519 S. Market ca 1980

One of many Marion homes which have been preserved along historic structural lines but modernized to accommodate today’s living requirements is the home of Attorney and Mrs. Gordon Lambert, 519 South Market Street.

In this home there is a spiraling staircase which is a part of the original house that has seen several additions and improvements during the occupancy of several owners since its construction before the turn of the century. Originally the home of William H. and Emma Eubanks, the beautiful two-story frame building was occupied by Dr. Harvey A. Felts and his family for nearly 40 years prior to 1958 when Mrs. Felts sold it two years after her husband’s death. Dr. and Mrs. Felts, who added a sun room and a bedroom to the house they bought from O. L. and Alma Brockets lived in it longer than all the other owners.

But one who owned it briefly was O. J. Page who purchased it from the original owners when he came to Marion from Metropolis in 1904 to take over the publication of the Marion Leader. A month later he purchased from J. P. Copeland a rival newspaper, the Marion Record, which he discontinued. He then began publication of the Daily Non-partisan. Before coming to Marion, Page had served as Republican floor leader in the Illinois State House of Representatives. After disposing of his newspaper interests in Marion about 1910, he moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he was elected to the Missouri legislature. There he was elected Republican floor leader, being the only man to have held the same position in the states of Illinois and Missouri.

The big white house with the dormer windows has undergone extensive renovation under the ownership of the Lamberts who acquired it  from John Connally. There is much to admire in the structure and arrangement of the stately “old but new” house and its furnishings.

(This article appears to have been written for the Marion Daily Republican ca 1980 in preparation for a historic home tour, archived at the Williamson County Historical Society)