The 4^th St. House was a small home built in 1940 and consisted of a living room, 2 bedrooms, kitchen and back porch. There was no bathroom, but there was an outhouse in the southeast corner of the back yard. The lot measured 80 by 157 feet and the house sat at the front (north) side of the lot. There was not a front porch but probably a small stoop with a step or two. The back porch was covered and had a shed roof. There was no garage but there was a gravel drive to the west of the home. The water for the house was a pitcher pump located in the kitchen.

Before 1952 Marcus and Mary Clevenger had purchased the home. Marcus was born about 1913 and was a 1931 graduate of Daleville High School. He later (1956) founded Clevenger Vending Company headquartered in Yorktown, Indiana.

The Musick Family consisted of Herschel Junior Musick born in 1923, his wife Betty Jean Davis Musick, born 1925 and their daughter Shirley Kay Musick born in 1944. Hersch and Betty were married Aug 1942 in Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana where they lived for the first five years of their marriage. They then relocated to Anderson, Indiana when Hersch got a job at Pierce Governor.

By 1952 the family decided they wanted their own home so they moved to Daleville where they purchased the 4^th St. Home from Marcus and Mary Clevenger for $4800.00.

It has to be remembered that 3 people were living in this small home with no running water or a bathroom. This was not an unusual situation at the time but most everybody by this time yearned for the conveniences of such things. The family had to make do with using the pitcher pump in the kitchen, and making the trek to the outhouse no matter the weather. Baths in those days were not easy and mostly consisted of a big metal tub which would be filled with water from the pitcher pump and mixed with water heated on the cook stove. As can be imagined a daily bath was not usually the case and the bath was probably taken in the kitchen since that was closest to the source of the water. The good ole days indeed!

In 1952 the heating system consisted of an oil burning stove which sat in the living room. This was the source of heat for the entire house. The closer you were to the source of the heat the warmer you were. Since they did not insulate homes back then these units were not very efficient. Later the oil stove was replaced by an oil burning floor furnace which was located in the hallway.

In 1954 the family grew with the birth of son Mark. The original home had 2 small bedrooms and up until this time that had been sufficient but adding the 4^th person brought some crowding.

The front door, which opened to the north, probably had a small stoop and step leading to the yard. About 1958 Hersch framed and poured the concrete for a front porch measuring 8 by 17 feet. He also created a concrete step on the west end of the porch and a walk that went west to the east edge of the gravel drive. The walk made a tee at the driveway and went north to 4^th St and also south to where the future garage would be located. When first created the porch was not covered but that was remedied in about 1959 when Hersch constructed a roof over the porch and added metal posts at the northern two corners and one in the center. Somewhere around 1989 new metal railings were added to the porch and they were painted black. In years between 1959 and 1989 the posts had been painted mostly pink.

1960 proved to be a BIG year for the little house. This was the year that the family added a great deal of space to their home with the addition of a utility room, bedroom and finally a bathroom. Along with this came running water and the end of using the outhouse. With the assistance of Dick Davis, Mark and others the addition was added during that summer. Before this addition the back porch had been covered with a shed roof which was lower than that of the rest of the house. After the addition the back porch became a part of the kitchen but that area still has a lower ceiling to this day. The shed roof and the lower ceiling can be seen in the photographs below. While digging the footer Hersch would fill up the large wheel barrow and then put some dirt in the small one. Then Dick and Mark would race to the back of the yard to dump the dirt.

Naturally at this same time, some other things had to have happened. First a water pump was installed. According to Mark the first pump sat under the kitchen and was an oil-piston pump. The original well was located off the northwest corner of the front porch. This pump was later replaced with a new pump located under the utility room. Finally, the family would have running water! Around 1971 a new well had to be dug because when I-69 was put in many of the wells in the western part of Daleville went dry.  This new well was located between the house and the garage just in front of the Breezeway/ Family Room.  Also happening at about this same time was the installation of a septic system and the piping for its use. The septic tank was located near the southeast corner of the house.  The outhouse hole was probably filled with dirt from the foundation for the addition of 1960 and the little building was used for storage.

The bathroom is situated on the east wall of the house, between Bedroom #1 and Bedroom #2 and measures 5 by 10 feet. The bathtub is on the east wall and there was a single window above the bathtub as was the case in most homes of the period. On the north wall was the sink and later a cabinet. The toilet sat in the middle of the south wall. The walls of the shower area and the lower portion of the other walls were covered with pink and black ceramic tiles which was typical of the period. They were still in place in 2012.  The bathroom underwent a major overhaul in 2016.

Sometime around 1961 Hersch and his friend Charlie Watson built a 2-car garage to the west of the house which measured 21.5 by 22 feet. The back of the garage was even with the back of the house and there was about 20 feet between the house and the garage. The driveway was still gravel at this point. Charlie Watson lived in Daleville and was a local building contractor. Hersch worked a lot for Charlie building houses in the area. Charlie’s daughter was Shirley’s best friend. Charlie, his wife Maggie were friends of Hersch and Betty and they did a lot things together over the years.  This garage has two single garage doors and a lot of space in front of where the cars would be parked. It also had a large attic and a space which protruded over the front edge of the garage. The garage, when built, had one service door on the east wall at the southeast corner. This door would later serve as the entry door into the garage from the family room. After the Family Room was added Hersch replaced the window on the east side of the garage ,near the northeast corner, with a new service door. He also created a new service door on the south wall of the garage at the northeast corner. The inside of the garage was finished later (about 1968) using drywall on the walls and ceiling.

Hersch was quite the craftsman and the house is full, inside and out, with his work. It seems that he was always updating and adding refinements to the home.

About 1963 Hersch, and probably Charlie Watson, framed and poured the concrete drive which is a tribute to their craftsmanship because it looks as good today as it did when poured.

Also around the year 1963 a new Hot-water boiler heat system was installed and finally the home had a more uniform heat throughout. The boiler and all of its mechanisms was/is located in a dugout area under the hallway. Originally it was powered by oil and now it is electric. The oil tank sat behind the house near the southeast corner and can be seen in [I14]. The tank was removed after the system was converted to electric in the fall of 2012.  At some point Hersch and Betty planted a Black Cherry tree in the front yard and it can be seen in [I6]. This tree eventually died, was removed and replaced by a Tulip Tree in about 1963, which is still in the front yard today.

Daughter Shirley was married in June 1964. Sometime after she left home the wall between the living room and Bedroom #3 was removed. This enlarged the living room by about 9 feet which allowed the living room to cover the entire front portion of the home. The east end of the living room was used to house Betty’s organ which she played frequently. 

About 1966 Hersch built the kitchen cabinets in the northeast corner of the kitchen using mahogany lumber he obtained probably from Stautomeyer Lumber in Anderson. He used a router attachment in Charlie Watson's table saw to make the doors. He then finished the cabinets and doors by using a dark stain and probably shellac as the final finish. The Sink cabinets were purchased but finished by Hersch. These cabinets can be seen in the pictures below.

The next addition to the home was when Hersch connected the house and the garage with a room they used as a family room. The room measures about 12 by 18 feet and was added about 1971. The room has a door in the south wall which leads out to a concrete patio and a window on either side of that door. The patio was probably added at about the same time as the family room. At one point it was covered but that was later removed. The north side has windows in the center of the wall. In the east end is the door leading to the utility room and the west end has the door leading into the garage. The service door in the southeast corner of the south wall of the garage was also added about this same time.

The storage barn, which sits in the southeast corner of the back yard, was built by Hersch about 1973. It is assumed that the old outhouse, which had been used for storage, was replaced by this building.

Mark left home about 1977 and that left Hersch and Betty as sole occupants of the little house.

Sometime around 1989 metal posts and railing were added to the front porch. These railings connected the support posts and were painted black. The support posts had originally been painted mostly pink.

New garage doors were installed in October 1999 for a cost of $1518.00 which included the doors, installation and hook up to the existing garage door openers. The doors were installed by Overhead Door of Hartford City.

During the years of 1996 to 1999 Hersch and Betty were instrumental in the formation of the Daleville Municipal Park. This park was located on land where the former Daleville School building had sat before being torn down. The park was located on the west side of Walnut street at the west end of Daleville Road. They, along with a group of other volunteers, cleaned the area and added, among other things, a gazebo, and a shelter house. They also moved the little Marathon filling station  [I61], from its location at the northwest corner of St Rd 67 and Walnut street into the park. This filling station had been a gathering place for locals for years. There was a group known as “The Liars Club” who met there frequently. The shelter house was dedicated in the name of Hersch in a ceremony on 13 Oct 2006 that was well attended. The gazebo was built by Hersch, the volunteers and members of the Carpenters Union. This was a beautiful spot to walk and relax and gave the town a wonderful place where people could gather or just enjoy the solitude. Sometime around 2016 this area was cleared and a splash park replaced it.  Later a new shelter house was constructed with the sign commemorating it as "Herschel Musick's Shelter"  [I64].   The Marathon filling station was still standing 2016 but was in a different location. [S12],

Betty had kept all the receipts for the project and did further research about the filling station. She put all this material in a scrapbook. The original scrapbook is housed at the Daleville Public Library. There is also a digital version of this scrapbook [S12] . Betty and Hersch spent countless hours on this project.

The family suffered losses with the passing of daughter Shirley on 12 Oct 2001, Betty on 25 June 2002 and Hersch on 23 Sept 2008. From Sept 2008 until June 2012 the home was in probate with Mark as the executor.

The new owner of the home in 2012 was granddaughter Kelly Robbins Mathews. At first the home was rented to her daughters and their families. First from 2008 to 2010, Heather, her significant other and her daughters Madison and Ashlyn occupied the house. From 2010 to 2012 Kelly’s youngest daughter, Brittany, her significant other and her son Colton lived in the house. From 2012 to 2014 the home was rented to non-family members.

Kelly moved into the home in May 2014 and has lived there until it was sold in November 2020. During her time living in the home she has given the little house a complete makeover. Among the updates are new siding, windows, and doors along with a new roof.  The front porch saw new porch posts, railings and lights.

The inside also saw a lot of improvements. After May 2012 the wall between the living room and bedroom # 3 was replaced thus creating the third bedroom again, which also included a closet. The bathroom was completely updated with new tub and shower which included closing up the original window in the east wall. This update also included moving the sink and cabinet from the north wall to the south wall. New walls and floor covering completed the bathroom update.

The kitchen also got a face lift with a new sink, cabinets being painted white, new counter tops and flooring.

With the sale of the house in November 2020 it passes from the family for the first time since 1952. This begins a new chapter in the history and story of the little house on 4^th Street.

For more detailed information about the house please see below. Thanks for visiting this page.

Source Citation

-- Contract for purchase of Real Estate [3 pages]
-- Between: Marcus M. Clevenger and Mary L Clevenger, Husband and Wife and Herschel Musick, Jr. and Betty Jean Musick, husband and wife
-- Real Estate description: Lots number six (6) and seven (7) in Block number twenty-one (21) in Snider Addition to the Town of Daleville, Indiana.
-- To pay seller for said real estate: Four Thousand Eight Hundred Dollars ($4800.
-- $400.00 in cash
-- $150.00 on August 1st, 1952.
-- $4250.00 with interest beginning in September 1, 1952
-- Signed by all 4 parties

-- Warranty Deed #32065 [2 pages]
-- Herschel J Musick & Betty Jean Musick, husband & wife
-- Real Estate description
-- August 1, 1958 - [deed recorded - Muncie, Delaware County, Indiana], Book 382, page 171