“Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to”. -John Ed Pearce
As far as can be determined, at this point, this house was built circa 1885. Shortly before, the area by the Illinois river had been farmland dotted here and there with a few houses.
After looking through property records (to soon be again studied in more detail) we realized that a family by the name of Cosgrove had spent a considerable amount of time living in this house and subsequently made considerable changes through the years. Following the Cosgrove family through city directories in the late 1800's show that they moved about once a year, en masse, to a different house, apparently rental homes. It may easily be surmised that they were a large, close-knit and hardworking family. As of the 1910 census, they were living in this home and apparently remained for several decades.
By examining the living record, the house itself, it becomes clear that the house has had a number of additions and alterations early in its life. As with many even newer houses of today, it was "updated" probably around 1910. From inside the basement foundation, we can see the porch, although of considerable age, is not original. A number of details reveal a small side room that most likely was once an open balcony with the door and transom still mostly intact behind a wall. Everywhere in the house can be found beautiful square nails still holding as strongly as the day they were driven in by hand.
Back in the dark recesses of the coal room can be found a deep brick trough into which water trickled from a spring that still flows from the bluff above. In the days before refrigeration, those lucky enough to have this setup would store food in the cool water. The water flowed, as mentioned, from the spring above, through the channel and out to the cistern in back of the house.
Tantalizing clues hint that the woodwork and hardware in the house were most likely a little more ornate when it was built and "modernized" around 1910 when the main addition to the house was done. From the inside, one would never realize there was an addition. Of course, the addition is not much newer than the original house and the materials are about the same. There are, however, two window sills that are more detailed than the rest. There is a tantalizing arched passage in one of five bedrooms that suggest that it may have once been the frame of a leaded glass window on an outside wall. Four original electrical outlets remain, one of which works like a charm--all of which will be rewired!
Visiting the somewhat charred, but well repaired attic, we discovered a stack of beautiful dark slates that had once graced the roof. Sadly, sometime in the 1970's, a fire gutted one room upstairs and severely damaged another. Presently, not so nice panelling covers those walls, waiting to be restored. We can easily imagine how the fire damaged the roof at the time and how the slates began to rain down. Thankfully, enough have been saved to use in a future project.
Curiously, the ceiling in the basement is covered in a variety of beautiful tin panels. Although some have deteriorated through the many decades, enough remain to be repurposed in the kitchen as a surround for the stove.
The most tantalizing discovery is that of the Gilbert locks and knobs that were only manufactured for a little over ten years from approximately 1876 to 1890. One door still has the complete hardware and lock whereas a number of other doors have the type of mortise lock patented by this company from New Jersey. Upon looking beneath the plates of the remaining mortise lock doorknobs, a very clear impression of the distinctive Gilbert doorknob plate can be seen on most of the doors. Some doors and pieces of trim have been clearly reused in various parts of the house, serving as a reminder to us that people have always recycled. In Victorian and Edwardian times, you couldn't run to the local big box store for twenty doorknobs. In fact, nails were so valuable that many old buildings were burned for the purpose of recycling the nails.
It should come as no surprise that the Victorians recycled. They had plenty of other great ideas, as well. It was the great age of inventiveness.
More of today's technology belongs to the Victorians and Edwardians than we realize. Adhesive postage stamps, porcelain toilets, lightbulbs, radios, telephones, automobiles, airplanes, sewing machines and electric trains are but a few among the many. The next time you turn on a light, keep in mind who first made it happen--and when.
After looking through property records (to soon be again studied in more detail) we realized that a family by the name of Cosgrove had spent a considerable amount of time living in this house and subsequently made considerable changes through the years. Following the Cosgrove family through city directories in the late 1800's show that they moved about once a year, en masse, to a different house, apparently rental homes. It may easily be surmised that they were a large, close-knit and hardworking family. As of the 1910 census, they were living in this home and apparently remained for several decades.
By examining the living record, the house itself, it becomes clear that the house has had a number of additions and alterations early in its life. As with many even newer houses of today, it was "updated" probably around 1910. From inside the basement foundation, we can see the porch, although of considerable age, is not original. A number of details reveal a small side room that most likely was once an open balcony with the door and transom still mostly intact behind a wall. Everywhere in the house can be found beautiful square nails still holding as strongly as the day they were driven in by hand.
Back in the dark recesses of the coal room can be found a deep brick trough into which water trickled from a spring that still flows from the bluff above. In the days before refrigeration, those lucky enough to have this setup would store food in the cool water. The water flowed, as mentioned, from the spring above, through the channel and out to the cistern in back of the house.
Tantalizing clues hint that the woodwork and hardware in the house were most likely a little more ornate when it was built and "modernized" around 1910 when the main addition to the house was done. From the inside, one would never realize there was an addition. Of course, the addition is not much newer than the original house and the materials are about the same. There are, however, two window sills that are more detailed than the rest. There is a tantalizing arched passage in one of five bedrooms that suggest that it may have once been the frame of a leaded glass window on an outside wall. Four original electrical outlets remain, one of which works like a charm--all of which will be rewired!
Visiting the somewhat charred, but well repaired attic, we discovered a stack of beautiful dark slates that had once graced the roof. Sadly, sometime in the 1970's, a fire gutted one room upstairs and severely damaged another. Presently, not so nice panelling covers those walls, waiting to be restored. We can easily imagine how the fire damaged the roof at the time and how the slates began to rain down. Thankfully, enough have been saved to use in a future project.
Curiously, the ceiling in the basement is covered in a variety of beautiful tin panels. Although some have deteriorated through the many decades, enough remain to be repurposed in the kitchen as a surround for the stove.
The most tantalizing discovery is that of the Gilbert locks and knobs that were only manufactured for a little over ten years from approximately 1876 to 1890. One door still has the complete hardware and lock whereas a number of other doors have the type of mortise lock patented by this company from New Jersey. Upon looking beneath the plates of the remaining mortise lock doorknobs, a very clear impression of the distinctive Gilbert doorknob plate can be seen on most of the doors. Some doors and pieces of trim have been clearly reused in various parts of the house, serving as a reminder to us that people have always recycled. In Victorian and Edwardian times, you couldn't run to the local big box store for twenty doorknobs. In fact, nails were so valuable that many old buildings were burned for the purpose of recycling the nails.
It should come as no surprise that the Victorians recycled. They had plenty of other great ideas, as well. It was the great age of inventiveness.
More of today's technology belongs to the Victorians and Edwardians than we realize. Adhesive postage stamps, porcelain toilets, lightbulbs, radios, telephones, automobiles, airplanes, sewing machines and electric trains are but a few among the many. The next time you turn on a light, keep in mind who first made it happen--and when.
