Friday, March 26, 2010
A Mountain Behind

468 Genoa Crescent is the first of two homes on this blocked slated for demolition.  The other is at 482 Genoa Crescent.  Genoa Crescent is tucked between Hermosa Avenue and Vienna Crescent just south west of the Delbrook Avenue  and Montroyal Boulevard intersection. At this point you have driven up Delbrook Avenue near to the base of the north shore mountains. This is evident in the photo above as you can see the slope of Mount Fromme behind the house.

The house at 468 Genoa Crescent was built for $13,000 in 1958 by E. A. Sinkler.  In 1962 E. G. Sinkler added a $250 sundeck. The sundeck also gave the house a covered carport. By 1971 Vernon C. Gouchee and his wife Gwendolyne M. were living in the house. Vernon was a salesman for Northland Commercial Sales.  In the 1980 City Directory the house was reported as vacant.  Jack and Jessie Pendygrasse owned the house in 1990.  Jack was employed by Chevron Canada.  The 1995/96 City Directory could not verify a resident at the 468 Genoa Crescent address.  At the time of the 2010 photograph this typical 1958 North Vancouver  house was a rental.


Demolition: Application for Permit in February 2010.
Photo: Taken in February 2010 by SW.

 

Thursday, March 25, 2010
Maplewood Farm Neighbour

The blue house with the brighter blue front steps at 343 Seymour River Place once had a different address.  Before 1960 it was part of Riverside Drive. But now both 343 and 405 which is Maplewood Farm share the street name of Seymour River Place.

The house at 343 Riverside Drive was built for $5500 in 1953 by G. Watt.  In 1959 he built a $150 carport.  As indicated by City Directories and telephone books Eva and George have lived there ever since. In 1960, the year his address changed from Riverside Drive to Seymour River Place, George was working as a yardman at Seaford Sales.  In 1971 and 1980 he was a laborer and sorter at Northcoast Forest Products. By 1990 George had retired. 

"The History of Maplewood Farm"

"In the early 1900's Mr. Akiyo Kogo first discovered this idyllic little spot nestled at the foot of Mount Seymour on the banks of the Seymour River. He could not have known then that this land would be the last remaining farm on Vancouver's North Shore.

During the twenties, the farm developed into a thriving dairy, delivering fresh milk and cream to customers from Deep Cove to Lonsdale for almost three decades.

By 1970, agriculture had all but disappeared from North Vancouver but luckily the farm land came under the protection of the District Parks Department, being preserved for future generations to enjoy a truly rural experience in our ever expanding urban area.

"Officially opened to the public in 1975, and now home to over 200 domestic animals and birds, Maplewood Farm strives to provide a unique experience, incorporating enjoyment, education and a recollection of the rural heritage of this pastoral 5 acre setting." Link.

Part of Maplewood Farm is directly behind the house at 343 Seymour River Place. The moo's and quack's of  the animals of Maplewood Farm can be heard from the backyard. The Watt family lived in the house for at least 57 years. That is three more years that the Facer family at 564 Granada who lived in their house about 54 years. (See Blog post February 23, 2010.)

Demolition:  Permit applied for in February 2010.

Photo: Taken in February 2010 by SW.

Link:  http://www.maplewoodfarm.bc.ca/

Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Originally Built in 1921

The original house built in 1921 at 719 East 6th Street cost only $1000. The owner was E. Henderson, the same owner that built a $500 addition in 1923. Although this was a very small one storey house, at least one of the other homes on the street that had already been built in 1915 was quite stately. That was the McAllister Residence at 736 East 6th Street. It was built in the Late Edwardian style and decorated with Craftsman motifs. It still stands and a description and photo are in the City of North Vancouver Heritage Inventory 1994 page 76. Both of these homes are east of Queensbury Avenue in the Queensbury area of the City of North Vancouver. In the very early years it was thought by some that Queensbury Ave., not Lonsdale Ave. would become the main drag of the City of North Vancouver.

Starting in the 1930's there were many owners of 719 East 6th Street. By 1931 John T. Moriarty had become the owner. By 1940 it was Mrs. Mary Burgess. In 1950 the owners were May and Robert E. Cadwallader. Robert worked as a fisherman. In 1960 the owners were Patricia M. and Barry J. Gough. Barry worked as an importer. In 1971 the owners were Joan and Douglas Harrower. Douglas was a counterman at Asbestonos Corp. In 1980 Shirley and Robert L. Bitner lived at 719 East 6th Street and Robert was an electrician at Vancouver Shipyards. In the 1991 and 1995/95 City Directories Graham R. Eagle, a draftsman is listed as the resident. Diane Naylor is an additional resident in 1995/96. She was a chef at the North Shore Association for the Mentally Handicapped.

The telephone book lists both Graham and Diane as living at 719 East 6th Street in the year 2000. This was the year their home was photographed for Suzanne Wilson's Year 2000 Photography Project, Your House/Our Home. That year Graham displayed his art work at the home during the Harmony Arts Festival described in the poster below. See Grahams are work  at Link below.

The photo of 719 East 6th Street was taken by Suzanne Wilson as part of her
Year 2000 Photography Project, Your House/Our Home. 2000 photos of homes in the City of North Vancouver were photographed.


In the month of June 2007 Suzanne Wilson celebrated the City of North Vancouver's 100 birthday by distributing to their home owners copies of 1000 photos taken for the Y2K Project. At this time it was discovered that the home photographed at 719 East 6th Street had been demolished and a new home was under construction. The 2008/10 phone book seems to indicate that both Graham R. Eagle and Diane Naylor built the new home and are the present owners.  See Grahams art work  at Link below.


Photo: Taken in the year 2000 by SW.
Reference: The Year 2000 project was donated by Suzanne and Alan Wilson to the North Vancouver Archives and is available for viewing.
Link:  http://www.grahameagle.com/site_map.php?xyz=20

 

***

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

RICHARD

***

Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Decked Out for Every Holiday

During the photographing of over 2000 homes in the City of North Vancouver for the Year 2000 Project, Your House/Our Home (see March 22 Blog Post) it was noted that the house at 662 East 5th Street was decked out for every holiday. At Halloween a pumpkin scarecrow even guarded the front porch of the Wartime House (See March 22 Blog Post) from his chair next to the front door. Ghosts hung in the front bushes and side tree.

Since it was built in 1941 many families lived in this well decorated home. In 1945, right at the end of the war, it was Yvonne and John W. Mark. In 1950 it was William J. Ellison Jr., a roofer. In 1960 Ken A. and Marianne Woods were the owners. Ken was an electrician. By 1971 Donald J. and Mary Martin owned the house. Mary was a clerk at The Citizen Newspaper. In 1980 the resident was S. Dennis and in 1991 it was A. Geraldine Sandau. Perhaps Geraldine was new to 662 East 5th Street in 1991 for the 1995/96 City Directory notes that by then she had lived there for 6 years. In 1995/96 another resident is mentioned and that was Terrace S. McCabe.

In the month of June 2007 Suzanne Wilson celebrated the City of North Vancouver's 100 birthday by distributing to their home owners copies of 1000 photos taken for the Y2K Project. At this time it was discovered that the home photographed at 662 East 5th Street had been demolished and a new home had been built.

Photo: Taken in the year 2000 by SW.

Monday, March 22, 2010
Wartime House

"SECOND WORLD WAR HOUSES FOR WARTIME HOUSING LTD.

1941-1942

  "During the Second World War the City of North Vancouver was an important centre for shipbuilding activities.  The sudden influx of workmen for these and other defense projects necessitated the construction of a number of new homes.  As such, in 1941 two hundred new residences were built at 2nd Street and St. George's Avenue, and four hundred were constructed between Fell and Heywood Avenues, while McCarter and Nairne acted as supervising architects for all wartime housing in British Columbia.  In addition, two large buildings, each housing approximately one hundred and eighty bachelors, were built at the corner of 3rd Street and St. George's Avenue.  A number of these smaller wartime residences remain in the City of North Vancouver, however, due to their modular nature, most have been altered or added to over the years.  A recent in-depth study of wartime housing by J. Robert Faulkner has clarified its significance to the development of the North Shore, and identified those examples still remaining in the City; these are listed and described on the following pages."  City of North Vancouver Heritage Inventory 1994, page 172.

The house at 648 East 3rd Street is one of these Wartime Houses and a photo and description are shown on page 174 of the City of North Vancouver Heritage Inventory 1994. "This is another example of an H-1 single family residence. These houses were 24'x24' in plan, and also built in reverse, such as this model which has the double windows of the living room to the left of the entry."  648 was built in 1941 for $1605.  

In 1945 and 1950 the house was owned by Eric S. and Justine Dunham.  Eric worked as a burner  for the NVSR in 1945 and for the PDD in 1950.  By 1960 Justine was a widow and a factory worker at Schlage Lock.  In the 1968 City Directory the house is listed only as occupied.  And in 1975 there was no answer at all to their requests.  In 1985 the new resident was R. K. Crockett.  And in 1995/96 the occupant is listed as C. Jordan.

The photo of 648 East 3rd Street was taken by Suzanne Wilson as part of her

Year 2000 Photography Project, Your House/Our Home.  2000 photos of homes in the City of North Vancouver were photographed.  Approximately 800 of these were accompanied by some history from the present or previous home owner sometimes including personal photographs. 

In the month of June 2007 Suzanne Wilson celebrated the City of North Vancouver's 100 birthday by distributing to their home owners copies of 1000 photos taken for the Y2K Project.  At this time it was discovered that the home photographed at 648 East 3rd Street had been demolished and a new home had been built.


Photo: Taken in the year 2000 by SW.
Reference: The Year 2000 project was donated by Suzanne and Alan Wilson to the North Vancouver Archives and is available for viewing.

 

Sunday Church Feature

Seymour Wisconsin 1915

Emmanual Lutheran Church at 349 North Main Street in Seymour, Wisconsin was built in 1915. The red brick building with white Bedford stone trim around the trinity front doors features double square steeples with stained glass windows. The larger of the steeples contains a bell tower and clocks on each of its sides. A trinity stained glass window is above the front doors. The sides of the church also feature trinity stained glass windows. The church is on the corner of North Main Street and County Road G. If you travel further down North Main Street you come to the Outagamie Fair Grounds.

Deanna and Jay DeBruin are currently working on the history of Emmanual Lutheran Church. Here are some of the highlights from the Lutheran Standard of March 4, 1939. Rev. Frederick H. Ohlrogge was minister during the erection of the $30,000 church that was dedicated on Jan. 9, 1916. The debt was paid off in five years. The church is 110 feet long and 45 feet wide. The tallest of the square towers is 75 feet high. The front doors are of heavy oak. The Gothic design of the interior features a wooden altar in a large semicircular niche twenty feet wide. A life sized figure of the Lord with arms outstretched stands in the center of the altar and in the lower part a plaque of the Last Supper. The organ is in the rear balcony that seats 100. The main floor seats about 500. Cark Reiman of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and a member of the Stained Glass Association of America 1912-1923 was the designer of the interior and the Neo-Gothic stained glass windows.

Emmanual Lutheran was the church of Marie Juergenmeyer, Seymour Wisconsin, grandmother of Suzanne Marie Wilson, North Vancouver B.C., and great-great grandmother of Holly Marie Misner, Spokane Washington.

Suzanne remembers attending the church with her grandmother when she was a young child in the 1940's . It was there she learned the Apostle's Creed. The minister at that time was Rev. Theo Ohlrogge.

Note: See Blog Post February 20 for more about Seymour, Wisconsin.

Thank you: To Seymour Wisconsin residents: Deanna and Jay DeBruin, Ellen Piehl, and Mark Ellis.

Photo: Taken in 2006 by SW.

Link 1: http://seymourwi.com/
Link 2: https://seymourfaith.ctsmemberconnect.net/home-ctrl.do?view=0&grpId=35013

Saturday Travel Feature
Phillips 66 in Seymour

The gas station in the photo above was bought by Martin Juergenmeyer in 1932. It was on Highway 54 at the corner with C Road,  just at the entrance to the small northern Wisconsin town of  Seymour. This original white clapboard building had an office space through the front door and behind the three front windows. An oil room was to the left of the front door. And a mechanic's shop was behind the three large doors on the right. Martin soon added a house on to the back of the building. The house front entrance with a lattice arch was on the left side. There was also a door inside the gas station office to the house and one on the right side of the house out to the garden. To the right of the gas station Martin dug a mechanic's pit with a ramp above.

The house of Marie and Martin Juergenmeyer had two bedrooms, a living room, a bathroom, and a kitchen. In the kitchen sink along with running water there was a water pump. The gas station office is where Marie kept her treadle sewing machine and where she taught her granddaughter Suzanne how to sew doll clothes. The office also had a glass cabinet candy counter and refrigerated ice cream bin. A round brown crock of water with a wooden handled ice cream scoop sat on the counter. (This crock now sits on the kitchen counter of Suzanne Wilson.) The crank party line telephone was in the oil room.

By the time Suzanne came from her home in Milwaukee to visited her grandparents in the 1940's summers  large weeping willow trees had grown up in the yard to the left of the gas station. Suzanne would break off the bottom branches and make herself  big skirts. Her grandmother Marie would wash Suzanne's hair in water from the rain barrel next to the house. Behind the weeping willow trees was a large flower garden. To the right of the house was a large vegetable garden, a box and screen rack for drying apple slices, and a chicken coop where Suzanne liked to go to eat fresh peas and lick the rainbow ice cream cones her grandfather would scoop up for her. Across the back of the lot the Juergenmeyers planted a 1/2 acre of statis that was sold to the Seymour florist for funeral bouquets. And behind the statis field was a cemetery where the local kids would sit on the tombstones and eat their lunches.

Martin Juergenmeyer ran the Phillips 66 gas station until he died in 1948. Marie then ran it until it was sold and she moved to Kaukauna, Wisconsin.


According to Janice Eick at the Seymour Community Museum in 2001, "the garage was torn town in the "50's and the house was moved around the corner. About in 1996 the house burned down. Now on the corner where the station was located they have a new Mobile station and a new McDonald's."

Seymour Wisconsin should be well known to everyone; the small town west of Green Bay and north of Lake Winnebago is "The Home of the Hamburger". "The Seymour Community Historical Society of Seymour, Wisconsin, credits Charlie Nagreen, now known as "Hamburger Charlie", with the invention of the hamburger. Nagreen was fifteen when he reportedly made sandwiches out of meatballs that he was selling at the 1885 Seymour Fair (now the Outagamie County Fair), so that customers could eat while walking. The Historical Society explains that Nagreen named the hamburger after the Hamburg steak with which local German immigrants were familiar.^[6][7]" Wikipedia.Where as Seymour has only a population of 3,474 during the Outagamie County Fair in July 80,000 people attend. And "each August Burger Fest brings thousands of people to the community for the Ketchup Slide, a parade,the Bun Run, and other festivities. The city also hold the world record for the largest burger, creating an 8000 pound monster hamburger." Link.

Demolition: Torn down in the 1950's. Seymour Community Museum.

Photo: Historic photo, photographer unknown, Photoshoped by SW.

Link:http://seymourwi.com/