If This House Could Talk -- Blog post #5
If This House Could Talk: Mr. Newcomb took this fine winter picture of my outside in November, 1880. Charles had already taken the statuary in for the winter. The photo shows the two-story addition that Charles and Sylvia contemplated during an evening walk last July, but it gives no hint of all the exciting things that preceded it.
Construction started on August 14, 1879. Charles was awoken at 7:00 a.m. by workers starting to excavate the cellar. Charles had a dream the night before about a large number of pale, reddish-colored prairie chickens taking refuge in the cellar. As Charles tells it, “I counted them all until I had reached 80 in number. Does this indicate for our new house happiness and plenty? I hope so!”
Things were busy around here. Mr. Grimm, Charles’ go-to carpenter, framed in my new addition, laid the portico floor, and cut the bedroom door. Mr. Hammett built the foundations, the front chimney fireplace, and cemented the cellar. Mr. Evans did the plastering. Mr. Smyth painted. Furniture was purchased and carpet laid.
March 31, 1880, was a big day. As Charles recalled, “Our new bedroom is being arranged today and we’ll sleep tonight for the first time therein but how cozy and comfortable.” He proclaimed the next day, “Rested comfortable all of us in our new house and bedroom.”
In the end, Charles almost doubled me with the two-story addition on the west-side of my existing structure. Life was changing for them. The family was growing, Sylvia had full-time help, and Charles, more prosperous, could afford to add many fine details to my new rooms and renovate some of my older spaces.
