Our Building

This house, located at the corner of Lake Avenue and Locust Street was originally built by Avery Frink of Montrose in 1860. Frink was considered a master builder who specialized in 6-sided windows. Frink also built the Susquehanna County Court House, Jail, and more than 50 houses in the area.

According to the National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet, it is described as one of the finest houses in Montrose. Initially known as the 1860 William H. Cooper House, it is now owned by the Community Foundation of the Endless Mountains. This large, five-bay, hipped-roof house, has small third-story Greek Revival frieze windows interspaced between heavy Italianate cornice brackets. The first-and second -floor windows are surmounted by triangular pediments highlighted by central circular moldings and wrapping around the tops of the window sides in a manner reminiscent of Gothic Revival label molding. The front door has a Greek Revival entrance with rectangular transom and sidelights. The wraparound porch has Italianate octagonal posts and paired brackets with pendants. Greek Revival dentils are interspaced between these Italianate features.

William H. Cooper, the original owner, purchased land from the heirs of the Issac Post Estate where the house now sits. Cooper read law with William Jessup, and eventually went into banking with the Post brothers. Mr. Cooper resided there until his tragic death in 1884 when he was shot by Joe Drinker, brother of Annie Drinker. Joe and Annie had considerable inherited land holdings in the area. Their father, Henry Drinker, had Annie institutionalized where he was able to sell off her inheritance of lands by petitioning a Montrose court to declare her insane and unable to manage her estate. Upon Mr. Drinker’s death, William Cooper was made the estate’s agent. Joe became Annie’s voice and blamed Cooper as part of a wide conspiracy to sell off their land.  Annie was a poet and Philadelphia socialite who spent most of her life in Montrose, PA.  She sat for a portrait by Thomas Sully, a sought-after painter among the Philadelphia & Baltimore elite.  This portrait can be seen in the Susquehanna County Historical Society.

In 1884, the property was sold to Clemont R. Woodin, President of the American Can and Foundry Corp. of Berwick, Pa. as a summer home. He was the father of the Honorable William Woodin, formally a U.S. Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin Roosevelt.