651 PARKWOOD NE - THE ELEGANT HOME OF ANNA HERPOLSHEIMER HARDY

Anna Herpolsheimer Hardy, the daughter of department store magnate and German immigrant William G. Herpolsheimer, grew up on Crescent Street and was used to having servants. In 1910, in her new home at 651 Parkwood, she listed a servant as a member of the family household, and Anna spent her summers at the family cottage called “Garland. “ She eventually inherited the cottage from her father’s estate.

Anna’s father, William, began his business empire with a dry goods store in Indiana and eventually opened Voigt & Herpolsheimers in Grand Rapids. Anna married William G. Hardy in 1902. William was an insurance agent and a captain and quartermaster of the Thirty-Second Infantry, Michigan National Guard. Hardy served in the Spanish-American War. Together, they built this house.

Sadly, Anna and William only had 14 years together at 651 Parkwood. William died of heart disease, leaving behind a daughter, Amelia, and a son, William. Anna, who was wealthy in her own right, did not need to move but kept her beautiful home, and she raised Amelia (named after Anna’s mother) and William there. William attended college at the University of Pennsylvania. Amelia attended “Finishing School” at one of the most prestigious women’s schools in the country, the National Park Seminary in Glen Forest, Maryland, near Washington D.C. There, the eclectic architecture of the buildings was the result of the work of architect Emily Elizabeth Holman of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was known as E.E. Holman professionally as one of Philadelphia’s first female architects. The campus featured covered walkways, outdoor sculptures, and elaborately planned formal gardens. It would be associated with the most modern educational trends when it transitioned to National Park College in 1936.

651 Parkwood was Anna’s home until her death in 1934. She left her children a substantial estate of $85,000, about $2,000,000 today. By 1935, Anna’s daughter Amelia married Robert C. Hermann of Lansing, a Dartmouth graduate and owner of the Hermann Lamp Company. They lived in 651 Parkwood until building their own house on Darby Road near Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids. They had only been married a year at the time of Anna’s death. By 1942, Robert was serving in the Navy during World War II. Sometime after the war, Amelia and Robert moved to La Jolla, California, following others in the Herpolsheimer family to California.