The Bathtub Mystery Deepens...

In 1910, there were only clawfoot tubs, right? So why did I have this ugly, built-in shower/tub combination? On a whim, I decided to remove the service panel from the wall in the laundry room. I peeked in with my flashlight...yes. There was my once-beautiful clawfoot (maybe there were little feet hidden in the rotting boards??) tub. Covered by something ugly. I knew it.

But, I did discover something else. Another green wall. See, in the laundry room, the only room on the ground floor we haven't painted yet, are several layers of wall covering. From what I can see (from where I've annihilated the wall trying to hang up pictures) are several distinct layers. On top is white paint and ugly brown wood paneling. Under that is burlap on the upper half of the wall. Under all of these layers is pink paint. Someone must have really liked pink, because I found it when I sanded the living room walls to paint in there. Under the pink is a layer of green paint. This is what is seen in the photo here. This green is also visible on the insides of the built-in cabinets in the laundry room. But, not all of the laudry room built-in is original either. Upon inspection (by me of course) I noticed that the wood bracket-brace-type-thing comes down on the right side of the shelves, too. You can't see this unless you take out the top drawer. And what is behind the drawers? Pink paint, cracking and peeling to reveal specks of green.

Interesting.

Who's Been Chillaxin' In My Crib?

Here is the School Street House's occupants timeline so far.

1910 - House is built. Who built it and first lived in it is unknown.

1920 - John F. Wright, age 23; and Hellen N. Wright, age 23. John's job is listed as "tool dresser" in an oil field and Hellen does not have a job listed. This information was recorded on January 1, 1920. A John F. Wright is listed in the Wichita Eagle as passing away in 1978 - if it is the same Mr. Wright, John would have lived for 81 years.

1930 - William Duncan, age 70; Olive Duncan, age 67; Robert Duncan, age 14; Oral Citty, age 31. William is listed as head of household, Olive as wife, Robert as grandson, and Oral as daughter. Oral is listed as divorced. William's job is listed as crossing flagman for steam railroad. This information was recorded on April 1, 1930.

1940 - Unknown, but could be the same occupants as 1958.

1958 - Ownership of the property changes hands from Oscar T.Nitz to Maurice O. Fitzwater. The following obituary was found online.

NITZ, LALLA GARNETT

Lalla Garnett Nitz, 80, **** School died yesterday at the Augusta Medical Complex.

Her service will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at the Dunsford Funeral Home. Rev. Richard Axmann will officiate and burial will be in the Walnut Valley Cemetery at El Dorado.

A memorial has been established with the First Baptist Church in Augusta.

She was born May 20, 1901 in Augusta to Stephen D. and Lucy M. Bumgarner Fitzwater.

She married Oscar t. Nitz Feb. 8, 1929 in Wellington. He survivies.

She was a member of First Baptist Church.

Other survivors include a brother, Bill Fitzwater of Grenola and two sisters, Mary Reinhart of El Dorado and Mildred Potter of Wichita. Two brothers, Emmett Fitzwater and Ray Fitzwater, preceded her in death. (Augusta Gazette, November 3, 1981)

There is no mention of any children, but I am assuming that Maurice was a relative of the Nitz's. A source told me that she is related to these folks, and that she used to visit her aunt's house as a child, the house next door to the north. She mentioned that her cousins, children of Maurice Fitzwater, and she used to play on the front porch of what is now my house. She mentioned that the porch used to have a porch swing, because she remembers swinging so hard with her cousins that they all fell off the swing. The source told me that Maurice and his wife, Helen V., divorced sometime later. She mentioned that Maurice, called Mike by his family, moved to El Dorado where he later died. The Wichita Eagle lists the death of an M.O. (Mike) Fitzwater as January 30, 1977. This is the date his obituary appeared in the newspaper, so it may not be the date of his actual death.

Oscar's obituary appeared in the paper on June 22, 1985.

1973 - On May 24, 1973, ownership of the house changes from Helen V. Fitzwater to Gerald D. Parker Sr. and wife. Not much is known about the Parkers, but I was able to locate Wichita Eagle obituaries for both Gerald D. Parker Sr. and Jr.

In January of 2010 I received a Kansas Healthwave letter addressed to a Lori A. Parker. I am assuming she is related to the Parkers that owned the house from 1973 - 1984. She may be a daughter. However, it is a little weird that the state of Kansas would seriously have this address as hers, considering her parents stopped owning the house twenty-six years ago.

Further research has led me to a Gertrude "Gertie" Jean Parker, who might have been Gerald's wife.

1984 - On June 28, 1984, Robert Allen and Rita K. (Kathy) Cook purchase the house. Neighbors told me that they raised their children there.

2008 - My husband and I close on the house on August 15, 2008. We move in approximately two weeks later with our three children.

A Few More POMQ

One more thing - the windows. We have what seems to be the regular sized variety - found in the the living room and master bedroom, and the small, narrow type - found on the south walls of the bedrooms and the east wall of the laundry room.

I don't really know of a practical function for the different sized windows. I can only assume that some of them were replaced at some point. Why? I hope to find out.

POMQ #3

The kitchen area is another part of the house that raises a few questions. The picture with the fire extinguisher is the original back door of the house, before the addition was built. Note the original siding and evidence of door hardware still visible in the door frame.

I have to wonder how this kitchen was originally configured. Where did people eat? I know we have trouble squeezing the five of us into the eat-in area.

Notice anything important missing? Yeah...a stove hood. There isn't even a place for one, and I know those old fashioned stoves needed at least a hole in the roof for ventilation. Didn't they?

And who thought of this countertop? It's a little awkward - hey, that could be the adjective of the day for my house. Everything is very awkwardly laid out. I assume this has to do with the fact that many new things have come along in a hundred years that this house wasn't designed for. Again, part of why I'm conducting this research. I want to know the evolution of my house.

Pictures of My Questions 2

So yeah...the chimney. Not sure why it was there, maybe to heat the bedrooms?

Either way, I wish I could tear apart the walls and check out what's underneath. The room with the blue walls is bedroom #2. This room appears to have always been a bedroom, as I can see no other practical purpose for it. Its only closet contains the furnace, which is only a few years old. So it is quite difficult to dig around for clues with that monstrous thing in the way. The room with the green walls is the master bedroom, and the other photo is a shot of the wall in between, taken from the doorway that connects the two rooms.


Knocking on the wall around the chimney is and interesting but seemingly fruitless activity. I hear what I interpret as a "bricky" sound on the raised upper part, and possibly a "metallic" sound on the lower half of the wall. Who knows, this could be from the metal "H" we have hanging on the wall in bedroom #2. Knocking on the truncated corner from POMQ #1 also leads to an odd sound, but I can't define it. Also, the wall covering, whatever it is, appears to be loose and bubbled up in this area. I suppose this could be from years of layer after layer of wallpaper and paint, but what is under there? More and more questions, so few answers.

Pictures of My Questions

Why this one truncated corner in the master bedroom (below)? The room in which I sleep holds a great number of mysteries, but this one bugs me the most. Was it a front door? Or is Jimmy Hoffa's body hidden back there?

The floor is noticably different in the master bedroom (above right). It is lower, and made of wide planks, like a porch. I don't see how this entire room would have ever been a porch, but I suppose it's possible.

This is the view of the floor, going into bedroom #2 (below).

Reasons

So one might ask why I care so much about the history of my house. I'm not entirely sure, but I know a few of the reasons so I might as well list them here.

1. I've never owned a house before. I've never even owned a car, so this house is a big deal to me.

2. My house is old. In fact, it turns one hundred this year. Surely some interesting folks resided in my simple house.

3. My house is nothing special. Well, at first one might think that, but obviously I have taken an interest in it or I wouldn't have started this research project. It's fairly easy to find out about the history of your house if it's on the register of historic places, or if someone famous once lived there, or if it was once used as a hospital. (See upcoming blog about the house on Santa Fe.) But my house? Well, even when it was brand new, I have a strong suspicion that it was a house for common folks. Without its 1/2 story addition, the house is only 878 square feet. So originally, this was not a spectacular house.