11-25-2009, 04:32 PM
I've been doing research on my home off and on (mostly off) for
the past 10 years or so, and always suspected that our home might
have been a store of some sort in the past. None of our long-time
resident neighbors recalled it being a store (but they only go
back 70 or so years), but due to some architectural peculiarities,
we thought it likely:
All of these things led me to do some research at the library
about 10 years ago, and I found an "Insurance Map" for the city of
Philadelphia that showed our home as being insured as a "store and
dwelling" at some point (I forget the year, but I have it written
down upstairs). I tried to do a little more research, but hit a
dead end.
Then on Saturday (about 10 years after my initial research), I
stopped by the library again, and was able to find a source with
copies of numerous digitized "City of Philadelphia Directories"
(essentially phone books but before there were phones) from the
late 1800's and early 1900's, that listed residents of Philly by
last name and then showed their address and occupation. I was
able to search for my address and found all sorts of
interesting stuff. Names of many people who lived in our home
going all the way back to 1890, I believe. Some of the listings
led me to believe that our home was a "variety" store and also a
drug store (perhaps at the same time). One of the listings was
for a name that I thought I remembered seeing before on a copy of
the deed to my house from way back when (I had gotten copies of
the deeds at one point, also to try to research the home's history),
and it listed the address as being a variety store.
I checked my copy of the old deed when I got home, and sure enough,
there was the person's name. I started Googling a bit, and I was able to
get in touch with woman's great-grandson, and he sent me the census page
at the link below.
Check out the section outlined in red. I cropped some information that was
above it, so there are a couple of parts of letters from the box above that are
visible in the box, but do you think it says "Candy - Cigars"?
http://dougdavis.net/web_images/1920_Verchod.jpg
Lemme know what you think!
the past 10 years or so, and always suspected that our home might
have been a store of some sort in the past. None of our long-time
resident neighbors recalled it being a store (but they only go
back 70 or so years), but due to some architectural peculiarities,
we thought it likely:
- In the basement, you can look up (at what is the 1st floor
flooring) and see a set of joists with flooring on top of them,
and on top of that, another set of joists, and another set of
floor boards--so apparently, the front half of the first floor of
the house had a lower floor than the back half of the house at one
point.
- We're a corner "row home," and there's a line in the brickwork
going up from the ground on the front of the house, over to the
corner, and around the side and then back down, indicating that
the bricks were laid at a different time than those in the rest of
the house. Many corner row homes are/were stores of one kind or
another.
All of these things led me to do some research at the library
about 10 years ago, and I found an "Insurance Map" for the city of
Philadelphia that showed our home as being insured as a "store and
dwelling" at some point (I forget the year, but I have it written
down upstairs). I tried to do a little more research, but hit a
dead end.
Then on Saturday (about 10 years after my initial research), I
stopped by the library again, and was able to find a source with
copies of numerous digitized "City of Philadelphia Directories"
(essentially phone books but before there were phones) from the
late 1800's and early 1900's, that listed residents of Philly by
last name and then showed their address and occupation. I was
able to search for my address and found all sorts of
interesting stuff. Names of many people who lived in our home
going all the way back to 1890, I believe. Some of the listings
led me to believe that our home was a "variety" store and also a
drug store (perhaps at the same time). One of the listings was
for a name that I thought I remembered seeing before on a copy of
the deed to my house from way back when (I had gotten copies of
the deeds at one point, also to try to research the home's history),
and it listed the address as being a variety store.
I checked my copy of the old deed when I got home, and sure enough,
there was the person's name. I started Googling a bit, and I was able to
get in touch with woman's great-grandson, and he sent me the census page
at the link below.
Check out the section outlined in red. I cropped some information that was
above it, so there are a couple of parts of letters from the box above that are
visible in the box, but do you think it says "Candy - Cigars"?
http://dougdavis.net/web_images/1920_Verchod.jpg
Lemme know what you think!
