The Bayler House

The Bayler house was located at 721 West Jefferson Street, across from Torry Gym at Washington High School.

Built in the late 1800s, the home was adjacent to the Jersey Lawn Stock Farm, where George Bayler bought and sold horses until he died in 1913.  His sons then took over the business and ran it until the 1920s.

From the 1920s until 2011, the house enjoyed a quiet life as a private residence. In May 2011, owners Chad and Jonna Luelling approached the Washington High School Board regarding the purchase of the property.

WCHS had already planned to build a large maintenance building at the north end of its parking lot and had just barely begun the process of constructing it. The Luelling property adjacent to the parking lot and future maintenance building already had a garage, slightly smaller than the one planned by WCHS.

At a June 13, 2011 board meeting, the board unanimously agreed to purchase the 3.3-acre property, including the residence and maintenance building, for $348,000.

Ten days later, at the June 23 WCHS school board meeting, Washington resident Tom Gross spoke for a group of residents concerned about the potential demolition of the 120+ year-old residence on the property. 

What followed was a back-and-forth between concerned citizens (including the Washington Historical Society) and the school board regarding the fate of the Victorian-style house.  Supporters of saving the house gave the Board several potential educational uses, and the Historical Society also expressed interest in purchasing the home from the school.

The school board greatly appreciated those suggestions but deemed them unfeasible for their needs. During the October 11, 2011 board meeting, it voted 6-1 to demolish the home. The property became a much-needed parking lot for the school.

The Historical Society saved 13 sets of doorknobs from the home before it was demolished and auctioned those off as sets of bookends built by John Schultz and Jim Smith.