In 1942, Eugenia Nixon married her
long time friend, Mark Honeywell,
in Florida.
Mrs.
Honeywell was a member of the Metropolitan Opera
National Council, the Indiana Symphony Society and a
life member of the Society of Friends of Music of
Indiana University. She was also a member of the
Hoosier Salon Patrons Association, Indiana
Federation of Art Clubs, and a director of The
Honeywell Foundation, Inc. She was named Wabash’s
Distinguished Citizen in 1959 and held honorary
degrees from Tri-State College and Indiana
University.
She was a charter member of the Wabash Valley Music
Association and established, at The Honeywell
Foundation, Inc., a memorial fund to Mark Honeywell,
with the primary purpose of underwriting the
Association’s programs at the Honeywell Center. The
series has included such performers as Van Cliburn,
Benny Goodman, Henry Mancini, Andre Watts,
Indianapolis Symphony and U.S. Marine Band. Her fund
also supports a variety of other cultural and
educational projects in Wabash County. |
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In 1960,
the Honeywells purchased a home at 720 North Wabash Street
as a place to exhibit all of the items they had collected
on their foreign travels, such as a Belgian glass goblet
that the King and Queen of Belgium gave them when
Honeywell Inc. built a plant there.
Their substantial renovation included removing the fourth
floor, redesigning and creating the French brick exterior,
and adding the solarium on the southwest corner. A
separate garage and greenhouse were added on the north
side. Mark Honeywell was not able to enjoy his new home as
he was hospitalized in Indianapolis and died in 1964.
Shortly thereafter, she moved into the new house.
Mrs. Honeywell was a gracious and meticulous hostess who
thrived on formal entertaining. She kept a record of what
linens and china were used and what was served to each
guest. A former caretaker at the house said, “if you
stayed overnight for three or four days you would never
eat on the same china.”
She taught her grandchildren table manners at meals there.
“She would have us over to practice on the best manners
for the children. She was kind about it, and it was done
in a family way and it was joyous,” said Jane Nixon, wife
of John Nixon, Mrs. Honeywell’s son by her first marriage.
In 1974, Eugenia Honeywell died when a fire damaged most
of her house and its furnishings. But
the house and her plans for it did not die. Mrs.
Honeywell and her friend Herman B. Wells, University
Chancellor of Indiana University, had arranged to have the
property, after her death, operated by Indiana University
Foundation as a center for cultural enrichment.
Following three years of cleaning and restoration, the
Honeywell House opened to an appreciative public. One
newspaper commented: “Beyond the doors of this Wabash home
is a world of finger bowls and formal entertaining, of
Lenox coffee cups and homemade food, of musical culture,
and luxurious living. Beyond the doors is a museum with
bits and pieces of history, a treasure house, a haven for
the antique collector, for the experienced traveler, for
the historian.”
Today, thousands of visitors come to the Honeywell House
for tours, seminars, recitals, retreats, and other
activities. “She would have liked this - people enjoying
her favorite things, paintings, and her piano,” said the
caretaker. “She liked to share. There’s not one part of
this house roped off, that you can’t touch. And the best
part of it is that the warm feeling she gave it still
radiates out today.” In an article in Gourmet Magazine in
1990, Marcia Adams called the Honeywell House “one of the
best kept secrets in Indiana.”
The Honeywell House is located less than one mile north of
downtown at 720 North Wabash Street. Information
and tour appointments can be made by calling (260)
563-2326. |
