SOUTHWEDGE HISTORY AND MAPS

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Comment by Tom Kicior on July 8, 2008 at 4:08pm

Pretty cool. Its strange that I'm not finding my street on these maps (Blakeney Pl) even though my house was built in 1850. I have heard that the houses on my Street were all houses for farm hands so maybe there wasn't an official city street there at that time.

Comment by Joe Varga on June 22, 2008 at 12:17am

Greetings,
I have the interest, just not the content. History has always interested me and while I have a bit of knowledge about the area, I do not have any of the actual history of my own.
Joe

Comment by Robert Lauterbach on May 21, 2008 at 9:34pm

While I would take Bill Lauterbach to the doctors for his check-ups, he would tell me about life in the 1920s when our neighborhood was sprouting. I have to find my notes, but basically, the Ellwanger reality company would call up Lauterbach's and say that a house on xxx Rockingham St was about to be built, and we need ZZZ lbs of 2p nails dropped off, then a few weeks later, drop off the glass for the windows, and the heat runs....and then a few weeks later, put up the gutters. That kept Lauterbach's going through the tough times in the early 30s. The books to look at as to where people lived are the street directories....people by address and remember the house numbers were changed in 1900. before 1900, the numbers were much lower. Thanks again.

Comment by Chris Jones on May 21, 2008 at 8:49pm

Hi Robert, my pet project for the past 14 months has been writing a nomination for the Linden-South Historic District, to add it to the state & national registers of historic places. The nomination was approved by the State in March!
The significance of our area revolves around the use of the land, from the earliest days of development by George Ellwanger & Patrick Barry, who used the land as a nursery as we all know. As our city grew with the birth of industry, transportation (canals & railroads) their agricultural use of the land developed into real estate, initially for their workers. This use of the land echoes national trends for the same time period as cities grew outward and expanded. Our neighborhood is home to a visual architectural dictionary; with the early Greek Revival homes, later Gothic Revival and Second Empire, and the numerous Queen Anne and Colonial Revival homes. It's unusual to see such a variety in one area, that's one thing that makes the area special. I've accumulated a wealth of maps and City Directories too, which help track ownership of properties, if anyone should be interested in learning the early ownership of their home I am glad to share this info. I'll post a few of my things here too.