The Burlington house that grew room by room as Iowa’s biggest city boomed around it

William Garrett’s Italianate Mansion and Burlington’s River Boom

The Garrett-Phelps House tells the story of Burlington’s boom in brick and wood.

William Garrett built a modest Italianate home in 1851 when Mississippi River trade made Burlington Iowa’s largest city. As his merchant business grew and his family swelled to nine children, Garrett had to think bigger.

By 1871, he added a grand tower and mansard roof in the trendy Second Empire style.

The house changed just as Burlington did, from frontier town to bustling hub of factories, railroads, and river commerce.

The mansion still stands today as perfect proof of how money flowed through this Mississippi River town.

Steamboats Made Burlington Iowa’s Biggest Boomtown

Burlington grew fast in the 1840s and 1850s to become Iowa’s largest city thanks to its perfect spot on the Mississippi River.

Steamboats couldn’t find good landing places for miles around, making Burlington’s waterfront very valuable. The town briefly served as the capital of both Wisconsin Territory (1837-38) and Iowa Territory (1838-40).

During peak travel seasons, about 20,000 people passed through town each month, with many heading west to find their fortune.

Merchant William Garrett Built His Home During the Gold Rush Era

William Garrett, one of Burlington’s top businessmen, built his first home in 1851 when the city was booming.

He picked the popular Italianate style, with low-hanging roofs and fancy brackets along the eaves. The windows were tall and narrow, many topped with decorative hoods showing off the latest 1850s style.

Garrett chose a spot at the top of the steep Snake Alley, giving his family a great view of the busy river and all the steamboat traffic.

Factories and Railroads Turned the River Town into an Industrial Powerhouse

From the 1850s through the 1880s, Burlington buzzed with new businesses.

Lumber mills cut timber floated downriver, while furniture factories turned that wood into products. Railroad yards appeared after tracks reached town in 1852 with the Burlington and Missouri River Rail Road.

The city added brickyards, grain elevators, carriage factories, and food processing plants. This growth filled the pockets of merchants like Garrett who sold goods to these businesses and workers.

Italian Farmhouse Style Took America by Storm After 1850

The Italianate style that Garrett chose for his home was the most popular American architecture from the 1850s to 1880s.

The look came from Italian countryside homes and spread across America through pattern books by Andrew Jackson Downing. Homeowners loved the style’s tall windows and doors that made rooms seem bigger.

The low roofs with wide, overhanging eaves and decorative brackets looked more fun than the boxy Greek Revival buildings from earlier years.

Nine Kids Made the Garrett House Feel Way Too Small

William Garrett and his wife raised nine children in their 1851 home, which soon felt too small despite its good size.

The family business kept growing as Burlington boomed, giving them money for home improvements. By 1870, the large family simply needed more bedrooms, living areas, and probably some quiet space.

Their house sat in one of Burlington’s most visible spots, making it perfect for showing off the family’s success through home upgrades.

Tower and Mansard Roof Doubled the Living Space in 1871

The Garretts went big with their 1871 renovation, adding an impressive tower and mansard roof to the east end of their house.

This major update turned their modest Italianate home into a grand Second Empire mansion overnight. The new roof wasn’t just for show, it cleverly created a full extra floor of living space underneath its steep slopes.

The family now had room to spread out, with more bedrooms for their many children and more space for hosting guests.

French Roofs Became All the Rage After the Civil War

The Second Empire style (also called Mansard style) became super popular in America right when the Garretts decided to renovate.

Builders simply took existing Italianate designs and topped them with the distinctive mansard roof for an instant upgrade.

Unlike other old-fashioned styles, Second Empire felt modern since it matched what rich people in France were building at the same time.

Between 1855 and 1885, these French-inspired mansions showed up across the Northeast and Midwest.

Clever Roof Design Gave Families a Tax Break

The mansard roof on the Garrett house wasn’t just stylish, it was smart. The four-sided, double-sloped design had an almost vertical lower section with a flatter top.

This clever shape let families use the entire attic as living space without technically adding another floor to the house, which could mean higher property taxes.

Windows poked through the steep lower slope as dormers, bringing light and air into the new rooms. Decorative iron trim along the roofline added extra curb appeal.

The Family Home Became Burlington’s First Protestant Hospital

After Mrs. Garrett died, the spacious mansion became Burlington’s first Protestant Hospital from 1894 to 1899.

Patients paid one dollar per day for a bed in the ward rooms created inside the former family home.

The building also housed the city’s first nursing school, with student nurses likely living in the mansard-roofed upper floor that once held Garrett children’s bedrooms.

The large rooms and central location made it a good temporary medical facility for the growing city.

Mansion Becomes One Of The Few Historic Landmarks

When the hospital closed in 1899, the Phelps family moved in and stayed for over 100 years.

Three generations called the grand house home, keeping its unique architectural features through decades of changing styles.

The family didn’t modernize too much, keeping the distinctive mansard roof and Italianate details intact.

By the early 1970s, while many Victorian homes had been heavily changed or torn down, the Garrett-Phelps house stood as one of Burlington’s best-preserved examples of 19th-century architecture.

The House Museum Froze Time When the Last Sister Died

The Des Moines County Historical Society got lucky in 1973 when they acquired the house after the last Phelps sister passed away.

Her brother donated all the home’s contents, creating a perfect time capsule of Victorian and early 20th-century living.

Today, visitors can see exactly how the architectural evolution unfolded, from the original 1851 Italianate section to the grand 1871 Second Empire addition.

The house stands as physical proof of how Mississippi River commerce transformed Burlington from a frontier town into a wealthy city filled with impressive mansions.

Visiting Phelps House, Iowa

The Garrett-Phelps House at 521 Columbia Street in Burlington shows how Mississippi River trade money turned simple frontier homes into fancy Victorian mansions.

You can visit this three-story museum for free on Sundays from 1-4pm, May through September.

The house has original family furniture from the 1770s-1800s, plus a Medical Memories exhibit on the third floor with old hospital equipment from the 1890s.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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