By Tim Hartneck
Sumner Clarke commissioned architect William Quayle to design this Bracketed Italianate styled house for his family in 1877. Sadly, Clarke’s wife died at the age of 24 in November 1877, before the house was completed. The following year, Clarke moved into the house with his two children, Robert, age 4 and Anna, age 2. In 1900, Clarke hired Chicago architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee to prepare plans for the renovation and remodeling of his home. The changes to the house included the addition of the copper clad bays and the broad limestone porch, as well as extensive interior work. The renovations cost $8,000. This was at a time when the same amount of money could have built two two-story, three bedroom houses.
Sumner Clarke died in 1907 at age 59. He is generally identified with the family business, Clarke Bros. & CO. (the largest distillery in the world), makers of Clarke’s Pure Rye. He was involved in many different businesses throughout his career, including:
- Partner in the Manhattan Distillery here in Peoria
- Owned over 15,000 acres of agricultural land in Illinois and Arkansas
- President and principle investor in the School House Construction Company with offices in Peoria and New York
- Owned a gold mine in Arizona
- Principle owner of Peoria’s Peoples Gas & Electric Company
- President of the Dime Savings Bank.