My last post was about the Todds–a family that, unfortunately, I am not related to ;). One last thing about them. My mother-in-law, an artist, painted the Todd House for a man named Paul H. Todd in 1970.
Todd House
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Artist: Diana Dale Castle
So I did a little research. Paul H. Todd was one of the sons of Albert May Todd, the founder of the A.M. Todd Company. He, and his brother Albert J., both served as mayors and city commissioners of Kalamazoo. Paul’s son, Paul H. Todd, Jr., later filled his seat in Congress from 1965 to 1967.
Which Paul Todd did my MIL paint for?
In the 1960 city directory, Paul Jr. lived at 3713 West Main Street. His business was the Kalamazoo Spice Extraction Company (now called Kalsec). Paul Sr.’s business was Farmer’s Chemical Company. He lived at 3715 West Main Street. Next door neighbors! Paul Sr. was born around 1884, so he would have been around 76 years old in 1960.
Ten years later, Paul Sr. would have been 86. So I asked my husband. He says the Paul Todd who commissioned the painting was middle-aged, so it must have been Paul Jr. Searching a little farther, it appears that Paul Sr. died in 1969.
On the bottom right corner of this print (because I only have a print, of course), my MIL wrote that this building was Paul Todd’s house (but is that possible?), and that it was located on the corner of Kalamazoo and Rose Streets. I found the intersection of W. Kalamazoo and N. Rose on Google Maps. The building is no longer there.
It seems likely that, in 1970, the business was operated in this inner city area, but that the family didn’t live there. Nevertheless, in a family discussion, others thought that Mr. Todd lived in the same building that the company was operated from.
Back to my MIL’s paintings: she painted many locations in the Kalamazoo area.
Here is another one she painted in the very early 70s. It’s known as the Gourdneck Prairie-Webber Schoolhouse, Schoolcraft Township. It still stands today. Here is a link to check it out.
Gourdneck Prairie-Webber Schoolhouse, Schoolcraft Township
Artist: Diana Dale Castle
Related articles
The Family Kalamazoo 
What a talented mother-in-law you have! That is a lovely painting of the Todd House.
Amberly, thank you so much for your kind words! My mother-in-law was so talented! She left her home in Canada at a young age to travel to New York and study at the Art Students League of New York. While she lived in New York she painted all the murals on the walls of the famous Birdland club and also painted many of the Broadway greats of the time. She passed away on my daughter’s 16th birthday, ten years ago this month.
What a special lady!
I thought you might find it interesting that your mother-in-law’s watercolor of Paul H. Todd’s home is in the Kalamazoo College Art Collection. http://hdl.handle.net/10920/18057
Kathryn, you can’t imagine how thrilling it is to find out what happened to the painting! Thank you so much. My goodness, how did you ever find it?!
The tower on the top building reminded me of the tower on the Henderson Castle.
Very similar! Thanks for being my on-the-town eyes, WJ!
Now I’m seeing those towers all over the older part of Kalamazoo. I saw three fairly close to each other on Burdick Street near Vine.
I hope there are photographers out there taking art shots of these houses.
Luanne, I love these paintings and the stories behind them!!
I am back on track again with you. I just discovered this afternoon that I have to go to “Reader” on WordPress to see ur posts! Duh…I kept waiting for the email notices!! So sorry…:(
So glad you figured it out! Thank you so much re the paintings. I am so happy to share a little of her work!
I really like your mother-in-laws paintings. She is a wonderful artist.
Oh, thank you so much, Sheryl. It makes me happy to hear others enjoy them!
I have tried for some time to find out more about Diana Dale Castle the artist but have not been able to find anything until now. Your blog did not come up other times I have tried. I have 8 of your MIL’s prints. Five of them are double signed. I do have the Todd House. I would be glad to discuss her work with you.
Tom
Tom, what an wonderful coincidence you found this post now! If you would like to email me, try writing me at luannecastle[at]gmail.com.
[…] But am I sharing any of it in this post? No. I want to do a good job of pulling it together, and I can’t do that now, as overworked busy as I am. Instead, I thought I would share a photo from the Kalamazoo of my youth. On the right side, you can see my mother-in-law, the artist Diana Dale Castle. I wrote about her in my post The Todd House. […]