The Somerset Historic District
Wiley-Ringland House - 1893
This distinctive Queen Anne house, which underwent a large-scale restoration in 2001-2, is set on about one acre of land. The original structure has a wrap-around porch, projecting gables with fish-scale siding, and a corner tower capped by a bell-shaped roof. It is the oldest home in the Town of Somerset. Known as the Wiley-Ringland House after its original owner (Harvey W. Wiley) and most well-known owner (Arthur Ringland), the house is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Yet in many ways we are lucky it still stands today.
The house was built in 1893 by Harvey Wiley, a chemist for the Department of Agriculture and one of the five founders of the town of Somerset, for his parents - Dr. Wiley was the force behind the enactment of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, which led the way to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Wiley's parents never moved from Indiana to live in the house however, and it was sold in 1904 to Perry Michener, a private attorney and his wife Mabel who lived there with their three children, Howard, William, and Maybelle. In 1938 the house was sold to Arthur and Dorothy Ringland. Mr. Ringland, a Yale graduate, was the first regional forester for the Southwest, serving under President Theodore Roosevelt. After World War I, he worked for the American Relief Organization in Europe, where he met his future wife, Dorothy. She had gone to Europe from California to work as an American volunteer. Mr. Ringland was instrumental in founding CARE, (Committee for American Relief Everywhere) in 1945, and was known as "the father of CARE." CARE began as a cooperative of 22 American organizations formed to rush lifesaving packages to survivors of World War II. Today it is an international relief agency that reaches out to people whose lives are devastated by humanitarian emergencies, or who are struggling each day in poor communities to survive and improve their lives.
Then, in 1978 a fire caused heavy damage to the rear section of the house and part of the roof. The owners subsequently boarded up the house and moved away. Over the years that followed trees, weeds, shrubs and vines took over the house and grounds. The owner feared the house was too damaged by fire, water damage from the leaking roof, and wild life to ever again be habitable, and filed for a Historic Area Work Permit to demolish it. But, because of the importance of the house to the history of the County and the community - having been built by one of the founders of Somerset - and because of its significant architectural attributes, the Commission denied the request. The house was saved when in late 1999 a young couple who already lived in Somerset decided they wanted to buy and renovate it. The renovations include a large rear addition to the house. The new owners have been granted an historic preservation easement that will maintain the open space around the historic house in perpetuity.