Kansas governor had modest Marion home
Staff writer
About 100 years ago Marion editor Edward Wallis (E.W.) Hoch was a powerful man because of the power wielded by his publication, the Marion County Record, as it was known then.
But Hoch's prominence extended beyond Marion. In 1905, he was elected governor of Kansas and held the job until 1909 — which at that time was two terms.
One might imagine that a man of such prominence would live in a grand house.
That, however, was not the case.
The Hoch house, located at 205 N. Lincoln, is not unlike many others in Marion. A simple two-story structure, the home includes a small kitchen, three rooms downstairs, and three rooms upstairs.
Built in 1885, the house has had only two owners during its 119 years. Besides the Hochs, Marion resident Laurel Gilbert has called it home for 57 years.
"We had a small house and we needed two bedrooms when we got our girl," Laurel said, explaining why they purchased the home. The Schroeders had adopted a 16-month old girl, Karen.
Back in 1947 when the Schroeders went hunting for a bigger place to live, Marion was a busy place.
"There were only three houses in this whole town you could buy," Laurel recalled. "This house needed a lot of work. It needed painting. The kitchen was too small
"But my husband loved the drive-through garage and it had a fish pond," she said. "My husband would have bought it for the fish pond alone just because he could keep fish there."
Hoch's history
Born March 17, 1849, in Danville, Ky., E.W. Hoch came to Kansas in the 1870s.
Hoch's name first appeared on the Marion County Record masthead Aug. 29, 1874, as associate editor. Less than two months later, his name was listed as sole proprietor, according to archived records of the Marion County Record compiled by a Hoch family member, Jim Hoch.
He married Sarah Louise Dickerson May 23, 1876, in Marion. The nearby Peabody Gazette reported, "Mr. Hoch, the striving editor, and Miss Dickerson, the successful teacher, were married on Tuesday last. May they live long and prosper. And now the list of marriageable editors in Marion County is exhausted."
During Hoch's years as editor of the Marion newspaper — which went through several name changes during his lifetime — he wrote commentaries on anything and everything. His comments included calls to action urging Marion leaders to change the name of Mud Creek to Luta, pave streets, build sidewalks, and the like.
One entry from the April 10, 1885, issue of the Marion County Record, refers to his private residence.
"The editor of this great Agricultural-Scientific-Educational-Mechanical Art and Fashion Journal, having lived in a dug-out long enough is prepared to erect a modest residence on his superlatively, beautiful lots on the corner of Lincoln avenue and Lawrence street. Selah!"
Besides serving as editor and an elected official, Hoch also was a lecturer on the Chautauqua circuit and later served six years on the state board of administration. He turned over the editorship of Marion County Record in August 1909 to his son, Homer Hoch. Other sons, Wallis and Wharton, were involved in ownership until Bill Meyer became publisher in 1967.
E.W. Hoch died unexpectedly in his Marion home June 2, 1925, at the age of 76 due to heart disease, according to an article from the Topeka Capital.
"He had gone to bed only about 10 minutes before he was stricken," the Capital reported. "He was a leading character in Kansas for the past half century."
Laurel came to Marion in 1940 to work as a nurse at St. Luke Hospital.
"I had a sister in Marquette so I came to Kansas and took nurse's training in Halstead," Laurel said.
While working in Marion, she met her first husband, Karl, who owned a produce and oil station located where Marion's fire station currently sits.
"We bought eggs, cream, feed
After Karl died in 1964, Laurel did some traveling for the Red Cross. She helped start the first blood bank in Marion County in her spare time and spent 25 years involved with that program.
Later, she married Eugene Gilbert. They have four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
During the past decade, poor health has been a problem for both Laurel and Eugene. Laurel lost her eyesight due to glaucoma and macular degeneration while Eugene has suffered the effects of stroke.
"I've had to use visual aids for nearly 10 years," Laurel said. "I'm almost totally blind and haven't driven for 10 years."
Despite her blindness, Laurel has learned to negotiate her way around the two-story house and around Marion. A young women from an agency in Salina helped train her to be more independent, she said.
Thanks to that training, Laurel and her pet poodle, Penny, still manage to do quite a bit of walking. "I can't see cars and I've even walked in front of cars," Laurel said. "I've learned to say to myself 'you're gonna do it and that's that'."
The house
Sometime after it was built, Hoch added a library and fireplace to the original home. He also added a marble fireplace to the living room and a kitchen with a built-in electric ice box. The bathrooms were not original to the 1885 house and were added later.
"The fireplaces both work. The one in the dining room is wood burning," she said. "This house had the first refrigerator in town."
Although the kitchen was state-of-the-art when installed, by the time Laurel and Karl bought the home from Wharton Hoch in 1947, it needed updating, she said.
"It had a breakfast nook, a stove, a great big chimney, a little tiny window, and a tiny little sink. We gutted the kitchen," she said.
The current home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a big sleeping porch.
One of the home's finer features is a large porch which extends the entire length of the house. An iron railing, surrounding a widow's walk type feature, can be seen at the top of the second floor.
Originally, the second story of the home featured windows which stretched to the floor. During the 1970s, Eugene removed the huge windows and installed small, energy efficient windows. They also updated the home at that time lowering ceilings, installing paneling and carpeting.
Over the years, Laurel has filled the historic home with beloved antiques.
"I've never had to buy one of these pieces of furniture. They've all been given to me. Some came from my mother, my grandmother, family, and friends," she said.
Outside, the Schroeders have created a combination outdoor room/porch area which overlooks the back yard, a showplace both now and during the Hoch family's time.
The Hoch garden was filled with many vining flowers, including purple and white lilacs which Sarah Hoch brought from Washington, D.C., according to information provided in the Marion Historic Home Guide brochure.
The Hochs' fish pond was made from rocks collected in every state of the Union and from abroad.
"When we bought the house there were huge trees on this lot and it was like a jungle out here," Laurel said. "The fishpond was very pretty and there were step stones all over the yard."
Although Eugene likes the outdoor room and spends much time there, Laurel said she "does all the gardening."
Although there were few items left from the Hochs when Laurel and her family purchased the home in 1947, she did find a photo of the home festively adorned in honor of Hoch's gubernatorial inaugural.
"The house was enclosed with beautiful iron fences," she said. "It looked very nice."
