Heidt-Russell House

Front: This house, with Greek Revival and Italianate architectural influences, was built about 1879 by William J. Heidt, builder and contractor who managed Heidlinger’s Steam Bakery. The Heidts lived here until 1912. Mary E. Russell, whose husband Nathaniel was a postman for the U.S. Post Office, bought the house in 1919. Reverse: Edwin Roberts Russell (1913-1996) spent his early years here. A research scientist, he was one of the few blacks directly involved in the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb. Educated at Benedict College and Howard University, in 1942-45 Russell helped separate plutonium from uranium at the University of Chicago. He returned to Columbia to teach at Allen University, then was a research chemist at the Savannah River Plant form 1957 to 1976