I had a nice conversation with Bruce Iverson who grew up in what is now Robyn's and my home. His daughter, Susan Fellie, had given me his phone number.
Mr. Iverson provided some stories about the house which would have been difficult for us to find out on our own.
After Bruce's mother, Grace Elizabether Burger Iverson, passed away in 1983, the house remained in the family until 1985 when it was sold under a contract for deed. That person trashed the house and ownership was brought back into the Iverson family because that individual failed to live up to the agreement. Apparently, this started a downward spiral for the home which continued until Robyn and I purchased it. Bruce talked about how he'd occasionally drive by and/or stop to look in through the windows and be upset by how much his boyhood home had deteriorated.
The fireplace in the basement which Robyn feared because it looked to be like something from a horror flick was built before the Iverson's moved to the house in the 1930's. Bruce said they rarely used the fireplace, only cleaning it off around Christmas for the hanging of stockings. The outdoor fireplace was built by Lauren Iverson, Bruce's father.
The concrete structure next to the outside basement steps which I thought was a cistern was actually a coal bin. The coal delivery truck would park in the alley and deliver the coal using a conveyer through the manhole on top. Bruce talked about as a kid they would have to manually re-fuel the furnance every few hours until they eventually put in an auger which did the job.
In the mid-1940's, Bruce's father knocked out the back wall of the kitchen and had, at first just, enclosed the downstairs back porch to expand the kitchen which he covered with yellow pine. At the same time, the front porch was enclosed and panelled with the same pine. Intially, there were floor to ceiling window screens with a swing; the porch is now fully enclosed. Lauren, Bruce's father, did all of the electrical wiring in the house, plus handcrafted an electrical carriage
Upstairs, Lauren and Grace slept in the front bedroom which is now Robyn's and my bedroom. The small, middle bedroom which doesn't have a closet was Nancy's bedroom. The back bedroom was Russell's and Bruce's. After Douglas was born in 1947, the the upstairs porch, where I've made my office / man cave, was enclosed. This became Russell's bedroom.
Bruce asked whether the kitchen cabinets with the glass windows were still there. They are. He asked whether the countertops were still tiled. They are not; they're covered with wornout formica. He said when he lived there they countertops were tiled with 1" square tiles that his mother re-grouted every few years.
On the other side of the kitchen where our rehab activities are currently directed, there were no cabinets. (I could tell that the cabinets that I took down they weren't the same quality as the remainder of the house.) He said that he has a picture of his Grandmother Burger baking pies in this kitchen. I'd love to get a copy.
Bruce also asked whether the upstairs cabinets were still there. Yes. The bathroom window. No. The stairway landing window. No.
As all our families do, the Iverson family has been tinged with tragedy. The youngest brother, Doug, passed away in 1983 a few days prior to the death of his mother, Grace. Grace's husband, Lauren, passed away in 1960 from the last of a series of heart attacks. Bruce confirmed that he had been in the Marines during World War I... Semper Fi. I'm sure he would be proud to see the two photos of our Marines on the dining room wall.
Outside, I had always wondered what had caused what appeared to be a trench line running from the sidewalk across the back yard. It's the remnants of an old sidewalk (heck, it might still be under the grass since the grass doesn't grow well there.) The sidewalk ran to our neighbor's house where Jamela Pettiford and her daughter Egypt live. They might be interested to find out that they house, post World War II construction, was built by the future Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court Warren E. Burger for his mother, Katherine. Bruce said as kids everyone was always going back and forth between the houses.
Bruce also explained a discrepancy I'd seen when I was research our home's history. I found the Burger family as being shown from both Switzerland and Austria. Bruce said the discrepancy originated in the obituary of Joseph Burger, a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient. (Bruce mentioned he had many grievous injuries due to his wartime service.) The obituary stated that Joseph Burger was from Switzerland which he was actually from Austria. However, at the time he passed away, around 1920, feeling were still hard against people from countries under the Kaiser in the post World War I atmosphere. Bruce mentioned that Warren Burger was confused; it a portrait he is wearing Swiss cufflinks.
I asked him about the old fish pond (sorry Iverson's but we use it as a firepit). Bruce said that his mother, Grace, loved rock gardens and had one at that location which was 3 or 4 foot tall with a fountain. There is also an old bath tub next to the garage.
Bruce told me that he and his dad did all of the concrete work around the house around 1958, including the repair pit which is in the garage. He asked if it had been filled in. On the project list for this summer. He said it worked great for older cars but when the newer models like Volkswagen's came out; not so much.
Bruce said that his dad wasn't much for doing unnecessary things. That's why our sidewalks are the exact width of a snow shovel. They aren't currently but I've been gradually edging them.
...and then he mentioned.
When they were pouring the concrete, they put a time capsule under one of the corners.
Really???
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