Live 1880, the best time in American history. (Michigan, New York, nature)
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Considering that there were only fifty million people in the country and that few foreigners applied for patents, it's very impressive.
In before someone comes along to protest,"But, but, but.....the minorities!"
The first female self-made millionaire was C.J. Walker (1867-1919). She was black and her parents were former slaves.
The first 2 black-owned banks opened in the 1880s
The first black mayor of a predominately white town was elected in the 1880s
The first black Americans to serve in Congress came before that in the 1870s, from the South no less.
I could go on but I don't want the history revisionists to choke. They can only digest small doses at a time.
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I grew up in Riverside, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Along with the suburb of Glencoe we had gaslights everywhere but the small business district. The gaslights are still there. The dim lights are quite pleasant and provide ample illumination for the nocturnal pedestrian. There's a pilot light in each lamp so the lighting is instantaneous. Had I been alive in 1880, however, I would have been thrilled at the prospect of seeing Mr. Edison's new electric lights that turned night into day.
Very interesting! I didn't know about this place. Thank you.
Last edited by SimplySagacious; 08-18-2015 at 03:00 PM..
1880s house for sale for $100 under a homesteading program. No takers, so it will be demolished.
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— A house in the southern Illinois city of Du Quoin (doo-KOYN') is being demolished after the City Council put it up for sale for $100 in December.
Any buyer of the house built in the early 1880s would have had to make renovations and live there for seven years as part of a homesteading program. But Du Quoin Mayor Guy Alongi says no viable offers had been made since December.
The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan (Du Quoin's $100 house to be demolished : News) reports the house will be torn down in an agreement with the owner of a child care center. The lot was sold for $6,800, which is what the demolition will cost.
Lot of those houses had some fantastic woodwork and hand carved fixtures too. Moulding, doorframes, mantles, all were part of the structure and completely irreplacable.
Real hardwood floors, mahogony, oak, cherry, I've seen some with hand cut parquet, bannisters of heavy hand polished wood, they can be really fantastic.
Glad that one in the picture was saved, just look at the eaves and windowsills, I'll bet there's some really great stuff in there.
I've seen many towns selling houses like that for $1. Sometimes mansions as well. Typically, the news about them isn't widespread until after the fact. Any readers interested in purchasing one will have to do a lot of digging to find them before they are sold. The Anoka family was lucky to receive 15k from the city to help with moving costs. That is not always the case.
My house (which was not as great a deal as that, unfortunately), has the long Italianate windows like the one pictured but the architecture is more of a modest version of Greek Revival. The previous owner removed some of the interior woodwork, most of which I have restored, and a few fireplaces which I won't be restoring. The remaining 4 are enough. All the wide plank floors were intact and in great shape.
By the way, as a youngster we had a party line telephone too. I don't remember exactly how many families were on it. I can recall 4 including us, but it seems like there were more.
There were 7 on the party line we had when I was a kid.
Those things were a pain.
One of my great grandmothers emmigrated from Norway, and while she could speak English, she didn't forget her native tounge.
One of her neighbors was also from Norway, so they would speak Norwegian on the phone. One of the other neighbors on the party line broke into their conversation one time to tell them to speak English so everybody could understand what they were saying.
Kind of like an internet forum nowadays. Don't put anything on it you don't want someone else from the person you're talking to to know about.
That was by far the dumbest comment I have ever read. I have to rep you just for providing entertainment value! You folks are rabid, I will give you that*
You challenge their hyperbole, they strike back blindly like rabid animals, (had to put that in as a reference to their comment ). Petty but to be expected.
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