Considered by some to be the oldest inhabited residence in Johnson County, the E.C. Chase House was built around 1869 by Elijah Cornell Chase.

E.C. Chase was born in 1837 to a Quaker family in Providence, Rhode Island.

His father was Thomas Chase. His mother was a sister of Exra Cornell, the founder of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York (his family also created the Chase Financial Institution).

As a young man, E.C. Chase was sent to Kansas by his Uncle Exra to find a suitable place for a university (little did Exra know, Elijah would never return home, and Cornell University would be located in NY rather than Kansas!).

E.C. Chase came to the area in 1859, settling in Walnut Grove (location unknown). When neighbors began to borrow his belongings, he pulled up stakes and left, heading for his home in the east.

He got as far as Oskaloosa, Iowa, when he stopped at a Quaker colony and fell in love with a young lady, Abigail Ellis. The two later married.

In 1861, E.C. Chase decided to take his wife and son, Thomas, to Kansas. He came with a group of Quakers. Their destination, the Quaker Mission.

After the war, Chase bought the farm on Antioch Road where he first built a house of walnut timbers. Later in 1869, he added the brick part, which is standing now.

This property was originally sold as part of a 60-acre plot. Then in the 1960s, it was platted into the present development, which includes numerous single-family homes.

The house has some Victorian features but is not a true Victorian house as detailed in a 1984 Kansas City Star article.

It was originally constructed as a farm house but has been altered many times. The two-story brick portion was added to an existing one-room house in 1869. This one-room portion no longer exists. Another exterior change is the addition of the dormers; not all changes to the house have been documented.

The current owners, the Westerns, have done numerous internal renovations.

Family history provided by Allene Chase Bell, granddaughter of
Elijah Cornell Chase; Johnson County Herald, Oct. 21, 1963