Michael C. Kerr Home
1109 East Main Street

The Honorable Michael Crawford Kerr was born in Titusville, Pennsylvania, on March 15, 1827.  Kerr attended schools in Pennsylvania before attending law school in Louisville, Kentucky.  In 1852, he set up a law practice in New Albany.  In 1854 he was elected New Albany city attorney. The following year, Kerr was elected Floyd County prosecuting attorney. He also served as an Indiana State Representative and as a reporter for the Indiana Supreme Court.  Beginning in 1865, Kerr was elected to five terms in Congress, eventually becoming Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on December 8, 1875.
He died on August 19, 1876, in Virginia.
Michael C. Kerr lived in New Albany at 1109 East Main Street in the Mansion Row Historic District.


 
In 1886, the house was remodeled with the addition of the steeply pitched front gable, pediment and bracketed window hoods and front door surround, updated two-over-two window sashes on the façade and bracketed cornice. The house suffered greatly from deferred maintenance in the early 2000s and eventually was rescued from bank foreclosure by Eli and Alonna Beardsley in 2005. The couple embarked on an extensive rehabilitation of the house and earned a statewide preservation award in 2011 from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archeology.

  wiki - Michael C. Kerr
  Indiana Markers - Michael Kerr Home entry

sources: U.S. Congress, Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1160. ,David Barksdale