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Ninth Street: 1940

May 1940. "Residential street in Woodbine, Iowa." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.

May 1940. "Residential street in Woodbine, Iowa." View full size. 35mm nitrate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration.

 

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Burress House

My great-aunt Jenny Burress owned this house from circa 1920-something until 1972. The address is 901 Ely Street.

I know that house!

The house in the picture is the neighbor of my grandparents! small world!

To anyone who grew up in/ loves Iowa...

...please be sure to read Bill Bryson's delightful book "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid"! His walk down Memory Lane about his youth in Des Moines...full-service department stores, early television shows, state-of-the-art appliances, 1950s automobiles...the book is a laugh-out-loud TREASURE!

901 Ely Again

Here's a photo of the house from Harrison county tax rolls.

I'm an old real estate guy. I've always liked old pictures of houses, and then to compare them to present day.

Mike

Sign in the Yard

Did you notice the small sign in the yard? Along the sidewalk, left of the tree trunk. Wonder what it says. Room for rent? Sewing? Laundry?

901 Ely

I can't make out the house number for the house on the corner, but it sure looks like this house that's for sale, at 901 Ely Street, Woodbine IA 51579, which is at the corner of Ely and Ninth.

http://www.zillow.com/Gallery.htm?zpid=2146016195

And when you go to Google Maps, you can see the faint outline of the diagonal sidewalk, from the house to the corner.

The house has a pending sale, listed at $24,900. A house with a little unknown history.

Iowa Houses

This past summer my I had to go back to Iowa to sell my father's house. It was an absolutely charming craftsman (built in shelves & other wood details, original beveled glass in several windows & exterior doors, etc.), hip roof, porch), 2 bedroom, in fine shape and sold for $39K. The same house where I live now, Ithaca, NY, would be at least 150+ K more. It's possible to get a very nice house in Iowa for very little money.

Might be Ely

I futzed with the levels and curves in Photoshop, but I don't have enough pixels. Can we get a zoom?

Odd, but the sun looks like it's coming from behind and to our left, which would make that direction South (if it's high noon), but 9th St. runs East-West. We don't know if the sign was just pushed and twisted a little or a lot. Google Earth's images of Woodbine are fairly good res.

[Look again. The lady is walking along Ely (or whatever) Street. Ninth is perpendicular to the shadow cast by the pole. The left edge of the Ely sign is closer than the right (the ST half is pointing away from us). - Dave]

Ninth Street House for Sale

According to Zillow there's a house for sale on Ninth Street in Woodbine for $57,000. That's a bargain by Connecticut standards except it's for sale by HUD suggesting it's a foreclosure situation with the house being in unknown condition.

Woodbine

Ninth Street is not very long. This might be at Ely Street. It's hard to read the sign turned away from the camera. The Ninth Street sign is a great example of button copy, where smaller round reflectors would be fitted inside the white text. US 30 passes through town. Lincoln Street is likely the original Lincoln Highway. Nowadays the utility pole and signs would be behind the curb. I'm not sure what to make of that sidewalk.

Quiet Street Scenes

I love quiet street views like this and also the city shot that is next. It places you as a pedestrian on the same street. This shot has a calm old-fashioned quality I really like, and I appreciate the chance to see an "average" street where people like my grandparents lived their lives.

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