 Adams, a local farmer, banker, and sometime Mayor.The property was sold in 1900 to Amanda Bender, who soon sold it to Mr. and Mrs. William Higgins, newlyweds who had moved to Spencer from Chicago.They contracted architect J. G. Ralston of Waterloo, Iowa to make the home an architectural landmark, beginning in 1910, by adding massive Neo-classical columns, adding a third floor, iron fence surround, and a kidney-shaped fish pond.