Calkins’ Square is situated on a twelve-lot
square block along Main Street (Highway 64) in Wyoming, Iowa. The
earliest part of the house was built in 1858. A principal addition on
the East side, the music room, is believed to have been built in 1864.
At the extreme rear of the house is a woodshed and washhouse. The main
floor consists of a entrance hall, parlor, two sleeping rooms, a small
bath with tin tub and water closet, dining room, sewing room and
kitchen. There are five bedrooms on the second floor.
Parquetry is featured throughout the first
floor and in the hall of the second floor. The bedroom floors are made
of quarter-sawn hardwood. The woodwork consists for the most
part of high baseboards and simple, molded door and window surrounds.
The doctor’s office is one story, nearly
square, with a flat roof. The interior features beaded wide board
wainscoting. The Dr’s office still
contains the original items used by Dr. Calkins.
Standing about fifty feet to the northeast of
the house is a monument built as a memorial to the soldiers of Wyoming
who served in the Civil War. Before his death in 1909, he had ordered
the bronze tablet to commemorate the patriotism and valor of the young
men of Wyoming. The monument however was not completed until 1912.
The collection of furniture includes a
melodeon, a rosewood Hallet and Davis grand square piano, a spinning
wheel, and a civil war sword.
The house and property were left to the City of Wyoming by
Walter and Mary Briggs, grandson and granddaughter of Dr. Martin H.
Calkins
