Hi all! I'm so glad I've found this forum! I've already found a built-in buffet that is exactly like the one in my grandmas old house so I'm hopeful that I can find out more about our house. Anyhoo, here is what I know...
We've lived here for almost 23 years. When we first moved in we had been told that the house was built in the late 1890's. Then a couple of years ago we heard that this house might be an Montgomery Ward kit house and that it was built in 1916. The woodwork that we found under many years worth of paint is beautiful! The wood floors need much TLC since the people that lived here before us didn't seem to use drop cloths and there is a lot of wallpaper paste and paint on them. We've got carpet until we can get them restored.
It's a 2 bedroom (both are 11'0"X 11'0") one bathroom, kitchen, dining, living, attic and basement. We added onto it in 1996, taking off the porch and adding a bedroom and a TV room.
I have pictures of all sides. The attic is unfinished and runs the length of the main roofline, west to east. The addition's roofline is the same as the porch roofline was, as well as the addition being the same width as the porch was. In-laws decision there. I'll put the pic that shows the west and south sides of the house. The west end is what would be considered the back of the house, going into the small landing that goes down to the basement and up to the kitchen. The old front door opened up to the livingroom.


I do have more pics but won't post them until they're needed Thanks in advance for any thoughts about our house.
I've already been in the basement, no exposed beams down there, not even in the coal room. I'll have to have hubby go up to the attic, I just don't feel comfortable up there Until then....
Peace!

a picture of the front elevation would help to confirm its a MontWard house. Exterior dimensions would help too.

Here is a view from the East looking at the North side of the house and one from the East looking at the South side of the house. Original exterior dimensions before the addition in 1996 were 28' X 38'




The addition is the same width as the old porch and the roof line is the same. Before 1996, the porch didn't have any walls, just a pillar with brick then wood on each front corner with steps to the south. The front door was almost in the middle with two windows on either side. One window for the living room and one window for a bedroom. When we moved in, there was nothing to block the view of under the porch. I don't know if there ever had been before we moved in.

{Edited to correct spelling errors}

any interior pics?

I can get some. I'm using my cell phones camera but I think I got some that will work.
I'm downloading them and I'll post as soon as I get them onto photobucket

Okie, got some. Well actually 15 so I'll post one and then do the rest as links to save room

This one is of the back entry. I took it up a ways so that you can see the stairway for both the basement and the attic are here.


This is the doorway into the kitchen from the entry. The door was off when we moved in and this shows some of the wood under all of the paint.
some of kitchen door

These are in the kitchen. It's an odd shape/layout to me anyway.
doorway by stove

This one shows the wall as it goes around the chimney for the furnace (when we moved in it was heated by 2 propane stoves/heaters)
other side by stove

West wall and window of kitchen

dining room looking into kitchen

dining room east

looking into hallway from dining room

Hallway looking to west bedroom

Bathroom between bedrooms


hallway looking to east bedroom

Hee hee, I used youngest sons wrestling singlet to block light
living room from dining room

moulding in living room

I marked where the original door and window was before 1996. The east bedroom window was about the same distance as living room window was, just north of door.
looking east into addition

I really hope this all gets posted into one post :: crosses fingers :: And I hope this helps. Hope these are okay. At least until I get my digital camera fixed.

Could be a MontWard Warner offered in the late 1920's

http://i53.photobucket.com/alb...ikcilow/WarnerFP.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/alb...ilow/WarnerHouse.jpg

Whoa! Those are almost dead on!! Only dif is that the north side, bedrooms & bathroom, is a straight line. But the basic layout is very, very close to exact with only minor interior differences (i.e. bedroom closets are next to exterior wall with a built in cabinet in the hallway, either side of the bathroom door)
this is the closest to our house. Hubby just told me that the bedrooms are 11'3" X 11'3" but it's close enough to make him say "that's our house"

Thanks for all the help! Now all we have left to do is check it out at the courthouse

Peace!

Wardway allowed customers to make changes so the slight difference of the hallway is understandable. The Warner was actually an updated version of an older design but the clipped gables are found only on models after 1929.

You might want to look for assembly marks stamped on the structural lumber. It seems the most obvious location is the exposed faced of the attic rafter down by the eaves.

If you check the courthouse look for a mortgage from Thomas Riordian, the Wardway Homes executive that signed all mortgages.

Thanks! We will do that. We went over to the in-laws and looked over the abstract for our place. Lot's of interesting things! But I'll be sure to check for that name. I'll be sure to let you know what I find. I just thought of something, I know someone that would also be able to help. A gal at the museum in town. They have lots of geneology, town and county history, too. Anyway, now I'm excited to have some real leads to work from!! Thanks again!!
Peace!

Went to town this morning and here is what I found....
At the County Clerks office, the gal went through the book and pretty much found what we had read in the acstract Sunday night at the in-laws house. The land was homesteaded in the late 1800's. The two earliest dates in the abtract are 1889 and 1898. It changed hands quite a bit since then with the county sheriff having to come in and take the land back in 1914 then returning it to the previous owner that got it in 1909. In the abstract there was nothing about when a house was built nor if more than one house was built. Only thing we found on the abstract was the pair of grain bins the last owner put up in about 1972.
And, of course, when we bought the place with the in-laws in 1988.
From the County Clerks, I was sent to the County Assesor. They had some pics, but the farthest back they had was around the time the owner before us bought it in 1968, or thereabouts. And the house was there then. They also had a photo from 1983 before we rented. In that one is a fairly good pic of the front porch, but it as the one before are both from the air. They don't have any photos from before the late '60's. They gave me their website and suggested that I go to the museum and talk to a gal who knows a lot about the history of the area. She told me that if it was in town then she could take me right to the information. But since our house is in the country......she wasn't hopeful about even finding any information about the house or when it might have been built.
The assesors office did give me a few sheets with our current changes to the house. But they have our house listed as built in 1941. We don't think that's right and even the gals at the assesors office are wondering if 1941 is the right date or if it was just one tossed out because no one was really sure back then.
Well, that's where we are now. The only mortages we found were taken out locally with most of them being from previous house/land owners. One name wasn't a previous house/land owner and that name, Charles Thurston, was a local whom lived in town.
I'm open to any ideas on where to go from here.

I must add that I am having a blast going through town and finding kit homes that I hadn't really paid much attention to before last week!! So even if we don't find any more about our house I'm having fun looking for other houses! :: thumbs up ::

Peace!

I do have to add that Hubby and I were looking at arieal (sp) photos and we realized that the porch roof also has/had that same roof detail as the main roof does on both east and west ends. Just an FYI