Ivyhurst’ was the home of Robinson Franklin Downey (1849-1923) and his wife, Ella Jean ‘Jennie’ (Wilson) (Lindsey) Downey (1860-1934), prominent citizens with influential political ties.
‘Ivyhurst’ played host to such celebrities as President William H. Taft, Woodrow Wilson’s Vice President Thomas Marshall, William Jennings Bryan, and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge. After the death of Mrs. Downey, Ivyhurst passed into the ownership of Waynesburg College, which used it to house the Music Department until 1967, when Ivyhurst was sold and destroyed to make room for a gas station.
Lois Irene (Kimsey) Marshall, Robinson Franklin Downey, Unidentified, Mr. Ledwith, Mrs. Ledwith, unidentified, Virginia Wilson (back row); Thomas Riley Marshall (Vice President under Woodrow Wilson), Ella Jean ‘Jennie’ (Wilson) (Lindsey) Downey, Mary Louise Wilson (front row) at ‘Ivyhurst’
Mary Louise Wilson, John C. Wilson, Ella Jean ‘Jennie’ (Wilson) (Lindsey) Downey, Virginia Wilson (left-right) at ‘Ivyhurst’
The upstairs hallway at ‘Ivyhurst.’ The stained glass window in the background was saved and is on display at the Waynesburg University Paul R. Stewart Museum
President William H. Taft, Ella Jean ‘Jennie’ (Wilson) (Lindsey) Downey and Robinson Franklin Downey (left-right) at ‘Ivyhurst’, 4 November 1919
The ‘Ivyhurst’ in the late 1910s
Bedroom at ‘Ivyhurst’
Bedroom at ‘Ivyhurst’
Lois Irene (Kimsey) Marshall (back row), Thomas Riley Marshall (Vice President under Woodrow Wilson) (front row from the left), Ella Jean ‘Jennie’ (Wilson) (Lindsey) Downey at ‘Ivyhurst’
via Greene County, Pennsylvania, Archives
