Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Historic Prophetstown, the House

I found the house and its furnishings to be quite fascinating.  Everything is maintained in style and furnishings ala 1920.  The house is a Sears product, and was listed in the 1919 Sears, Roebuck and Company catalogue at $3141.

 I included this framed print which makes me think of Grandmother on the Colorado high plains.  Style is derivative of Grant Wood, but I don't know the artist.

 When I was a child we had a wood-burning kitchen range exactly like this one, only different.  Ours was entirely black rather than the fancy-schmancy enamel job seen here.  The galvanized tub was set on the kitchen floor on Saturday night.  Baths for all, whether needed or not.  Also about five of our houses would have fit inside this one house.

 The telephone is bolted to the kitchen wall.  No one ever said, "Dial my number; I can't find my phone."

 This beautiful copper washing machine is double-action, both swirling the clothes around and stomping up and down.  This machine was patented in 1909, and it is believed that this one was built in 1917.  It is electric, and it works!  I saw it with my own eyes.

 I thought this clothes hanger made for a couple of interesting snapshots.


 Uncle Ben and Aunt Fern had an identical separator in their milk room.  Hand-cranked.


Walked past the wagon with hardly a glance; but then I did a double-take, stepped back a few steps and snapped the picture.

5 comments:

Shelly said...

We've got one of those separators in the barn. I loved all these pics. I wonder what happened with the Stuabaker?

Vee said...

Great house! A while back ! visited someone who lives in a beautiful Sears home in Ann Arbor, MI. The entire subdivision is a historic district consisting of Sears homes.

Secondary Roads said...

Sylvia's father lives in a Sears house. It was built by his father-in-law in the 1920s.

Grace said...

Love the stove - does it come in a modernized version? If so, I want one!

And it is funny that they left off the "D" in Studebaker - "Studebaker Corporation was a United States wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, and the military." from a Wikipedia entry

vanilla said...

Shelly, don't still milk by hand, do you?

Vee, Sears, trying to be all things to all people, blanketed the housing market during the first two decades of the 20th century. We have some of these homes here in town.

Chuck, I remember your relating of that fact along with pics on Secondary Roads.

Grace, not only are they available as original-style wood burners, they can also be had with the look, but with modern electric or gas burners and ovens. Enter "antique style kitchen range" in your browser. I found one that looked almost exactly like the one I pictured, but cooking with gas!