The Somerset Historic District
Crampton House - 1893
This front
gable 2-story house, one of the original five
houses built by the founders of the Town of Somerset,
and the first to be occupied, is much altered
from
its 1893 origins, having been extensively remodeled
in 1935. The house has a 1-story addition on the
west side and a full-width porch with a brick
courtyard in front. A recent rear addition is
barely visible from the street.
The house was built by Dr. Charles Crampton, then Assistant Chief of the Department of Agriculture. Dr. Crampton was born in Davensport, Iowa and graduated from Purdue (A.C.), the University of Michigan (Ph.C.), and Columbia University, Maryland. Dr. Crampton was Somerset's first mayor, serving from 1906 to 1910. His son, Carl, was the first baby to be born in Somerset, in 1894 [see photos below of Dr. Crampton, his father and his son]. The Cramptons owned the first automobile in town, a Cadillac. Dr. Crampton built a number of other homes in the Town for speculation, and was also responsible for planting many of the town's original shade trees.
In 1918 the house was sold to Dr. Sidney Jaffe, along with the extensive property, which was bounded by Dorset Avenue, Surrey Street and Cumberland Avenue. Dr. Jaffe was a dentist and also well known for his photography. While living here, the Jaffes built several other houses on the property, including a ten-room, stone and Siberian cedar-log home, which had to be located far from the street in the center of the four-acre tract, because of the town's opposition to a log cabin. The Jaffe's annual open-house Christmas party was much anticipated by the neighbors.
In 1935 the house was extensively remodeled by its then owner, Mr. Van Tiel. H. Bien, an architect known for building homes in Kenwood. Over the years the house was rented to many families.
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