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:
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
©2013, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
