John Christoph Reichert

Captain John "Christoph" Reichert was born 16 May 1825 in Roigheim, Württemberg, Germany. The second child of Georg and Christiana Reichert, and the eldest son.

He married Sophia Wilhelmina Batz of Mochmuhl on 30 October 1848 and emigrated to the United States in 1853, where they settled in Terre Haute, Indiana. Captain Reichert was the maker of the finest shoes available in the city, as well as other leather goods. He also engaged in the insurance and steam ship trade, and briefly owned the Cincinnati House Hotel at Fourth Street and Wabash Avenue (later to become the Filbeck Hotel).

He was active in the Masonic Lodges of the city and served as Harrison Township Trustee for 12 years, and ran for city council in 1878 on the National Party (United States) ticket, and was narrowly defeated by J.W. Cruft. Called "Captain" because of his service in the American Civil War, where he led, likely a group of German immigrants, he was reported to be "of good war record, and sterling worth and integrity."

The Captain and Sophia had 5 children, one of whom, Joseph, died in infancy, and another son, Otto, who died at age 12. The surviving children, Emma, Lena and Charles Otto, lived very long lives. The daughters never married and lived all their lives in the family homestead on South Seventh Street in the city, and Charles Otto married and had a large family of his own. The Reichert family is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery of Terre Haute, with Father, Mother, Lena, Emma and Otto and infant Joseph buried in the family plat south of the main gate, and Charles Otto and his wife buried at the far north end of the cemetery near a large tree.

Many articles of tribute appeared in local newspapers at the time of the Captains death. One lengthy article describes his "sterling worth and integrity," and how the funeral cortege was "one of the largest... ever seen in Terre Haute...The funeral cortege was headed by the G.A.R. drum corps, which played the solemn tread with muffled drums. Fully two hundred or more vehicles were in the procession." Captain Reichert's Last Will and Testament declared "Considering the uncertainty of this frail and transitory life," which he left 17 April 1891. His wife, two daughters and one son surviving.

After settling in Terre Haute and living in quarters over his boot and shoe shop in the 100-block of Main Street, the family moved to its home in Jeffers Subdivision of Fountains Addition to the city of Terre Haute, on South Seventh Street, southeast of Oak Street, and made final purchase of the property in November 1868. This would be the location of the family homestead for the next 122 years. The 1884 square foot Italianate home was willed to wife Sophia after Captain Reichert's death in 1891, and subsequently to daughters Emma and Lena after Mrs. Reichert's death in 1909. The daughters lived, unmarried, in the home the rest of their lives. When daughter Lena felt she could no longer live on her own she transferred the deed to the property to Vigo County, and was going to live in the County Old Ladies Home. Upon hearing of this, Lena's sister-in-law, Maybelle Elliott, promptly took deed to the home and Lena to live with her and husband Ross Elliott. Family tradition states that Mrs. Elliott kept the home as her "project;" occasionally purchasing furniture and things for the home, having a new roof put on and even a new furnace, though the home remained vacant from 1957 to 1972.

In 1972, Christoph and Sophia's great-great-granddaughter and her husband purchased the home, by now suffering much disrepair. Photos from this time show very little plaster remaining on the walls and much damage to the home. Over time, with much care, the home was restored and even housed many original pieces of furniture. In 1990 the home left the family, having been thoroughly restored and beautifully decorated. It was purchased by Gingerbread House Designs, a local property management company, with the goal of painting the exterior of its acquired properties in traditionally Victorian color schemes. Instead, Gingerbread did as many do, and made the home a rental property. The home suffered much because of this. The beautiful wallpapers painted flat white, plumbing pieced together with whatever was available, plush carpets replaced with stained,bargain basement carpet and every manner of inappropriate modifications and desecrations. The home was later purchased by a local couple and soon after was sold again in a Sheriff's Sale for back taxes. In the sale a local businessman purchased the home, and still it remained vacant, as his other ventures kept him out of town much of the time.

In October 2002 he placed the home on the market, to very little response. The home was rented for a very short time, then sold to the father of a prospective Indiana State University student. When plans to attend the university changed, the father was left with a home he could no longer use, and a short time later he sold the home to its current owner. Since December 2004 the home has undergone extensive restoration to correct nearly two decades of neglect and abuse. Plans are in place to have the house completely restored by its 150th Anniversary in 2014.