Turk-Gilkey House

108 W. New England Ave.

The original part of this house was built in the mid 1830’s as a rental property for the Wiley family. Each of the four rooms on the first floor had an exterior entrance, and interior end chimneys provided a fireplace in each of the original rooms.

The Wiley and Lewis families were active members of the Worthington Methodist Episcopal Church – a force behind the Underground Railroad in the Worthington area in the years prior to the Civil War. The Wiley, Mason and Elias Lewis families (all interrelated by marriage) sold the house in 1856 to Henry and Dolly Turk, making them the first African-American family to own their own home in Worthington. Dolly Turk was a former slave in Virginia whose freedom had been purchased by her husband Henry in 1838.

In 1920 the house was purchased by E. Howard Gilkey, editor of the Columbus Monitor and law librarian for the Ohio Supreme Court. Gilkey made significant changes to the house and replatted the 1½ acres as the Gilkey subdivision.
(Private residence)