L. B. Covell House

5805 Broadway Street

—Written by Gail Drabant

The L. B. Covell house, at 5805 Broadway, is an example of late-Victorian Queen Anne architecture transitional to Colonial Revival. Lucien Boneparte and Anna Moore Covell built this house near the turn-of-the-century. Anna was the eldest of nine children of William and Eliza Moore from Solon Mills. L. B. was the son of Charles and Phebe Covell who were farming settlers just northwest of Richmond. L. B. and Anna were already in their late forties when they built this house. L. B. and Anna were childless.

Although L. B.’s primary business ventures were agricultural interests, he was very active in Richmond. Besides church and fraternal organization interests, he was the township supervisor for 22 years and director of the school board for 46 years. Anna was a school teacher. They lived in this house at 5805 Broadway until their deaths L B. in 1923 and Anna in 1926.

After Anna’s death, her sister, Edith Turner, inherited the entire L. B. and Anna Covell estate due to there being no children. For several years the estate remained administered by Mrs. Turner. After her death, the house still remained in the estate but was then administered by Ben Winn who was Edith’s son-in-law. For the duration of the estate, the house was rented. First it was rented to the Ellsworth family for 12 years. Then it was rented to the Ehorn’s and was the town funeral parlor for over 20 years. After that it was rented to the Powers family. In 1965, the house was sold to Walter Mason, and he started the restoration process. It was then sold to the Hanus family who resided in the house for 14 years until 1986 when the current owners, Scott and Gail Drabant, purchased this home.

On January 26, 1989, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.