• I hand out a beatdown to ghost hunters.
• We pay a Scooby-Doo house a visit with our mystery machines.
• And a ghost whistled while we worked.
All of this while wearing Hot Pants.
Video:
TONER-MALEY HOUSE
(Also known as Toner-Maley-Graham home; Edinburgh Bed & Breakfast at the 1870 Toner Maley House)
606 East Main Cross Street
Edinburgh, Indiana 46124
Historic Timeline
• Mid-19th-century Italianate Renaissance-style mansion built on the site of the Edinburgh Union Agricultural Society Fairgrounds (the first fairgrounds in Johnson County) in 1870-1871 by Jacob Toner, owner of Empire Mill, who made his fortune in hominy and flour mills in Edinburgh and also owned a handle company and dimension stock business. Known for his fine woodwork, evident throughout details in home.
• In 1883, logging mogul Henry Maley, who owned a sawmill in Edinburgh, purchased the “palatial” home. Maley was active in Democratic Party; known for his social activities, including holding lavish parties. Maley known as “father of quarter sawed (or sawn) oak” after he accidentally discovered the special properties and patterns of sawing wood on an angle when the logs for an order wouldn’t fit through mill.
• Henry and Rebecca Maley added kitchen, bedroom, enclosed porch and bathroom (one of the earliest in Edinburgh) to home.
• Residence remained in Maley family for generations. Among family to reside there was Henry Maley’s grandson Henry “Hank” Maley, who, while living in mansion between 1928 and 1933, drove Dusenberg racecars. The “Maley Special” placed third in the Indianapolis 500 in 1933.
• Maleys’ daughter Alma and her husband, John Graham, lived in home for short time. John took over management of Edinburg Cabinet Company in 1909.
o “When very young (Mrs. Alma Graham) moved with her parents to Edinburg and with the exception of one year immediately after her marriage has lived in the family home on East Main Cross Street all of her life.” (The Edinburg Daily Courier, 1/9/1947)
• Multiple owners resided in home following Maley family, including Mrs. Helen Lay and son Charles Smith (see note below) in 1955 (owned by John W. Graham and John Maley Graham); Mr. and Mrs. Don Graham who purchased it (as Stafford property) in 1960; and Mr. and Mrs. Howard Turner in 1986. The Turners restored and refurbished the mansion, converting the second-floor into apartments and remodeling the first floor into a Victorian home with their vast collection of antiques.
o Note of interest: Mr. and Mrs. Marion Stafford purchased in 1959 from Mrs. Helen Tungate and son Charles Smith. “The Home will be a rest home for elderly women.” (The Edinburg Daily Courier, 10/17/1959)
• Toner Neighborhood, once known as Silk Stocking Row, listed as Toner Historic District on National Register of Historic Places.
• Torin Scott purchased home in 2006, restoring it to its original beauty and reopening as Edinburgh Bed & Breakfast At the 1870 Toner Maley House in 2007. Many of original features still present in home including parquet floors, newel post on staircase, large stained glass windows, fireplaces and arches crowned by the head of Athena, the Goddess of War.
Notable Family Connection
• Georgiana Yoke, wife of H.H. Holmes – known as one of first documented serial killers. Georgiana’s mother, Mary Washington Toner, cousin of Jacob Toner, also resided in Edinburgh.
Sources: geocaching.com; sigh.homestead.com; Johnson County Museum of History; “History of Johnson County 1888”; “History of Edinburgh Indiana”; “A Competent Witness,” Judith Nickels
PARAHOLICS® 