Carpenter House, c. 1830
Among their sons, William Carpenter was the most successful. He became mayor of Olmsted Falls and later the proprietor of the Olmsted Falls Hotel. Richard Carpenter operated a cheese factory across the road from his parent’s home. He was one of the founders of the Congregational/Barton Road Church now the Frostville Village Church.
The Carpenter family owned the house until 1940 when the property was foreclosed. Six years later, Forest Kitson bought the house. Jacqueline Kitson Boss and her husband, Jack Boss, were instrumental in getting her father to donate the house to the Historical Society and moving it down to Frostville in May of 1987.
The Carpenter House is the earliest remaining example in North Olmsted of the Federal Style. Features of this style include an entranceway with classical motif and a low pitched roof with the gabled ends on the sides of the house. In 1935, the U.S. Department of the Interior placed the house on the Historic American Building Survey as possessing exceptional historic and architectural interest, and being worthy of most careful preservation for the benefit of future generations.
The furnishings in the Carpenter House represent a well-to-do family living in the second half of the 19
th
Century. The first floor has a parlor, dinning room, kitchen and a birthing room. There are two bedrooms and a children’s room on the second floor. The basement contains a smoke house and a display of household tools and farm implements. The parlor of the house in 1994 was used for a scene in the life of General James A. Longstreet in the "Civil War Journal" series on the History Channel.
Olmsted Historical Society - Frostville Museum
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