In 1891, prolific developer Edward Kilpatrick began a project that would wrap the northwest corner of West End Avenue and 97th Street with a group of upscale homes. Designed by the architectural firm of Boring, Tilton & Mellen and completed in 1892, the seven Renaissance Revival style residences created a charming enclave of various heights and roof shapes. The easternmost houses, 257 and 259 West 97th Street, were separated from the West End Avenue row by the two-story extension of the corner showplace. Mirror images, they were nearly duplicated by a another pair on the avenue.
The second and third houses from the corner were near matches to 257 and 259 West 97th Street, seen at the right. image via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.
The basement and stoop of 257 West 97th Street were faced in rough cut brownstone. The planar parlor level featured a recessed, faceted bay. A gentle, wave crest band introduced the upper floors, which were clad in beige brick and trimmed in limestone. The architects gave the second floor windows Queen Anne style panes, and fully arched the third floor openings.
Kilpatrick sold the house to Lemuel Carrington Mygatt and his wife, the former Sophia H. Weidemeyer, on March 28, 1892 for $19,000--equal to about $656,000 in 2024. Born in 1849 in Chazy, New York, Mygatt graduated from Williams College in 1870. He taught at the Collegiate School on West 77th Street. Lemuel and Sophia (who was known as Sophie) had seven children, Lambert, Jessie C., Kenneth, Gerald, Francis S., Anna Hubbell, and Isabella Carrington.
Three years after they moved into the 97th Street house, Lambert was the victim of what the New York Herald called, "highwaymen of tender years." In September 1895, "a band of juvenile highwaymen," the oldest of whom was 13 years old, began holding up school boys, threatening them with clubs. Two weeks into their crime spree, on November 9, they targeted 11-year-old Lambert and his school friend, Thomas Crane.
The New York Herald reported, "Both boys made an effort to escape, but the young rascals made them surrender their money, amounting to a little over $2." Lemuel Mygatt, along with other victims' parents, demanded action. The gang was apprehended on November 12 and remanded to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children awaiting their hearings.
Lemuel Carrington Mygatt, via collegiateschool.org
In 1897, Lemuel Mygatt was appointed headmaster of Collegiate School. The oldest school in the United States, it had operated since 1633.
The Mygatt family had two live-in servants. Their cook did double-duty as the laundress (a situation that would not have been found in more affluent households). She earned the equivalent of $700 per month.
The family's summer home was in Essex, New York on Lake Champlain. The five-bedroom house sat on five acres. Interestingly, the family did not take the servants with them to their summer home in 1903. Instead, Sophie placed an ad that read, "Good wages to two girls; cook and laundress and the other chambermaid and waitress; to go with family to country, near New York, for the summer."
The family was at the summer house on July 23, 1910, when Lemuel Carrington Mygatt died. In reporting his death, George William Knox of the Century Association wrote, "Mr. Mygatt for years fought the bravest of fights against death. Smitten with a fatal disease which gave him great pain, he showed no sign and uttered no complaint to his friends."
Sophie never returned to the Essex house. She leased it every summer after her husband's death.
Still living in the 97th Street house with her were Jessie (who was a member of the American Physical Education Association), Kenneth, Gerald, Francis and Isabella. The population would increase by one in 1913. Maximillian Langdon Van Norden was the son of Anna Hubbell Mygatt and her husband, Rev. Dr. Charles Van Norden. Anna had died in 1896 and Rev. Van Norden died in 1913. The young man now moved into his grandmother's house.
Jessie was married to Alton S. Keeler in the parlor on June 1, 1915. The Sun noted, "The wedding will be a small one, only relatives and a few intimate friends being invited to the ceremony."
Three months later, on September 1, the New-York Tribune reported that Gerald would be married to Ruth Lapham on September 11. The wedding took place in the Congregational Church of New Canaan, Connecticut. Kenneth Mygatt and Max Van Norden were members of the wedding party.
Van Norden had graduated from Stanford University in 1905 with a degree in geology and mining. He changed focus, however, and in 1915 was a partner in the real estate firm of Van Norden & Wilson. When America entered World War I, he went off to fight in Europe.
Sophia Mygatt leased 257 West 97th Street to Mrs. May Corey in 1917 for three years. At the end of the lease, the house became home to the Thomas A. Williams Democratic Club.
Among the first events the club hosted was the June Walk on June 26, 1920. The Evening World predicted it would be "the greatest public June Walk in the history of the city," and said, "more than 5,000 mothers and children of the neighborhood are expected to participate." June Walks were popular events for children, ending with picnics, games and prizes. This one included a large parade with six bands. The Evening World reported, "The features of the parade include a float of 'Old Mother Hubbard,' and the various nursery rhymes, prizes being offered for the best dressed king and queen, the best decorated baby carriage, the prettiest babies and a baseball game by the boys."
As with its June Walk, the Democratic Club worked for the neighborhood residents. In 1923, the New York Morning Telegraph reported that the Thomas A. Williams Democratic Club intended to present a petition to the Transit Commission "for extra downtown Broadway-Seventh avenue subway express trains" on the Upper West Side. The petition said that during rush hours
...it is impossible for large numbers of persons to board express trains arriving at Ninety-sixth street; that women and older persons are subjected to indignities by reason of the mob-like crowds; that often they are forced to listen to objectionable language.
In 1924, Dr. Edward Miller moved into 257 West 97th Street and would remain until 1956, when he sold it to Fred H. Hill, who immediately resold it to Leon Hecht. Hecht converted the house to two duplex apartments.
Only 257 and 259 West 97th Street survive from the 1892 complex. Unlike its fraternal twin, 259 retains its stoop and much of its original appearance.
photograph by the author
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