In the early twentieth-century, Rachel Flowers was a Black socialite in the Harrisburg and Philadelphia region. Her parties attracted members of the Black middle class and due to her educational activism, also educators from New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and even Bermuda. When her events were hosted in Harrisburg, news articles referred to her country home as the “Greenview Dwelling”. This small reference appeared mainly in the Philadelphia Tribune, a local Black newspaper.
Entertains Teachers At Country Home
“Miss Rachel H. Flowers entertained on Saturday afternoon some of Harrisburg’s most prominent school teachers at her beautiful country home, “Greenview Dwelling” at Boiling Springs, PA., where she is spending the summer.”
The reference to “Greenview Dwelling” presented many research questions that I placed on the bottom of my list as I wrote Flowers’ biography. I spoke to the local historical society and local historians about the home with no luck and after I attempted to locate the deeds to the home, I gave up on the house hunt. Outside of this information, I only knew that Flowers sold the home to an Edward Miller in 1945. Although I gave up on the research, a student at Messiah College found the deed late last year.
*I GOT THE DEED! I GOT THE DEED!*
I am still left with many questions, but this deed is one step in answering them.
[John Dare to Harry Flowers]
[Flowers to Edward Miller]
With this I am hoping to find an address, secure a few photos, and hopefully take a trip to the home.
Until the next post.
Christina
Diary of a Historian 
2 responses to ““Greenview Dwelling”: Finding the Flowers Family’s Home”
How interesting!
I quickly compared the title deeds of 1912,1919, 1925 & 1945. This Greenview Dwelling was adjacent to lands belonging to one M. E. Kraybill who is referred to as M. Greybill, quite possibly the same person (based on the location of their lands in relation to Greenview Dwelling in the 1919 and 1945 documents). One of Rachel’s friends at Messiah was an Elizabeth Kraybill (Graybill?)? Why did the Flowers’ purchase this land, one year after Rachel finished from Messiah? Boiling Springs is about 7 miles from Dillsburg, apparently a KKK center (more work needed here….). Why did the Dares sell this land to the Flowers? Why 1 dollar?