Last year my house celebrated it’s 100th birthday. We have owned our home for over 5 years and have slowly completed renovation projects that helped us learn about the history of our home.
The original house built in 1920 was a 2 bedroom/1 bath, story and a half home, complete with basement. In 1931 there was a huge remodel done to the home. An under house 1 car garage was added to the basement and an addition, that enlarged the kitchen, created a 2nd main floor living space, and very large upstairs bedroom. The key to that was found written in concrete poured in the basement for the under house garage.
The next renovation didn’t take place until the early 2000s when a fireplace, laundry room and bathroom were added to the basement. Remodeling was also done to the main floor in the bathroom, living room, basement stairs and office (2nd living space). Permit records were found for construction of the 3 car garage in 2001.
I love the history of my home and while I have found some of it in city records, most has been found in the house. When we opened our dining room to the kitchen we took down a wall and found a train ticket from 1942 under the 2nd story floor. When we remodeled the 2nd story storage room into a play room for my daughter, we found a little boy’s name scrawled on the garish wallpaper. Last year we tackled more of the yard and found abandoned concrete stairs buried in the yard next to the sidewalk. Could there have been another building there at one time? We may find out as we continue our renovations.
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