History in the Junk Drawer

Sometimes, to say I overlook things is an understatement.

When I first moved into the house, I was presented with a jumble of keys, only half of which unlocked anything, a couple of garage door openers, and a drawer organizer full of stuff. The stuff included things like the business cards of all the real estate agents that showed the house (Over 50. Apparently my house was a wallflower in the dance of home sales), and the owner's manual to a rust-bucket refrigerator I'd already ordered a replacement for.

I KNEW there was a packet of photos in this box, and though the age of the envelope ALONE should have told me to look (it was from the age of film, for pete's sake) I just assumed they were the pictures used in the real estate promotions. Besides, the first thing that happened when I moved in, the plumbing got all up in my business, and I had other things on my mind.

The envelope turned out to be a gold mine.

Today, I'll share with you a series of photos of my house dated New Year's Day, 1942.

My house was brand new! What impresses me about this photo (besides the fact that is hella snow on the ground, even for my state) is how lovely the house looks with shutters on. Much cozier and finished. I found them in the garage attic last summer, and now I'm even more inspired to get these refurbished and back in their rightful place.

The house had a brick patio and front walk (instead of the current deck with a side entry down to the driveway) and the storm windows were four paned, over the 8-over-8 sashes on the regular window.  I also notice the house had a front door slot instead of the current mailbox on the exterior of the house. Very cool!

The south, or driveway side. What this photo is telling me (besides, DANG, that was some snow!) is that my current garage isn't the original one. That is what I suspected all along, since my garage is a two and half car garage, and the one in the photo is clearly a single car garage. 

This is the back of the house, which looks nothing like today. The house now has a screen porch off the back, and the door/window combo on the left has been changed to a sliding double patio door. The kitchen window on the right is over the sink, and that's also been replaced with a newer window. 

These things are probably not as exciting to the blog reader as they are to me. But this is just like finding photos you didn't even know existed of an elderly relative that isn't one to talk. So much information in these.

I've saved the best for last: 

Meet Richard and Charlie. I'm already in love with the little stinkers, because they appear to be wearing indian costumes and feather headdresses. The picture is labeled with their names and "1945 or 1946." 

Since we found cowboy wallpaper in the room that is now mine, I wonder if this was what these little boys saw as they drifted off to sleep under the eaves of this little house so many years ago: 

 

These little boys, if they are still living, are pushing 80 years old. To think I found all these things to wonder about, in the bottom of my junk drawer.