Ayers House

Jesse Ayers came to St. Charles from Windsor County, Vermont in around 1845.

He was known around town as a skilled carpenter and handyman.

After the Main Street Bridge was washed away in a flood on March 11th and 12th of 1849, Ayers ferried residents across the Fox River in a rowboat until a new bridge was constructed. Ayers also built and sold lightning rods.

In 1852, Samuel W. Durant purchased the Ayers property and built this Folk Victorian house on it in 1854. An addition to the house was constructed in the 1860s.

Ayers and a group of other St. Charles residents moved to Winona County, Minnesota, in 1856 and founded the town that they named after their Illinois home: St. Charles, Minnesota. Jesse Ayers later returned to St. Charles, Illinois, and made his living selling washing machines. Ayers moved to Michigan after the Civil War.

The Ayers House has had many owners since its construction. The current owners, Becky and Craig Simmons, purchased the historic landmark in 2000 to house their Simmons Insurance Agency.

Sources

• Durant, Samuel. Commemorative Biographical and Historical Record of Kane County. Illinois >. p. 832

• Durant, Pliny. Passing in Review View Online

• Simmons Insurance Agency. History of the House ~ Web. 14 July 2011.