Mill Town Messenger | Jan 2020

Overview

The newsletter presents the Newport Historical Society’s January 2020 Mill Town Messenger, highlighting local heritage activities, museum operations, and the history of Woodlawn Manor (now Woodlawn Nursing Home). It emphasizes community engagement with programs, meetings, and the Corbin Bridge trunnel-mapping project, inviting donations of certificates and photographs for archival preservation.

The document details the Bradley Mansion’s history, its conversion to Woodlawn by Amelia Whipple, museum exhibits and hours, recent fundraising outcomes from the Corbin Covered Bridge Festival, and membership and contact information to support ongoing preservation efforts.

You can read the online version of the newsletter here.

This quarterly newsletter is generally published in January, April, July and October.

Main Points

• Aging and Society: The population of older adults in the U.S. is rapidly increasing, with projections that by 2035, older adults will outnumber children, leading to greater demand for healthcare and the need to combat ageism through social engagement of elders.
• Woodlawn Nursing Home Origins: The building known today as Woodlawn Nursing Home was originally built in 1892 as the Bradley Mansion, a summer home for Arthur Crossman Bradley, later becoming his year-round residence.
• Architectural Significance: The mansion was designed by renowned architect Stanford White, who advised Bradley to build on the hilltop property, resulting in the mansion’s prominent location.
• Ownership Timeline: After Arthur Bradley’s death in 1911, the mansion changed hands multiple times: to George A. Dorr Sr. in 1916, to the Whipple family in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and was eventually transformed into a rest home by Amelia Whipple in 1952.
• Transition to Nursing Home: Amelia Whipple first licensed the property as a rest home (Woodlawn Manor), then as a convalescent home, and finally as a nursing home, with the Whipples selling it in 1955; it has remained a nursing home since, with additions in 1965 and 2002.
• Historical Museum Features: The Newport Historical Society Museum offers themed room displays, historic photographs, local art, and an extensive library/reference room with over 250 binders of Newport history and genealogy materials.
• Community Engagement: The Historical Society encourages public participation through programs, museum visits, and contributions to local history projects like the Corbin Bridge trunnel mapping and festival photo archives.
• Membership and Support: The Society relies on memberships and donations to preserve Newport’s history, offering various membership levels and selling memorabilia to support operations.

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