William E and Leta Guthrie built this home in 1896 to be the home for him and his family. He was a prominent doctor in Bloomington and the descendant of a well known pioneer family. He was the son of Peter Guthrie, who was born in McLean County in 1829. William Guthrie attended the school of Lexington, IL and taught school in order to pay his way through medical school at Rush Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. He first practiced with Dr. John L. White and then was official physician for the C & A Railroad. In later years, he specialized in the diseases of women and practiced all his professional career in Bloomington, Illinois. It was said that the strain of heading the exemption board during the Great War was instrumental in breaking down the health of Dr. Guthrie and causing his eventual death.
Leila Guthrie, the daughter of the home, was married to Bert Clark of Chicago in a small, unostentatious wedding on Easter, 1904. She wore a "meteor silk" gown and carried "marguerites" (I think that is a fancy name for daisies!). The home was decorated in palms and lilies and the Ashton orchestra played the Wedding March. Leila attended Wesleyan and also attended college in Colorado. She was a student at the Art Institute of Chicago at the time she met her husband, a stockbroker.
When the home was sold by Mrs. Leta Guthrie in 1926 to Ferdinand Flinspach it was noted that the home had 30 inch walls. Mr. Flinspach planned to operate a funeral home out of the residence and make his home there. Mrs. Guthrie moved to the Lafayette Apartments, the preeminent choice for widows and widowers of means who valued the comforts of life. Mrs. Leta Guthrie died in 1933, having outlived her husband and her daughters. Her funeral was held at the Flinspach Funeral Home.
In 1914, the Pantagraph ran a series of cartoon images with limericks about prominent men in Bloomington. No. 9 featured Dr. William Guthrie. Note the satchel of surgery instruments: a saw, a hatchet and a file!
Life and death's veiled is mystery thin;
But the Doc lifts the veil and looks in:
While the layman may scoff,
He sees germs a mile off,
And he hates wicked microbes like sin.
