Thomas & Marie Owen residence

The Thomas & Marie Owen residence was a 2-story frame house built in the early 1890s at 518 18th Street North Bessemer which was originally the residence of Thomas McAdory Owen and his wife, the former Marie Bankhead.

Owen purchased the house on January 14, 1893 for $2,000 from the Natchez Land & Improvement Company, which developed 8 lots on Block 308 since acquiring the land in 1890.

Thomas McAdory Owen Jr was born, likely at the house, in April 1894. The Owens moved to Washington D.C. that September, having deeded the house back to the Natchez Land & Improvement Company on May 22. The company held onto the house for the next six years, and there is a suggestion that vice president E. H. Lopez may have used it as his residence.

In 1900 Abraham Brown purchased the house, again for $2,000. He sold it in 1904 to Sam Kartus, founder of Kartus Korner, for $2,500. Kartus installed cut-glass chandeliers that are still in use.

In the 1930s Kartus sold the house to the Vance family, which maintained it in good condition through the 1970s. In 1980 the building was acquired by the law firm of Furner, Boyce, Nave & Thomason for use as their offices. They also leased office space to a private investigation firm headed by John Mosbey.

At that time, the house was listed by the Jefferson County Historical Commission, and by the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.

The site is presently occupied by a one-story building with a shed-roof addition at the front which is used as a law office.

References

• Robertson, Neal (n. d.) "Bessemer Attorneys Stumble on Historic 'Find'." Bessemer-Hueytown Sun', reprinted in West Jefferson County Historical Society Journal of History. Vol. 7, No. 3 (Spring 1980), pp. 10-11