Perrigo/Alexander Boarding House

Perrigo/Alexander Boarding House. Rugby's Hidden History. The origins of this home and boarding house and just who built it are not yet certain. An 1892 historic picture shows it nearly completed and lived in but lacking its front verandah and exterior lap siding., Research does provide some background on two different resident families - Winfield Scott Perrigo, his wife, Ora, and their grandson C. Joe Galloway; and the Samuel Logan Alexander family., Winfield Scott Perrigo was from Michigan and had probably been in Tennessee for some time before any involvement with Rugby, He apparently died just as the family was getting established in Rugby around 1901. His widow Ora may have been the first person to run the building as a boarding house until her death in 1903. Her grandson, C. Joe Galloway, lived with her at Perrigo Boarding House until her death. He contacted Historic Rugby in the 1980s to relate his childhood memories in turn of the century Rugby and his love for his grandmother. He donated funds to Historic Rugby to purchase the property in hopes that Perrigo Boarding House could eventually be historically reconstructed in memory of his grandmother. Private owners recently bought the tract from Historic Rugby and will accomplish this., The Samuel Logan Alexander family history in relation to this house is more complex. They were originally from Kentucky, and lived in nearby Fentress County and perhaps Scott County before taking up residence in Rugby at this house. It's possible they were here before the Perrigos, and then again after Ora died. Whether or not they ran it as a boarding house is also uncertain but seems likely. Alexander family descendants have donated several family household items that had once been in the house, including a clay jug that looks similar to the one on the back porch in the picture at left., Oral history interviews in the Rugby Archives include the late Joe Gibson, who lived just to the right of the Perrigo/Alexander House in later years. He stated that the house was "taken down" and the materials, including the stone foundation, hauled away sometime in the 1930s., [Captions]: , This image of the Samual Logan Alexander family in the side yard was probably taken around 1905. The family later moved to Eastern Kentucky near Wilmore., This c. 1915 picture with children in the foreground shows the Perrigo / Alexander house. From the lack of curtains and objects on the verandahs, it appears not to have been occupied at that time., Ora Pertigo is seated at right in this interesting c.1901 picture that demonstrates her interest in plants and gardening. The lady with the fiddle is unidentified.