Category: Homes

Those Places Thursday: Google Street View Matches an Old Photograph

3/19/2014

This past Sunday, I wrote a blog post about how I used 1940 enumeration district maps to figure out just where my grandmother and great-grandparents were living at that time. From about 1934-1940, they were living at 3591 East Blvd, which has since changed names to Martin Luther King Jr Dr. Once I sorted out the mystery of the street name change, I plugged the address into Google Street View and found an image of the old home. Nothing really surprising - it's an old, large home on a fairly long, but narrow, lot. My great-grandparents were only renting it at the time, and another family is shown living at the same address in the 1940 census, so they only occupied either the upper floor or the main floor.

3591 MLK Dr, Cleveland, Ohio (Image: Google Maps)

I then decided to look through some of the old 1930s photos that my grandmother had saved. My great-grandparents loved to take photos of their girls standing with each other, not unlike what most parents (including myself) do today with their kids. I have several from this period of the 1930s when they were living in this house, but one in particular caught my eye. It's blurry and doesn't really do justice to my grandma and her sister, but I was more interested in the setting and background.

Dina (left) and Yola (right) on porch of 3591 East Blvd, September 1935

Thankfully, my grandma (shown on the left) was pretty good at labeling photos with the proper dates, so I know this one was from September of 1935. (She didn't label it as such, but if it was a special occasion, it may have been around her 21st birthday.) But there are bunches of homes in this part of Cleveland with brick porches very similar to what the photograph shows; how do I know that they were standing at the same home shown in Google Street View?

Check out that porch post right over the back of my grandmother's shoulder. It has a nice, unique little diamond decorative touch to it. I tried to zoom in as far as I could on the home in Google Street View; the resolution isn't great, but it was enough to convince me.

Porch of 3591 MLK Dr, Cleveland, Ohio (Image: Google Maps)

That's it! That's the pillar in the picture. Usually seeing these older homes in disrepair makes me sad, but in this case, I am glad nobody has painted over that pillar. My grandma and her sister took that photo on that porch almost 80 years ago, and before now, I didn't know where it had been taken. I think this is pretty good proof that I've figure it out.

©2014, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Those Places Thursday: The House on Woodbury Hills

10/2/2013

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Earlier this week, I composed a post for a series that I am participating in on my other blog. Since it is related to one of my childhood homes, I thought I would reproduce it on my family history blog, too. The blogging prompt was 'Your Childhood Home.'

I lived in three homes between babyhood and young adulthood. The first home I lived in, I don't remember too much; we moved out of it when I was about four years old. The third home I lived in, we moved in when I was 16, and I left for college when I was 18, so I really only lived there full-time for a couple of years. Therefore, I'm going to talk about the house I lived in roughly between the ages of 5 and 15.

The house was located on Woodbury Hills Drive in Parma, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Both sets of my grandparents lived in Parma, but we had been living about a hour away in Painesville, Ohio, because that is where my Dad worked. My Dad's mom was diagnosed with cancer when I was about three or four; we moved to Parma to be closer to family. (Dad continued to commute to Painesville for work for several more years.)

Location of house in relation to Downtown Cleveland and Painesville (where Dad worked).

Our house in Painesville had been a small ranch, so my parents were looking for a larger house. My brother and I were getting bigger, accumulating more 'stuff,' and they wanted to have more children, so they needed a place where our family could grow. They bought the house on Woodbury Hills from an older 'empty-nest' couple. At that time they purchased it, the home was almost 20 years old. Structurally, it was in fine shape, but it needed a lot of maintenance-related and cosmetic upgrades. I remember my dad painting all of the shutters and siding by himself; he also put a new roof on with the help of one of his contractor friends. My parents re-wallpapered the kitchen and bathrooms on their own and they had just about all of the carpeting on the main floor and staircase replaced.

I do not have a great photo here at my house (my mom's probably got a better one), so I'll post the one from Google Street View. It's a four-bedroom 'Colonial style' two-story house with a two-car garage. The exterior is white aluminum siding with black shutters and a black roof. There was a small amount of red brick surrounding the large bay window on the left side of the photo. The house had a large all-brick wood-burning fire place, a poured concrete patio in the backyard and a concrete front porch (behind tree in this photo.)

Woodbury Hills House via Google StreetView

The house was on a nice suburban street that had only local traffic and sidewalks, which was great because in our old house, the lack of sidewalks meant that I was only allowed to ride my bike up and down our long driveway. We had a nice big backyard, with a small metal swing set to play on and a plastic 'tire' swing on the big tree in the back corner. When we got our dog, Cookie, my Dad tied a clothesline from the house all the way out to that big tree, and attached an extended leash to it, so she could run the length of the yard.

With my Uncle Bill and Cousin Jon on the Front Porch

Instead of just describing the home's floorplan, I've attempted to piece together photos to create my own panoramas of some of the rooms. This first compilation of photos takes you almost 360 degrees around our front living room. My parents added that nice dark red carpet after we moved in. My mom also got new window treatments on that bay window. When we moved in, that window had thick, mustard yellow drapes (and when I say 'drapes,' I mean DRAPES - big and bulky and not very attractive). (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Living Room

A lot happened in the living room, as you can see. We kept our extra TV in there and it was where we usually set up our Christmas tree. For many of the years we lived there, there was a large wooden baby playpen somewhere in the room for whichever of my siblings was the baby at the time.

If you walked straight past the living room after entering the front door, you entered the kitchen. Our kitchen was way too small for a family of seven; our casual dining table barely even fit in there. Nonetheless, we cooked in there, fed babies, celebrated birthdays, carved pumpkins, and dyed Easter eggs in this room. When we moved in, the kitchen's walls were covered in *bright* orange, yellow and green flowers - talk about a trend from the 60s! My parents replaced that wallpaper with one that was more neutral and easier on the eyes. We had a "lovely" avocado green refrigerator. My mom kept a boom box on the ledge separating the kitchen from the living room. She would put on tapes to listen to while preparing meals. It was here, through that boom box, that my brother and I first listened to Michael Jackson's Thriller, Huey Lewis and the News' Sports and The Cars' Heartbeat City. My parents also kept a rather flimsy wine rack on the same ledge as the boom box. I am not sure how that thing made it through five kids and 10+ years without completely shattering all over the floor, but it did.

Kitchen

Adjacent to the kitchen was the 'formal' dining room. We usually only used it if we had company over for Easter, Thanksgiving, or birthday parties. There's a good shot of those mustard yellow drapes!

Dining Room

The basement door was located right off the kitchen. I don't have any photos from the basement, but my brother and I had lots of good times down there. Whenever my parents had to buy a new large appliance, they'd throw the box down there and we would roll around in it. My mom had a record player down there. I specifically remember listening and dancing to Linda Ronstadt's Greatest Hits albums, and, in particular, the song It's So Easy. My brother had a TON of Matchbox cars that we would race on his track sets. And, as we got older, the basement is where we played video games: first an Atari 2600, then a Classic Nintendo, and then a Sega Genesis system. My mom also did laundry down in the basement, and I remember helping her many times with that. (Ok, so maybe catching toys my brother tossed down the laundry chute from upstairs isn't exactly "helping," but it's a fun memory anyway.)

Just past the basement door was a hallway that lead to our large 'family room.' You had to take a step down in order to get into that hallway. At one time or another, all THREE of my brothers fell in that hallway and hit their heads on that step, leaving a gash in their foreheads, which required a trip to the ER (and stitches). For some reason, it never happened to me or my sister.

I wasn't able to make a 360 degree panorama of our family room, so I put two smaller ones together, instead. This is one of the west wall of the room, which included our large brick wood-burning fireplace. The walls of the entire room were wood paneling, which made it look rather dark most of the time. Along the south wall, we had a long church pew. My parents bought it from our church when they were building a new church and getting completely new furnishings. It was the church in which they were married, and they still have it in their current home. The door out to the garage was on the other side of that pew.

Family Room West Wall

This other photo is the east wall of the family room. The door on the left was a tiny half bathroom and the door in the right was an exterior door that lead out to our patio. The large bookcase held most of our childhood books. During the summer months, the desk back in the corner had an Apple IIe computer that my brother and I used to enjoy playing games on. (My Dad was a school administrator and was able to 'check out' one of his school's computers for the summer.)

Family Room East Wall

I don't have any photos right now of this home's upper floor. There were four bedrooms and two full baths, one of which was in the master bedroom. My room was painted blue and it was pretty large. As our family grew, there was a shuffling of rooms between my brothers, but I always remained in my blue room. My oldest younger brother got the smallest bedroom, and then my other two brothers who were closer in age shared the 'green' room. I briefly shared my room with my baby sister, but my parents moved her crib into their room when they realized I was at that age (12ish) when I really needed some privacy. I had a twin bed and dresser+mirror, which were painted a light gray color. I also had a larger wooden bookshelf and a smaller one, which doubled as a night stand. I was not a 'girly' girl, so there were not really a whole lot of baby dolls or Barbie dolls. I enjoyed playing with My Little Ponies for awhile, so those were usually strewn across my bedroom floor.

The staircase between the home's main floor and upper floor is memorable to my brother and me. We would collect every pillow in the house, lay them out on that staircase, and make a 'pillow slide.' That staircase wall was also where my mom hung all of our family photos.

My Brother and I in Front of Staircase

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Census Sunday: The Licciardi Family, 1930

9/21/2013

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This Sunday, I am looking at the first U.S. Census that my Italian great-grandparents appear in. Louis (Luigi) Licciardi came to America in late 1920 and his wife, Adele, followed with their two young daughters, Dina and Yola, in 1921. In 1930, the family is renting part of a duplex home on Cleveland's east side. Louis owns an embroidery business on West 6th Street in downtown Cleveland's Warehouse District.

I'm not quite sure why, but the census enumerator listed my Great Aunt Yola separate from the rest of the family. (And they got her first name a bit wrong, but, hey, that happens all the time.) He did make a note of it though and points the reader in the right direction as to where she IS listed.

Licciardi Family 1930 U.S. Census

Here are a couple of Cleveland city directories. The one on the left is from 1928 and gives the address of Louis' embroidery business. The one on the right is from 1930 and shows their home address. (Click on images for larger view.)

1928 Cleveland Business Directory

1930 Cleveland Directory

Here is what the house that they lived in looks like today via Google Street View. Real estate data shows that it was built in 1927, and since the 1928 Cleveland residential directory lists them as living there in 1928, they were very likely the first occupants. Based on the census form, it looks as if my great-grandparents rented from the owner, Joseph Bertolius, who also lived there with his family.

3697 E. 146th Street in Cleveland, Ohio. Image courtesy of Google Street View

And finally, here is the building in which my great-grandfather, Louis, ran his embroidery business in 1930. (He later moved the business to E. 25th St.) It is known as the Bradley Building. It was completely renovated in the late 20th century, and today it is an apartment building with shops and restaurants on the main floor.

The Bradley Building, W. 6th Street, Cleveland, Ohio Source: Wikipedia

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Workday Wednesday: Dominik Kowalski and His Hardware Shop

8/6/2013

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My great-grandfather, Dominik Kowalski immigrated to the U.S. from Poland in 1912 and settled in one of Cleveland's Polish neighborhoods on the east side of the city. According to occupation listings in the Cleveland city directories, by the mid-1920s he had opened his own neighborhood hardware shop. It was located at 3110 E. 65th Street; the shop took up the main floor of the home and Dominik and his family lived above it. He operated the shop until about 1947, when he and his wife Lucy moved to Arizona to retire.

About a month ago, I was back in Cleveland for my brother's wedding. I had a little free time, so I went down to the Cuyahoga County Archives to see what types of records they had and if there was anything I could add to my collection of family history knowledge. One of the really unique record sets that they have are appraisal/tax duplicates for county properties. Since I knew the address of the Kowalski home/store, I asked the research associate (who was incredibly helpful) if she would look for any duplicates pertaining to this address. She came back with these copies:

So, these forms are basically telling me about the structure's "vital statistics:" how big, when it was built/remodeled, what it is made of, how much it is worth, etc. This appraisal was done a couple of years before Dominik and Lucy retired, and it's neat to see their names listed under 'owners.' But she also found something else in the property's file that was even better:

Storefront at 3110 E. 65th Street, Cleveland, Ohio

Many properties do have actual photos of the structures in their tax duplicate files. Now, this photo was taken in the 1950s when the property was appraised again, but this is probably very much what the Kowalski hardware store looked like from the 1920s through the 1940s. (The house IS still there today, but it's no longer a shop and there no longer any evidence of a storefront.) These are the types of finds that I live for when doing all this family research. Census schedules and death records are necessary and list great information, but stuff like this really helps to tell my family's story.

©2013, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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Those Places Thursday: The Bellan Residence

3/14/2013

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I've talked a lot this week about the Bellan family, the family of my maternal grandfather. I thought I would keep it up by posting a picture of the home they lived in for much of their lives. This is 12212 Parkhill Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio as it looks today, thanks to Google StreetView. It is located on Cleveland's East Side in what is today known as the Buckeye-Shaker neighborhood.

12212 Parkhill Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio

Here is a map showing the location (A) of the home in relation to the rest of the East Side and Downtown areas.

According to real estate data, the home was built in 1919. George and Ursula Bellan and family moved into the residence sometime between 1920 and 1922; in the 1920 Census the family is not living there, but their son John's death certificate from July 1922 lists it as his residence. George and Ursula lived there for the rest of their lives. Their children all lived there until they were married or, unfortunately, until they passed away. And it was also the first place that my grandfather and grandmother, Bill and Dina (Licciardi) Bellan, lived after they were married.

It's wonderful that the house itself is still standing and in such good condition. Obviously, a lot about it has been changed and updated cosmetically, but the house appears to have been cared for quite well, which, unfortunately isn't the case with a lot of the old homes in the neighborhoods nearby. By today's standards, it is a modest home - three bedrooms and one bath with 1,160 feet of living space. At the time they moved in, all eight of George and Ursula's children were still living, so it was tight quarters (Their eldest child, Rudy, attended Ohio State for a few years, so, at that time, he was not living here year-round.) John passed away, as mentioned above, in 1922, and Mary and Olga passed away in 1927 and 1928, respectively, both from pulmonary tuberculosis.

I do not have a photo of what the house looked like back then; of course, I wish that I did. But I can picture my grandfather and his siblings sitting out on that nice big porch on hot days, or maybe running up and down the street playing.

Front Porch of 12212 Parkhill Avenue.

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Those Places Thursday: Google Street View Matches an Old Photograph

Those Places Thursday: The House on Woodbury Hills

Census Sunday: The Licciardi Family, 1930

Workday Wednesday: Dominik Kowalski and His Hardware Shop

Those Places Thursday: The Bellan Residence

Emily Kowalski Schroeder

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