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Centerville Treasure The Whitaker Home By Paul Thomas Smith, Museum Historian The Big House 1878. Elizabeth Whitaker was overjoyed . After twenty years of living "high up" on their six acre lot, their third and final home was being bu ilt next to the road and nearer her friends . It would be much larger than their eight-room adobe home. Veteran stonemason Charles Duncan and his three sons laid up the walls. Thomas Whitaker and his three sons- Will , Sam , and Johnwould do the interior. But it would take four years. A sought after carpenter and contractor, Thomas built homes in Ogden during the week. When completed , the home featured a parlor and parents' bedroom on the main floor; two bedrooms upstairs for their six sons and five daughters, as well as a work room for Elizabeth's spinning , weaving , and sewing gear. She made virtually all of her family's clothing save their shoes. A brick and adobe wing to the east boasted a large gathering room with a small kitchen to the side . A basement was accessed from the outside by swinging open two heavy wooden doors resting over the steps. The family was delighted with their home. It remained largely unchanged until pu rchased by son Joseph James in 1920. The main floor was opened into one room , with coved ceilings and fireplace on the north wall. A new kitchen next to the gathering room featured plenty of space for wife Florence. Joseph, a well -to-do judge, built a two-story red brick addition to the north. A garage protected his automobile, while a new upstairs bedroom as well as a bathroom with indoor plumbing met the needs of their adopted daughter Ruth . The original upstairs bedrooms were replaced by one master bedroom , but generous space was retained for Florence. Subsequent owners added to the home and modified the interior, but Centerville City's Museum Board has restored the home to its 1920s dimensions. Inside, furnishings from the 1870s through the early 20 th century hallmark the transition from self-sufficiency to a consumer society.