Construction began in 1870 by David Nicholson, the contractor for the new Marion County Courthouse located twenty miles away in Indianapolis.  During the six years it took Nicholson to complete the courthouse, he also toiled on this, his future home.  Nicholson's new home boasted black walnut woodwork and staircases, a slate roof with detailed metal cresting, ceiling medallions, multi-color tile floors, and intricate wood details and trim on the exterior.

But a century of growth had turned the once quiet farming community into subdivisions and strip malls.  This stately home, setting now at a busy intersection, had become a prime development site.  After exhausting all the other avenues, moving became the only way to save the home.

In order to move the 24-room structure, nearly one-half of the home had to be removed from the main body of the home.  The former summer kitchen, that had been converted to a garage, and a side porch were removed, saving only the ornate details.  The most dramatic modification was the cutting away of a two-story portion of the home to be moved seperately.

Moving a home this large, this old, or in two pieces is not difficult, but this home seemed not to want to move.  Problems seemed to arise at every turn, complications with permits and approvals, contractors schedules, even the weather didn't seem to want to cooperate.  There were even difficulties loading the building onto the wheels.  To everyone's suprise the home weighed one-third more than anticipated (only 50 tons over-weight). Finally, after almost a year and a half of planning and solving problems, the home was ready to make the journey.

Moving day was somewhat uneventful, except for the some last minute issues with a truck that would not start and some small rises in the grade that became difficult to travel.  As the excitement of the move wore off, long time residents began telling tale of how the house was haunted.  Some told stories of a child who was accidentally shoot by hunters in the woods that once surrounded the home.  Some felt spirits from the near-by cemetery haunted the home.  And others told of little girl who broke her neck after falling from a second floor balcony window.

All the stories were fun and help pass the time as the house slowly made it's way down the road.  It was all fun until a photograph appeared in the local newspaper the next morning.  Many of the newspaper's readers noticed what appeared very clearly to be someone standing in the second floor window - a young girl.