monroevillehistorical.org

Maxwell House, modernized in 1976

Maxwell/Haymaker House Restored

Maxwell House, c. 1800

1256 Northwestern Dr.
Other Name: Haymaker House

This substantial two-story log house is said to be the original home of William N. Haymaker, his wife Mary Simpson Haymaker, and later that of one of his sons, John C. Haymaker who became a prominent judge in Patton Township, and in 1887 was appointed an assistant district attorney in Pittsburgh.

William Haymaker moved with his new bride into a log cabin on a piece of property owned by Matthew Simpson, Mrs. Haymaker’s grandfather, bordering what is now Haymaker Road. The original log House had an addition constructed sometime in the 1800s. When Mary Haymaker died in 1917 her heirs inherited the house, and a portion of the property passed to Jean V. Smith.  In 1946, the Smith family sold the house and its land to Richard K. Maxwell. The Maxwells farmed the land, planting corn, oats, and winter wheat. Joan Maxwell Brooks remembers: We also had chickens, and lots of dogs, inside and outside too!

The house stayed in the Maxwell family for a number of years, passing through Joan Maxwell Brooks to her son, Curtis and his wife, Lou Ann Brooks in 1988.  By that time the house had been modernized, with various additions and renovations over the years. 

The Brooks’ set about doing a major restoration. Exterior siding was removed to restore the log façade, and new chinking applied. The interior was renovated but many of the original beams were left exposed in keeping with the house’s rural charm.  In the 1990s the Brooks family purchased a log house slated for demolition in nearby Latrobe, Pa., and moved the logs to their lot where they were used to build another extension to the original log house – one that was well integrated in to the overall design.   The result is a substantial and comfortable log home that has been kept very true to the architectural tradition of a Pennsylvania log house.