This beautiful old house sits near downtown Chesaning. A Michigan historical marker gives some history on this magnificent old home. It reads:
Leamington and Madeline Stewart built this Queen Anne house in 1895 – 1897. The design was based on Design No. 53 in George F. Barber’s The Cottage Souvenir No. 2, a pattern book published in 1891. Barber advertised the house’s cost at $5,250. Pattern books were popular in the late 1800s as a way to obtain contemporary house plans at bargain prices. An Ontario native, Stewart practiced medicine in Chesaning until his death in 1933.
It is hard to believe this house was built for about $5000 dollars. But then again when most people earned about 25 cents an hour five grand is a lot of money.
P.S. It just hit me that last time I returned a 12 pack of empty Fago cans for the deposit, that is what someone earned in a day about a century ago.
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