In 1889, Elizabeth “Eliza” Jane McClure Drane (1808-1889) sold and developed part of her estate into Drane’s subdivision. She was the widow of Dr. Walter Harding Drane and had resided on Fairfield Farm. In 1895, William M. Drane (of Belmont) built this home and deeded it to his daughter, Olive Drane Johnson (1858-?) and her husband George H. Johnson. After Johnson’s death, she married Dr. Butler Boyd.
It is a two story weatherboard home in Classical Revival style sitting at 319 Homer Ave. It was built near the Drane-Patch-Catlett home. Eliza owned the property until 1910 when Thomas Bledsoe Foust bought it.
Thomas "T.B." Bledsoe Foust (1882-1966), his wife Emma Landon Foust (1850-1938) and family have resided there since. T. B. and Emma wed in 1910. In 1907, Foust left R. J. Reynolds in North Carolina, became a chemist and then became a superintendent at Red River Foundry. Red River was started in 1847 and is one of the oldest operating foundries in America. In 1912, Foust took over the foundry from Red River Furnace Co. where he had been superintendent and renamed it Clarksville Foundry & Machine Works. He and his family have operated since that time. Their son, Thomas B. Foust, Jr., and Mary Dee Cooke Foust (1880-1964) inherited it in 1935.
At some point, the area was enveloped by the Austin Peay State University campus. Their daughter, Mary “Tiny” E. Foust (1916-1994), was the last family member residing at the home until her death in 1994. The home was then sold to APSU because engineers discovered structural damage to the building that the family could not afford to repair.
In 2002, the Tennessee Preservation Trust listed the Drane-Foust House as an endangered property.In 2022, the building seemed to be listed as part of a "Green" environmental project through APSU to save/ restore the historic home. NRHP 1988/ removed 2013 See Fairfield Farm
Sources:
Drane-Foust Home
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