Leo Morton Nichols

Leo Morton 'Mort' Nichols was the son of architect/builder Hiram J. Nichols and his second wife Catherine Bray. He was born October 10, 1865. He was the half-brother of architect John Nichols.

In 1883 the Republican Progress reported that he was working as a draftsman in his father's business and that he had extraordinary potential as an architect.

In 1885 he and John moved briefly to Fort Worth, Texas seeking employment, but returned to Bloomington in about two weeks. John moved to Denver, Colorado, shortly thereafter, but Mort stayed in Bloomington.

He married Anna Campbell 'on the bridge that spans Rockey branch' in 1886 and moved to Indianapolis to work as a sales representative for a tailoring firm. In April of 1888 he moved to Denver to work in the office of the architect F. E. Edbrooke, where John worked as a draftsman and construction supervisor. Mort appears to have stayed in Denver only a year or two before returning to Indianapolis.

John returned to Bloomington in 1895 and began practicing as an architect. In 1913 Mort returned to Bloomington to join John in the firm Nichols & Nichols. During that time Mort designed and built a house at 722 East University Avenue that has come to be known as 'the Oriental bungalow' because of it's flared roof line. He returned to Indianapolis in 1914 and returned to retail menswear, working for Samuel Rubens apparently until retirement.

He died March 1, 1952. The typed death certificate lists his occupation as 'Retired', but 'architect' is handwritten in the space thereafter.