Foss and Wells House

The Foss and Wells House stands on a bluff overlooking Sand Creek to the north. It is two stories with a cupola. The house is built of irregular sandstone ashlars. Elements of Italianate style include the cubical massing, shallow pitched roof, cupola, bracketed cornice, and arched window and door lintels. A nearby outbuilding has similar stone architecture. The house originally had a second-story balcony and three chimneys, all of which have been removed. A one-story frame garage was added to the south side of the house in the 1930s. ==History==

The house was built in 1858 for Edwin and James Foss and Rufus Wells, who jointly owned a water-powered gristmill down the hill on Sand Creek. The city of Jordan had recently been platted, and it developed quickly over the next two decades as an important regional wheat-milling center. The Foss and Wells families lived together in the house until 1890. It was acquired by a new family in 1911 and was still owned by them at the time of the property's National Register nomination in 1980. ==See also==