Cook Street, East - Number 527 - Residence of Edmund S. Purdy - Purdy House

This photographic print, taken by a Portage photographer around the turn of the twentieth century, is mounted on matboard and features the residence of then-owner, E.S. Purdy. Edmund S. Purdy built this Second Empire style dwelling in 1880. The Second Empire architectural details include the mansard roof with multiple window dormers, cornices on roofline, French doors, wrought iron fencing, patterned slate on roof, and classical pediments. According to census information (1900), Edmund S. Purdy, was born in New York in 1845. The History of Columbia County (1880) summarizes that Purdy was engaged in the "drug trade" from the age of thirteen on. He entered a business partnership with Henry Merrell's drug company. Several years after Merrell's death E.S. Purdy established Purdy's Drugstore in downtown Portage. Purdy wed Miss Helen M. Merrell, the daughter of Henry Merrell in 1871. They had two children--Henry Edmund and Hattie Elizabeth. Purdy was Alderman of the Second Ward of Portage an