Writer / Brendan White
With the recent demolition and upcoming reconstruction of the former O.W. Nutt Funeral Home on S. Range Line Road this fall, it is necessary to preserve the history behind it. As a longtime resident of Carmel, O.W. Nutt was one of the significant businessmen in town during its early years.
O.W. Nutt and his family were native-born and longtime residents of Carmel. He was born to James W. Nutt and Amanda Nutt in Carmel on June 29, 1876. His brothers were Thomas A. Nutt and James M. Nutt. O.W. Nutt’s wife was Eva Clark, and they married on June 4, 1902. The couple’s children were Martha (1907-1999) and Herman Nutt (1914-1963).
The Nutt family business began with undertaking and funerals during the 19th century. O.W. Nutt’s father started making caskets and conducting a funeral business after returning home from the American Civil War in 1866. O.W. Nutt took over the business from his father in 1897. Shortly after their marriage in 1902, he and his wife operated the funeral business together. During the same year, they built a two-story funeral home at 31 S. Range Line Road, south of Main Street in Carmel. The house contained three separate funeral service rooms, which Nutt modernized in August 1940. During that year, the family purchased a Superior LaSalle for use as a funeral hearse. O.W. Nutt continued his role as funeral director for 47 years.
O.W. Nutt’s furniture and hardware store was also a notable business in Carmel over the years. In 1899, he began selling hardware while continuing his undertaking business. In 1903, he opened his hardware and furniture store on W. Main Street, west of the Union Traction interurban route. The store contained undertaking supplies and space for Nutt to conduct his funeral business. He sold various kinds of hardware and furniture, such as farm implements, knives, hatchets, saws, axes, tools, paint, stoves, kitchen utensils, silverware, music cabinets and other merchandise during the 20th century.
The store was a fixture in town, and it received praise from local newspapers. On March 23, 1906, an advertisement in The Enterprise nicknamed O.W. Nutt “THE HARDWARE MAN.” On Dec. 3, 1931, the Noblesville Daily Ledger called goods sold at the O.W. Nutt Hardware Store “HIGH GRADE GOODS.” On Feb. 5, 1936, the Noblesville Daily Ledger mentioned that O.W. Nutt sold high-quality hardware and furniture to customers at low prices, attracting local farmers and small-town citizens to his store. Hamilton County residents considered O.W. Nutt’s store their favorite location to purchase furniture, hardware and other products. Local newspapers advertised various products sold at O.W. Nutt’s store throughout the first half of the 20th century. O.W. Nutt died in 1944 and was buried in the Old Carmel Cemetery. Herman Nutt then owned and operated the store until his heart attack and death in 1963, ending the Nutt family’s ownership of the business.
The hardware store and funeral home went through various owners and names after the Nutt family. Lloyd N. Smith, who served as Nutt’s associate mortician for 16 years, took over the funeral service in 1945. For two years, he partnered with J.R. McMullan of Westfield, forming the McMullan-Smith Funeral Homes on June 22, 1945. An advertisement in the Noblesville Daily Ledger listed the business as Smith Funeral Home in Carmel in February 1947. Lloyd N. Smith’s son, Richard Bill Smith, later directed the Smith Funeral Home until his retirement in 1999.
In 1963, Dan Stuckey, a former Clay Township trustee, purchased the hardware and furniture store building, which then became the Carmel location of Ace Hardware. The last two owners of the store were Bob Mahan, from 1965 to 1984, and Steve White, from 1984 until the store’s closure in 1988. The building remained standing until its demolition to make way for Sophia Square in 2008. Although both of O.W. Nutt’s buildings no longer exist, his hardware, furniture and undertaking business in Carmel should be remembered for future generations.
Brendan White is the archivist at the Carmel Clay History Museum. He also volunteers at historical societies in Sheridan, Westfield, Hamilton County, Fishers, Tipton County, Madison County and Greentown, as well as the Clay Township Military Museum and Library.
