1863 moved with Wooster to Iowa. Earle attended school, and eventually acquired enough education that he became a schoolteacher. However, he was unsatisfied, and in 1868 returned to New York and began doing piecework in a sash and door factory, continuing until he had saved enough money to attend medical college. In 1872, Earle gradualted from Buffalo Medical College, receiving his diploma from Millard Fillmore. He moved to Tully, New York, and began a medical practice, which over the next 17 years he built into a large and prosperous business. In 1886, Earle took a months-long trip to Europe, where he met Emma Meyer, Charles Meyer's daughter. They were married in 1888, and in 1889 Earle decided to retire from the rigors of practicing medicine, and moved with his wife to Michigan. Earle invested a considerable amount of his savings in his father-in-law's business, and was made a vice-president of Wisconsin Land & Lumber only months before the 1890 financial crash. With the other directors unable or unwilling to steer the company, the crash and Meyer's incapacitation forced Earle to take over the company's operations. Earle's Tenure Earle renegotiated with the company's creditors, raised new loans, and cut expenses to keep the company afloat. He bought up some of the company's debt personally and reorganized the business. Earle also promoted the company's IXL maple flooring, just in time for an upswing in demand. Wisconsin Land & Lumber developed a tongue in groove process which led to the company being the United States' largest hardwood floor producer at one time. The IXL logo became an industry benchmark, with architects specifying "IXL or equivalent" in contracts. With the increase in demand for hardwood flooring, the company prospered. The last of the company's debt was finally retired in 1910. When timbered land became too expensive to purchase, Earle began buying logs from small jobbers. Earle remained at the helm of the company until his death in 1923, when control passed to his two sons, G. Harold and Stewart Prescott Earle. The site in Hermansville remained the firm's headquarters until the death of the last of Meyer's grandsons in 1978. Buildings The main building contains artifacts from the 19th century with minimal changes from the 20th or 21st century. The structure is a two-story, wood-framed building with a T-shaped plan. The exterior is sheathed with clapboard siding, which is divided by horizontal and vertical