So… I’ve been slowly but surely poking around and collecting more research on the history of our subdivision. Part of the research has been stalking the three alleged original owners that are still alive and kicking.
I met Joe Woodard on one of his daily walks. He lives across and down the street a few lots in the mirror image of our home.
Mr. Woodard has to be in his 80’s – but exhibits greater acuity and activity levels than some fifty year olds I know.
I finally caught him one day and told him about my efforts to gather information about our hood’s history and asked if he’d let me sit and pick his brain one afternoon. He said yes.
While sitting in his living room chatting my eyes wandered.
There I was sitting in an architecturally significant piece of the mid-twentieth century WITH it’s original owner. The home, aside from the carpet, is completely original and has been thoughtfully maintained through the decades.
Due to the great demand for housing after the great war – the homes sold very fast… Woodard paid $14,000 for his.
Though there was a few different floor plans available, (with slight variations), the lot dictated the design, not the customer. Floor plans were thoughtfully matched to lots by Ralph Fournier, the architect who designed the homes.
Customers were given the choice between knotty pine or cherry for their interior finishes as well as the style of kitchen cabinets. The builder also threw in a $25 landscaping allowance for home buyers. (that’s a lot of plants for 1952).
Near the end of our chat, Mr. Woodard went back to the den and returned with a folder full of papers. In it he had an original sell-sheet / brochure for the development as well as a full-page spread from the Post Dispatch. Â ( ENTIRE SPREAD HERE )At this point I was so giddy I could barely see straight.
He lent me the papers to scan and put into my archives.
I’ll hopefully have more opportunities to talk with Joe… Not just to learn more about these houses – but about the time in general.
Senior Citizens are an often overlooked, taken for granted, treasure…. Sadly, too often you don’t recognize their value till they’re gone.
I miss my grandparents.
I’m not blogging.
