The Whitfield Mansion on Maple Row

The Whitfield family established their mansion on Maple Row in 1921 after Charles Whitfield purchased the land while expanding his successful automobile dealership. Three generations lived there, including Charles, his wife Eleanor, their children, and Charles’s father who remained involved in the household. The family income came from automobile sales, repair services, and vehicle financing.

Local records describe the mansion as a carefully maintained residence with active use of the study, dining room, and upper bedrooms during the years when Whitfield Motors remained prosperous.

The first warning sign appeared in 1937 when Whitfield Motors recorded declining vehicle sales and several unpaid customer financing accounts. During the economic difficulties of the late 1930s, Charles reduced employees, closed the upstairs guest rooms, and postponed repairs to the copper roof, limestone bands, and curved porch columns. After Charles suffered a severe illness in 1940, the dealership struggled to recover. By 1943, unpaid business loans, property taxes, and medical expenses forced the Whitfield family to leave Maple Row and move to a smaller residence while creditors handled the property.

The Whitfield Mansion was abandoned in 1944 after the collapse of the automobile business, unpaid debts, and foreclosure proceedings removed the family from the property. No restoration occurred, and no Whitfield descendants returned after leaving Maple Row. Municipal records documented unsuccessful ownership transfers and continued deterioration of the vacant mansion. The interior rooms remained closed, preserving household furnishings, business papers, and personal belongings left behind. Over the decades, moisture damage, weather exposure, and structural wear affected the brick walls, limestone details, copper roof, and timber features. The Tudor Revival and Prairie-inspired mansion remains empty on the residential corner lot, slowly deteriorating without restoration or confirmed future use.