The House Rents You in anticlimatic

I bought this old house on the river in town a few years ago.

This very old house.

Previous owner was an old lady whose family had all either moved out or died, and according to her, and the official paperwork, the house was built in 1910. Backing up this claim, there is writing in the basement concrete:

“Arlie Krussell 1910”

In neat cursive. It made sense that people would assume it the build date for the house, but as someone who is in the business of building houses- and has been inside of and/or remodeled hundreds of old cottages- something didn’t quite add up. First, there was more writing in the concrete:

“A.K.”

and

“Ar”

Initials, and a false-start of sorts. Spread out to points spanning the entire wall. Seemed more like the behavior of a slow person, mentally challenged perhaps, than a builder.

Then there was the nature of the structure itself. The writing was in the third load bearing foundation wall in the back- in other words, the house had very obviously been extended and added on to twice, and on the second addition- when the concrete for the support was still wet- Arlie wrote his name and the date.

Which meant the house was older.

But how much older?

....

Our local museum is constantly having old photos scanned and uploaded to their archives in the public domain, so I’m always keeping an eye on it. The river that my house is built next to was the original power source for the town. The dams and mills that sprung up on it in the late 1800s were how the town went from a native american mission to an actual city. So, at the time, these mills and dams drew a lot of attention. Particularly for photographers.

For example, here is a photo of a construction project on a sawmill that would go on to be completed in 1899:

See the farmhouse in the background, far left side of the photo, half out of frame?

That’s my house.

Today, it barely fits in its own lot and is sandwiched between other lots, for as far as the eye can see. But back then, it was a farmhouse all alone.

It’s missing the final 3rd of it- the one with the writing in the concrete. The first remodel/addition to the house- when it received a kitchen and indoor plumbing (everything to the right of the gable facing us and its wall)- has already been added by the time the above photo was taken. So I can presume that it’s at least a bit older than 1899. Though I still don’t know by how much.

.....

Twenty or so hours at the county building tracing deeds back and library tracing articles back later, and I have assembled a rough timeline. There are still plenty of holes, especially regarding the period around when it might have been built, but I have SOME answers and a few theories to show for my research:

-In 1878 two native women, heirs to a chief, hand over a massive chunk of land to one of the first white settlers to the area. I do not know why.

-in 1891, after somehow changing hands a few times, it is sold to Henry Huff, wood worker- as just a lot this time, for a hundred bucks. (I am assuming the house was built somewhere between 1878 and this point, but that’s TBD. The house does feature a lot of interesting carved wood trim, so I also half suspect that Henry was the one who built or had the house built. His obituary from 1901 boasts of his craftsmanship and proliferation.)

-in 1900 Henry sells the house to George Crawford, and dies in the house the following year.

-in 1905 George Crawford’s 9 year old daughter dies of the flu.

-in 1910 George sells the house to August Krussell and moves out west with his family. That same year August has the rear apartment of the house added, and his 12 year old son Arlie would write his name in the wet cement at this time.

-in 1944, after the kids have moved out and August and his wife have died of old age, the house is sold to Charles Lashmit.

-in 1971, after the kids have moved out and Charles and his wife have died of old age, the house is sold to Mr Burns, who uses it as a rental, along with the two cabins and house next door that Charles Lashmit built while he had the property. One of these renters is the Hammil family, who rent on a land contract, and eventually buy the entire property outright in 1977.

-and in 2020, after the kids and grandkids have moved out and Herb Hammil has died of old age, his widow sold their house to me and moved into a retirement community.

The sheer volume of entire lives that were lived under this roof blows my mind. The body count I have on this place is in double digits at least.

We go through life thinking we are borrowing these places…but really, the places are borrowing us.

Last updated April 19, 2024