The Hastings Banner — Thursday, February 3, 2022 — Page 7Real estate appraising authority had local roots
Kathy Maurer
Copy Editor
Banner co-editor Marshall Cook wrote
several columns in the 1930s and 1940s look-
ing back on the history of Hastings and Barry
County, at least from his earliest memories.
Mostly, though, he and brother/co-owner
William R. Cook, shared current local, state
and national news – sometimes shared by
other publications.
One such reprint was from the Philadel-
phia Inquirer, featuring Philip Wheeler Kni-
skern. The son of Marshall Cook’s sister-in-
law, Kniskern and his brother Lewis had
lived with the Cooks for a time.
The Jan. 16, 1941, Banner introduced the
article:
Phil Kniskern subject of storyPhiladelphia Inquirer finds
his life interesting
A feature story that ran in the “Everybody’s
Weekly” section of the daily Philadelphia
Inquirer recently is of particular interest to
many Banner readers because it concerns Phil-
ip Wheeler Kniskern, who was born in Hast-
ings, and is the son of Stella Wheeler Kniskern
in the late Gen. Albert D. Kniskern. Phil is now
a resident of Swarthmore, Pa., with offices in
Philadelphia, and is a nationally known author-
ity along construction and real estate lines.
Accompanying it are photos of Mr. Kni-
skern, his attractive home in Swarthmore, and
views of extensive new building projects in
the vicinity of Philadelphia that Mr. Kniskern
points out will be an impetus to the building
of better homes.
The story ran under the head “The boy who
longed for a home” and follows:
“Some years ago, a boy named Philip Kni-
skern sat dreaming in a Japanese schoolroom.
Through the windows, he could see whole
forests of tombstones covering the nearby
hills. Through the same windows, by turning
his head sharply, he could see three large
docks and patent slip of the Mitsu Bishi Com-
pany. Beyond that was the three-mile-long
Inlet of Nagasaki, leading to the western
world. Leading out especially to where his
dream centered and where he someday hoped
to have a permanent home.
“Most of his past life had been spent jump-
ing from school to school, from house to
house, none of which became homes. There
had been large homes and small homes, flats
with foreign servants, hotels and boarding
houses and even barracks. All impersonal. All
necessary only because the United States gov-
ernment shifted his father, Gen. Albert Deca-
tur Kniskern, to places where he was needed.
“Philip accepted these shifts with the easy
pliability of youth. But always he held to that
ultimate dream. The dream he had when
necessity made him the only boy in a Japa-
nese Missionary School for Girls at Nagasa-
ki. The dream of settling down and sinking
roots deeply into the soil beneath the house
that would be a home.
“Such urgings led him naturally to Phila-
delphia, which he had read of as a city of
homes. And, after a long period spent in civil
engineering and construction work, led him
almost as naturally to his present position,
that of president-elect of the National Associ-
ation of Real Estate Boards.
“Thus, Philip Kniskern changed from a
boy with 100 different dwellings and no
home, to a national figure with one home and
an interest in thousands of other homes
throughout the country.
“But the man of today is only a development
of the boy of yesterday. And the deep feeling
he has – not only for his own home in Swarth-
more, Pa. – but also for the homes of the
nation, is a product partly of the dreams he had
when chance made him live briefly in 100 dif-
ferent dwellings spread over three continents.
“Looking at Philip Kniskern today, you will
see only a quietly prosperous Philadelphia
businessman. But to know and understand
him, you would have to go below that quiet
exterior. There you would find the things that
have made him spread his activities beyond a
single job, beyond a single city. There you
would find a wealth of technical knowledge
tempered by the understanding of what homes
really mean to Philadelphia and to America.
There, in short, you would find why Philip
Kniskern is slated to head an association that
coordinates 500 other organizations with
15,000 members throughout the country.
“First and foremost, he’s interested in
homes. His early yearnings were set solidly
on the foundation of civil engineering educa-
tion at the University of Michigan [where he
was a reserve player on the 1909 U-M foot-
ball team]. From Michigan, he traveled as
many young engineers do, to South America.
There he lived in other strange, exotic but
unsatisfactory places until his return to New
York City where he helped with the founda-
tion work of a number of now-famous build-
ings: The Woolworth Building, the Equitable
Life and other skyscrapers.
“He saw steam shovels gnaw into deep clay
hollows beneath sidewalks. Towers of steel
and concrete rose from these excavations. The
skyline was altered. The city was altered. And
amid all this pushing growth, Philip Kniskern
still yearned for permanence. He found it at
last in Philadelphia after a term as appraisal
advisor for the Federal Home Loan Board. He
found it in a comfortable suburban stone
home in Swarthmore, where his wife, a Mich-
igan girl [Karine Nessen of Manistee], and his
son, Philip Jr., and daughter, Karen, now live.
“Out there, Mr. Kniskern can dig in a gar-
den with the knowledge that he will be there
to see next year’s blossoms. He can relax
with his accordion, which he describes as an
instrument that can be safely played only at
home. He can sink his local roots while his
national fame spreads like the foliage of a
large tree. He can relax in the comforting
realization that the tree he planted will grow
under his observation; the four walls will
make a permanent place for happiness.
“The flowers he grows in his Swarthmore
garden have won prizes, which is the real
merit badge of a true suburbanite. But Mr.
Kniskern has a far busier life from 9 to 5. Then
he is president of the First Mortgage Company
of Philadelphia and the director or trustee of a
dozen other organizations. Then he is interest-
ed less in one home than in thousands of
homes. His opinions, once given in Washing-
ton, are still remembered. His single book on
appraisals [Real Estate Appraisal and Valua-
tion, published in 1933] is still recognized and
used as the final word on that vast subject.
“While he allows one part of his mind to
think of homes just as pleasant places where
people live, he must use the other part to ana-
lyze them. He must think of them in thousands,
their structure, their cost and last of all, the
thing he naturally would think of first: Their
attraction for the people who live in them.
“‘The modern appraiser,” Philip Kniskern
says, “must be an economist, seer and sage.
Price and value are not synonymous words
when applied to property. They change so
much that we never can put appraisals on a
real scientific basis.”
“In other words, that third ingredient – a
pleasant tree in the backyard with a plant in a
sunlit window, lamplight shining through the
dusk, an attractive gable or a comfortable
living room whose polished furniture reflects
the intermittent glow of an open fire – is often
more important to a house that is to be a
home than is a foundation with a certain
stress per square inch.
“Luckily, Philip Kniskern understands and
appreciates both the stress and strain factors
and the unmeasurable ingredients that go into
making a house a home. And his whole aim is
to see America better housed.
“Right now, his personal outlook is optimis-
tic. He sees Fort Dix and other army camps,
making small real estate booms. He thinks the
reopening of Cramp’s Shipyards in Philadel-
phia should introduce that section of his home-
town to a new prosperity. And in 100 other
sections throughout the United States, he feels
that the new industrial surge of defense workmay be instrumental in cleaning out slum sec-
tions and giving America better homes.
“In a more regretful mood, he looks back
in the time when English people boarded up
their windows to escape the tax that would
fall on every dwelling with six or more win-
dows. Returning to present times, he sees tall
buildings being demolished to make parking
lots in an effort to escape taxes, other struc-
tures being limited to one or two stories as
part of the same effort.
“... He went from Bronxville [N.Y.] to
Washington. And from Washington to Phila-
delphia, where he gained not only a home,
but a position, clearly deserved, as presi-
dent-elect of the National Association of Real
Estate Boards.
“Now a real authority on housing, he can
well afford to smile at the memory of the boy
who gazed wistfully through the window of a
missionary school at the ships warping out for
America. But more than that, he can appreci-
ate the place of homes in America. He can
blend his vast technical knowledge with a real
understanding of the yearning others feel for a
place they can call home. A place where size is
subjugated to sensible satisfaction and the
people love because they live there happily.”
~~~~~Although his family moved frequently, the
Kniskerns did have some roots in Barry
County.
Estelle, or Stella, was the daughter of Milo
Wheeler, and her maternal uncles, Johnathan
and Samuel Haight, were early settlers in
Woodland Township. Like many of the coun-
ty’s earliest residents, Estelle was born in New
York State and moved to Michigan as a child.
Her husband, however, was born in south-
ern Illinois. When he was young, his family
moved to Michigan, living in Detroit and
Middleville and eventually settling in Hast-
ings. The 1880 U.S. Census shows the family
living on Thorn Street. Albert was one of 11students in the Hastings High School gradu-
ating class of 1882.
Albert Kniskern went on to attend West
Point, where he was a classmate of future
Gen. John J. Pershing, graduating in 1886. He
and Estelle Wheeler were married in Hastings
soon after he returned from West Point.
Their sons, Lewis Thayer and Philip
Wheeler, were born in Hastings in 1887 and
1889, respectively. Both sons earned civil
engineering degrees from the University of
Michigan and traveled to Chile early on.
They returned to the U.S., lived and worked
in Chicago for a time, and were part of the
team that oversaw construction of the Equita-
ble Life Building in New York City. Eventu-
ally, both moved to the Philadelphia area.
“Mr. Kniskern was literally brought up in
the army,” reads a short biography on brother
Lewis Kniskern in Story of Philadelphia, a
1919 book edited by John St. George Joyce,
“and the discipline which obtains in it con-
tributed, in a large measure, toward the for-
mation of his character, the expansion of his
views, and the handling of men and the exec-
utive ability for which he is so remarkable.”
Lewis, at that time, was general manager of
the Chester Shipbuilding Co. of Chester, Pa.,
which, along with the Philadelphia shipyard,
played a role for the U.S. in World War I. Around
the same time, his dad, Brig Gen. Kniskern, was
appointed quartermaster of the supply depot in
Chicago. So, while Lewis was helping oversee
construction of ships that would be used by the
U.S. Navy in World War I, his dad was coordi-
nating distribution of food, vehicles, uniforms
and other supplies – $1 million worth every day.
(More about Brig. Gen. Kniskern can be found
in April 2017 Banner editions.)
Philip served very briefly in the reserve
corps, but the upbringing he and his brother
shared would prove most beneficial later.
While Lewis continued to pursue engineer-
ing and construction after the first world war,
Philip’s interest turned toward real estate,
especially appraisals.
The U.S. economy was finally recovering
from the Great Depression when the Aug. 6,
1940, New York Times shared a prediction by
Philip Kniskern:
“ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The United
States should anticipate an industrial boom
and a housing shortage, Philip W. Kniskern of
Philadelphia, vice president of the National
Association of Real Estate Boards, said today
in an address at the 17th annual convention of
the National Cinder Concrete Products Asso-
ciation in the Hotel Traymore.”
World events would delay that boom. But
Kniskern’s perspective was still valued. His
knowledge of property values – along with his
peripheral understanding of military bases and
the many consequences a war can have on a
specific geographic area or the broader econo-
my – provided him unique insight. As the U.S.
drew closer to entering World War II, interest
in the potential impact on real estate grew.
The Ann Arbor News, in its April 16, 1941,
edition, had a short piece titled, “Effect of
U.S. Defense upon Real Estate to be Dis-
cussed.”“Effects of the national defense program
on real estate will be included in topics dis-
cussed at the Real Estate Educational Confer-
ence in the Rackham building Saturday.
“The conference is sponsored jointly by the
Michigan Real Estate Association and the uni-
versity School of Business Administration.
Approximately 300 are expected to attend.
“Philip W. Kniskern, Philadelphia, Pa.,
president of the National Association of Real
Estate Boards, will speak on ‘Real Estate in
the Defense Emergency and Afterward’ at the
conference banquet at 6 o’clock at night in
the Michigan League.”
Other speakers were listed, and details
given about a luncheon and other activities
during the day.
(The article closed with this final para-
graph: “Motion pictures of the 1940 Michi-
gan-Ohio State football game will be shown
at 5:30 in the Rackham amphitheater.”)
~~~~~
The National Association of Real Estate
Boards is better known today as the National
Association of Realtors. The website nar.
realtor has short biographies on its previous
presidents, including Kniskern, who headed
the association in 1941:Largest reappraisal job
in country’s history
“As head of the Home Owners Loan Cor-
poration for its first two years, Philip W. Kni-
skern undertook the largest reappraisal job in
the country’s history at the time,” according to
the website. “The residential appraisal stan-
dards employed were developed by the
National Association of Real Estate Boards.
As one of the founders of the American Insti-
tute of Real Estate Appraisers and its presi-
dent for the first years (July 1932 to Decem-
ber 1934), Mr. Kniskern had a memorable
part in the development of those standards.
Earlier, in 1929, he served the association as
chairman of its mortgage division.
“Under Mr. Kniskern’s presidency, the
association poured its energy into mobilizing
the country’s industrial, residential and other
real estate resources in the program of nation-
al defense. Voluntary stabilization of rents in
defense areas and guarding against disorgani-
zation in the post-defense period were other
programs directed toward the war effort.”
~~~~~
Kniskern’s book, “Real Estate Appraisal
and Valuation,” which he wrote in 1933, is still
available at dozens of libraries today, includ-
ing state, university and law collections.
A shorter book, “What Constitutes Value in
Real Estate – an address by Philip W. Kni-
skern, vice president and general manager,
Continental Mortgage Guarantee Co.,” has
seen many reprints. The 22-page book was
published in 2018 by both Forgotten Books
and Cambridge University Press and, most
recently, by Hassell Street Press in 2021.
Sources: Hastings Banner, findagrave.
com, familysearch.org, Googlebooks.com,
National Association of Realtors, chroniclin-
gamerica.com, Ann Arbor District Library
and Hastings Public Library.Audible emotion
Dr. Universe:
Why do people like listening to music?
Bruce, 10, Tacoma, Wash.Dear Bruce,
Think of your favorite song. Maybe it
brings you happiness or joy. Maybe it
makes you want to start dancing. Or maybe
it’s a sad, melancholy song, but you still
really like it.
From the radio to concerts to our mobile
devices, music is all around us. To find out
exactly why people like listening to music,
I talked to my friend Sophia Tegart.
Tegart is a flutist, musicologist and assis-
tant professor at Washington State Universi-
ty. She said one of the reasons many people
like listening to music is because it can
affect emotions.
“Music is emotion you can hear,” she said.
Humans have the ability experience doz-
ens of emotions, ranging from happiness tosadness to fear. Perhaps you can think about
a few of the different emotions you’ve felt
while listening to music.
This idea that music can affect our emo-
tions has been around for thousands of
years, Tegart said. The ancient Greeks
would even prescribe certain types of music
to help improve people’s well-being or
mood.
In modern times, research has shown us
that the brain will release certain natural
chemicals when listening to music. The
body’s nervous system produces endor-
phins, which can help reduce pain and
stress. They also are known as “feel-good”
chemicals. When people feel sad, they may
turn to music to help them feel better.
Listening to music involves more than
just the sounds that come into your ears.
Tegart told me a bit about a percussionist
named Evelyn Glennie who started to lose
her sense of hearing when she was 12 yearsold. But that didn’t stop Glennie from
becoming an accomplished musician.
“She plays barefoot and feels the vibra-
tions of the music through her feet,” Tegart
said.
Maybe you’ve also experienced music
with more than just your ears. Maybe you
felt the vibrations of the bass speaker or felt
chills in your body. Maybe the music got
your toes tapping.
Tegart said another reason people like
music is it has the ability to get us moving.
Whether it’s clapping our hands or dancing,
music can make us want to move.
Movement can get our hearts beating and
our blood flowing which is good for our
health. Dancing also can help release some
of those endorphins that make us feel good.
The next time you turn on the tunes, or
maybe even perform a song on stage your-
self, take a moment to be curious about the
emotions you experience.
“Music can change style depending on
what’s popular or what’s being written,”
Tegart said. “But I think the common thread is
that it continues to speak to us emotionally.”
If you’re up for a challenge, maybe you
can even dig into the music and see if there’s
something in the composer’s toolbox – a
chord, a lyric, a key change – that helps
make your favorite song such a good one.Dr. UniverseDo you have a question? Ask Dr. Uni-
verse. Send an email to Washington State
University’s resident scientist and writer at
[email protected] or visit her website,
askdruniverse.com.Benefit statements for tax filing
Vonda VanTil
Public Affairs Specialist
We’ve made getting your annual Benefit
Statement even easier.
The Benefit Statement, also known as the
SSA-1099 or the SSA-1042S, is a tax form
we mail each year in January to people who
receive Social Security benefits. It shows the
total amount of benefits you received from us
in the previous year. You can use this infor-
mation when you file your tax return, since it
shows how much Social Security income to
report to the Internal Revenue Service.
If you live in the United States and you
need a replacement SSA-1099 or SSA-1042S,
go online to get your instant, printable
replacement form using your personal My
Social Security account at ssa.gov/myac-
count. Look for your replacement SSA-
or SSA-1042S for the previous tax year in
your personal account after Feb. 1.
If you don’t have access to a printer, you
can save the document to your computer or
email it to yourself. If you don’t have a My
Social Security account, creating one is easy
and usually takes less than 10 minutes.
And that’s not all you can do with a per-
sonal account. If you receive benefits or have
Medicare, your personal My Social Security
account is also the best way to:- Request a replacement Social Security
number card. - Get your benefit verification letter.
- Check your benefit and payment infor-
mation. - Change your address and phone number.
- Change your direct deposit information.
- Request a replacement Medicare card.
- Report your wages if you work and
receive Social Security disability insurance
or Supplemental Security Income benefits.
The forms SSA-1099 and SSA-1042S are
not available for people who receive Supple-
mental Security Income benefits.
If you don’t have a personal My Social
Security account, you can create one today at
ssa.gov/myaccount.
Vonda VanTil is the public affairs specialist
for West Michigan. You may write her c/o
Social Security Administration, 3045 Knapp
NE, Grand Rapids MI 49525, or via email,
[email protected].
Growing up in a military family, Philip
Kniskern dreamed of a permanent home.
He would eventually become a national
authority on real estate appraisals.
(University of Texas Arlington Libraries
Digital Gallery, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Collection, UTA.edu.)The Swarthmore, Pa., home of Philip W. Kniskern provided the permanence he
longed for as a child. The five-bath, five-bedroom 4,515-foot home, built in 1922, cur-
rently has an estimated value of more than $1.15 million, according to Zillow.com.
(Brightmls.com image)