Monday, February 8, 2021
This week on social media, we are celebrating and sharing some of Exeter’s history through a collaboration with the Inn by the Bandstand (@InnByTheBandstand) and photographer Tom Fuller (@tomsfuller). Together, we have worked to share a look at the Sullivan-Sleeper home – more commonly known as the Inn by the Bandstand – its place in the history of Exeter, and the importance of the Historical Society here in town.
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
For over 200 years, the Sullivan-Sleeper House has been a resident of the Exeter town center. Standing like a line of sentinels, the three Federal-style homes that face the bandstand on Front Street have preserved the character of the downtown since the19th century. The oldest of the three is the Sullivan-Sleeper House. The house was built in 1809 for George Sullivan, a leading lawyer and statesman, who used it as a family home. The house changed hands several times after Sullivan passed away in 1838.
In 1850, the Squamscott Hotel on the corner of Front and Court Streets suffered a fire. Abraham P. Blake leased the Sullivan house and it became the Squamscott during the year it took for repairs to be made. The earliest known photograph of the Sullivan-Sleeper House has a large “Squamscott” sign affixed to the front of the building – seen in the photo on the right!
The town square seen in these photos shows the Sullivan-Sleeper home (now the Inn by the Bandstand) on the left, the County Records building in the center (currently the Exeter Town Hall), and the Gardiner house to the right. If you have taken a stroll through town recently, you will recognize this view, even with some of the more modern changes over the years. Over the next seven days, we are looking to dive deeper into the past and present of the Sullivan-Sleeper home and share the history of the people who called it home. We hope you enjoy our collaborative project.
Businessman Otis Sleeper arrived in Exeter in the late 1870s, and purchased the house on Front street in 1889. He added the jewelry shop seven years later. Sleeper and his son, Almon, ran the shop for several decades in the early 20th century.
By 1970, the building was facing demolition. Mobil Oil, which owned the lot next door, had plans to purchase the property and raze the house. Instead, it was purchased by the Exeter Historical Society and repurposed into apartments. The close call prompted the creation of Exeter’s protected historic district. Today the Sullivan-Sleeper house is a home away from home called “Inn by the Bandstand”, welcoming visitors to our historic town.
As he rose in prominence, he was appointed solicitor for Rockingham County, a position he held until 1805. In 1811, he was elected to the US Congress and later served two terms in the New Hampshire Senate. Upon his return to the state, he was appointed as the New Hampshire Attorney-General, but he retired from public service in 1835. His prominence is easily noted in the oration dated for the 4th of July 1800.
Thursday, February 11, 2021
Otis Sleeper was born in South Weare in 1856. In his early 20s, he moved to Exeter and became well known throughout this vicinity, conducting his jewelry business on the square. He married Emma Hobbs, of Deerfield, in 1883 and together they had four sons, William, Almon, Perley, and Otis, Jr. The photos included show the family and the current view of what would have been their sitting room in their home.
Friday, February 12, 2021
O.H.Sleeper’s shop was established in 1883 on Front Street, near the corner of Water Street, and according to Leading Businessmen of Exeter: “The market is so flooded nowadays with cheap and worthless watches got up expressly to ‘sell’ that it is necessary to use considerable care in the selection of a time-piece, as otherwise one is liable to be badly taken in. Of course this danger can be entirely avoided by dealing with a reputable house…And in this connection we may be excused for calling to attention of our readers to the goods handled by Mr. O.H. Sleeper, for his stock is a most carefully chosen one, and contains reliable articles exclusively.”
Saturday, February 13, 2021
In 1970, the historic Sullivan-Sleeper house was facing destruction. Mobil Oil, which owned the lot next door, had plans to purchase the property and intended to raze the house. Percy Rogers recalled, “in several meetings with Emma Sleeper Crowe we discovered that although Mobil Corporation had taken out an action to buy Sleeper, no down-payment had been made.” A meeting of the Exeter Historical Society Corporation (then the executive branch of the organization) was hastily summoned and they decided to buy the option to save the house.
The photos included show the hard work that was completed to restore the home, preserving the historic integrity of the town center. The current photo shows the existing Inn by the Bandstand.
Sunday, February 14, 2021
Established by Rev. John Wheelwright in 1638, Exeter was one of the four original towns in the colony. Following New Hampshire’s provisional Declaration of Independence on January 5, 1776, it served as the capital of the new state during the American Revolution. After the war, the capital alternated between Portsmouth and Concord, finally settling in Concord in the early 19th century.
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
George Sullivan was born in Durham in 1771 and was the son of Revolutionary War General John Sullivan. There are no recorded photos of George, however his father John is depicted in the image above. After attending Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard, Sullivan came back to Exeter to practice law. At the time, the courthouse stood in the center of Front Street, roughly where the bandstand is located today. Perhaps looking for the shortest commute possible, Sullivan had his home built directly across the street from the courthouse. The map included shows the town at the time when Sullivan built his home.
While living in Exeter, Sullivan and his wife, Clarissa Lamson, had 11 children. After Sullivan’s death in 1838, the house changed hands until being purchased in 1889, by merchant Otis Sleeper.
Emma Sleeper died at the age of 64 of influenza during the 1918 pandemic. At the time of her death, Otis continued to run the business, William was serving as the Rockingham County Soliciter, Lieutenant Almon Sleeper was serving in Siberia with the US expeditionary forces, Captain Perley Sleeper was recently returned from artillery service in France and Private Otis H. Sleeper, Jr was still in France with the 79th Infantry division.
Almon returned from the war to work in the family business, expanding the jewelry store to include an optical department.
The jewelry store remained successfully in business through the 1960s. The storefront later housed an antiques shop, but is now occupied by the Otis restaurant. Aptly named as an ode to the retail spaces’ first occupant, Otis Sleeper.
The photos above display the jewelry shop, its interior, one of their advertisements as well as a recent photo of the Otis restaurant.
A closer look at the signage.
Through hard physical work and a great deal of financial arm-twisting, the Sullivan-Sleeper house was converted into apartment space and resold with preservation restrictions. Voters approved the creation of the Exeter Historic District in 1970 to prevent any further demolition of historic buildings.
The current tenants, the Inn by the Bandstand, uphold the preservation as outlined by the Historic Society and provide an opportunity for guests to experience the home once occupied by the Sullivan and Sleeper families.
The large Federalist Sullivan-Sleeper home was built in 1809, and has remained a fixture of downtown Exeter. Full of rich history, the home has seen the town change over the years. The images included display the home over several periods and show how the town has developed.
The home has retained its charm and appeal through the years. We hope that you have enjoyed following along as we explored the home and its place in Exeter’s history. The Inn by the Bandstand welcomes guests year-round and encourages visitors to stay and experience the history of the home for themselves.