knew and respected Houston, and noted authorities arts defi ned her collection as world-class. museum in Today a portion of her exhibit can be viewed at Chattanooga, Tenn. the sturdy Victorian house converted into the Hous- ton Museum of Decorative Arts, right across the road from the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga’s burgeoning art district. The building cannot display all of the 12,000 pieces it still owns, and so “We change it out every few months,” explains Cheron Mashburn, coordinator of museum operations. Houston Continued on Page 2 THE Page 2 January 20, 2011 THE 911 Franklin Street • Michigan City, IN 46360 219/879-0088 • FAX 219/879-8070 In Case Of Emergency, Dial e-mail: News/Articles - [email protected] email: Classifieds - [email protected] http://www.thebeacher.com/ PRINTED WITH Published and Printed by TM Trademark of American Soybean Association THE BEACHER BUSINESS PRINTERS Delivered weekly, free of charge to Birch Tree Farms, Duneland Beach, Grand Beach, Hidden 911 Shores, Long Beach, Michiana Shores, Michiana MI and Shoreland Hills. The Beacher is also delivered to public places in Michigan City, New Buffalo, LaPorte and Sheridan Beach. Houston Continued from Page 1 The large hilltop house has been nicely fi tted out for antique displays, with cabinets in each room, glass shelving set into the windows, a wrap-around gift shop, a dining table set for dinner, Staffordshire dogs guarding each of the fi ve fi replaces. But if this tidy arrangement conveys the notion of a comfort- able bourgeois lifestyle, the visitor has not begun to understand the real Anna Safl ey Houston. She was never wealthy. She never married a man who had money and, in fact, she supported most of A window fi lled with barber bottles them. She had very little formal education. Anna’s from men’s hair tonic. mother died when she was in the 6th grade, and she dropped out of school to care for younger siblings. When her father remarried she moved to Chicago, and in a short time became a buyer for Marshall Field & Co., then Macy’s in New York. This career enabled her to expand her travels, which eventu- ally included every state in the Union, plus Canada, Cuba and Mexico. Anna was a slender, stylish woman with waist- length red hair, obviously attractive to men, but un- lucky in marital experiences. She was fi rst married at age 21, had two daughters who died in infancy, The production of American glassware had seen and was abandoned by her husband. Deciding to great advances during the the late 19th century, leave the Midwest, she headed to California, where particularly with the invention of new techniques she met husband #2 (or was it #3?) and he found her for creating gradations of tone. New England Glass a job as a fruit-packer. This lasted less than a year. Company made art glass shading from amber to She returned to Chattanooga in 1904 and, with the ruby red, which was called Amberina. Burmese money saved from previous jobs, bought a millinery glass was patented, containing uranium oxide or and dressmaking business. She also began collect- gold, and shading from yellow to pink. Beautifully ing glassware. colored pieces were produced in an unending assortment of glass pitchers, vases, baskets, pickle casters, vinegar cruets, salt cellars, covered jelly dishes, “fairy lamps,” – and Anna had to have a few of each. Cranberry glass pitchers fi ll one window in the museum. A devil-headed-mug, one of the unique items in the collection. THE January 20, 2011 Page 3 ives out of a jar,” she told a friend. “After the fi rst one, the rest are easy.” Oscar Moser, husband #4, kept the books for her shops and rental properties. Harold Creekmore, #5, was a railway brakeman whose position with the railroad entitled Anna to a free pass, and enabled cross-country trips in search of more antiques. This marriage lasted four years. But her favorite husband appears to have been #8, James Houston, a plumber, who helped to maintain her properties and had a truck, for hauling stuff. They were married for 16 years, and she kept his name. Even after divorcing husband #9, Anna pe- titioned the court to have her Houston surname re- Toby jugs fi ll a display cabinet in Houston Museum. stored. In 1907, with the development of the Universi- ty of Chattanooga, Anna saw the need for student housing, and began buying up property to rent to college students. Her antique collection expanded to include pottery, fi ne English bone china,Wedgwood, Steuben, Tiffany, a Royal Doulton set of Gibson Girl plates, Toby jugs, mustache cups, German beer steins, and then the furniture – mostly high-quality 18th century pieces made in Pennsylvania, now be- coming “old-fashioned.” “She knew what she was doing,” Mashburn com- Dining table set mented. “Many of these pieces she picked up for with assortment next-to-nothing. Or they were given to her by people of blue chinaware. who wanted to modernize their houses.” Anna’s marriages kept pace with her thriving business concerns. “Husbands are like getting ol- In 1920, Anna Safl ey Houston established herself as an antiques dealer. Her business prospered un- til the Depression, when her fi nancial obligations became overwhelming. Rather than sell off her increasingly valuable collection, she built a large barn on the outskirts of town – built it with her own hands, and the aid of a neighbor boy – and moved into it, lock stock and barrel. Hundreds of pitchers were hung on ropes, from the ceiling. Furniture was Rows of vari-colored pickle casters on window shelves. Houston Continued on Page 4 WARREN J. ATTAR Agent Representing State Farm Since 1971 My 24 Hour Good Neighbor Service Number is (219) 874-4256 STATE FARM %53s%VERGREEN0LAZA HM\SSZLY]PJLLJVJVUZJPV\ZKLZPNUÄYT Auto Life Fire -ICHIGAN#ITY ). INSURANCE UWSOPUJJVT 3(>9,5*,A044,9 ® &AX WWWWARRENATTARCOM THE Page 4 January 20, 2011 Houston Continued from Page 3 crammed in so tightly that a person could hardly walk through the building. Anna’s living space was confi ned to a large bed, heaped high with antique quilts, and a wood-burning stove. She kept six or eight silver pitchers fi lled with water, in case of fi re. Cheron Mashburn, coordinator of museum operations. certainty and neglect. Finally, thanks to the efforts of Chattanooga lawyer Blaine Buchanan, an anon- ymous donor, and scores of dedicated volunteers, Anna Safl ey Houston’s treasures were ensconced in a splendid Victorian house high above the Tennes- see River, in a setting very nearly what she herself Cradle-rocker, one of many pieces from antique furniture collection. had envisioned. And indeed a fi re did occur, in 1947. Neighbors scrambled to extinguish the blaze. An estimated 500 of Houston’s “beauties” were lost, uninsured, but she had thousands of pieces left, and she continued storing them in the ramshackle, tarpapered barn. Her reputation for eccentricity continued to spread. Houston could often be seen, dressed in layers of mismatched clothing, hiking to the railway offi ce, to pick up COD packages. At the time of her death, in 1951, she was widely known as “Crazy Annie.” Houston willed her antique collection to the City of Chattanooga. But the city’s governing authorities were not about to appropriate the millions of dollars needed to build and staff a museum to house it. For almost 10 years, the collection suffered damage, un- Staffordshire dog guarding a fi replace. Sympli The Best Winter Clearance Sale SAVE UP TO 70% This only Winter Floor Sample Sale happens OFF All Winter Merchandise Includes 15% off Reg. price Sympli once 25%-75% off & 30% off select group of Sympli a year, Upholstery, Antiques, and Accessories 126Winter S. 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