It is said that President Theodore Roosevelt slept here in 1904 on his way to the bear-hunting trip to the Mississippi Delta that resulted in the creation of the teddy bear. The story highlights the importance of the house’s most prominent owner, Governor Edmond F. Noel. Known for his Progressive politics and relatively moderate racial policies, Noel presided over the first school consolidation law, the founding of a teacher’s college in Hattiesburg (now the University of Southern Mississippi [PW38]), and the preservation of the Governor’s Mansion (JM18). The two-story irregularly massed wooden residence on a large suburban block was Queen Anne in style until a classical remodeling in 1912 after Noel returned to Lexington. Monumental Ionic columns support an entablature, and a stickwork porch railing adds a decidedly nonclassical touch to an already eclectic building.