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During World War II, a second entrance was added to the Eden
Street side of The Big Yellow House to provide access to the second floor
apartment. While it is known that Mrs.
Brown, now a widow, re-purchased The Big Yellow House as a rental from Samuel X. Stephenson in 1930 when he lost the house
in foreclosure, it is unknown how many renters may have actually lived
here. Operating as a rental for more
than 38 years (from 1930 – 1968), with its four massive bedrooms, it’s quite
likely the house has accommodated hundreds of residents.
According to the 1930 census data, Samuel still owned the
house and he and his wife (Mary H.) and their two daughters (Margaret age 24 and
Mildred age 17) were living here. They were
joined by two “lodgers”, Warren Oldham and John Langston (ages 23 and 26), who
were employed as a lithographer and city editor in a news office.
According to the 1940 census, the house was rented for $22 by
Jordon and Evelyn Brow (ages 31 and 26). Mr. Brow was employed as a Cook Keeper
at the lumber mill and indicated they were living in the same location in 1935.
Renters Edward and Edna Laughinghouse
(ages 34 and 29) and their two children Edna and Edward (ages 8 and 2) were
also recorded as being residents ($20).
Mr. Laughinghouse was employed as a dry goods department store manager.
Additional data about The Big Yellow House’s renters will not be available until
the 1950 census data is released in 2022.
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The Door on the Landing is Open |
So let me tell you more about this small modification to the
house. A small area (about 8X8) was closed-in on the north side of the front
porch making a vestibule. A second door
was positioned at the top of several stairs giving the occupant access, without
coming through the foyer, to the landing of the main staircase. We assume the stairs were partitioned-off from
the foyer as well, eliminating the possibility of any access between the two
floors. It’s unknown if or how access
between the two floors via the back stairs was managed.
While
there was no partition between the front stairs and the foyer, when we
purchased the house, the door and the stairs leading to the porch vestibule was
still there. The former owner’s used the
vestibule as a (very) small office and we began to refer to it as the man
cave. During the kitchen renovation it
housed our refrigerator as well as an assortment of rugs and boxes we were trying
to keep out of harm’s way.
Over
the next several months, a leak appeared in the ceiling and despite several
calls to the roofer we were unable to find its origin. Frustrated and obsessed with finding the
source of the leak, Larry took down most of the original tongue and groove ceiling
revealing the original wooden roof shingles and the current metal roof. (He also found a large long-forgotten squirrel
nest, many pecan shells, and several roof and ceiling joists rotten beyond repair.) Using several cans of Flex Seal Brite liquid rubber sealant
coating, he fixed the leak before calling Patrick the carpenter to come and repair
all the damage. By the way things looked, the roof had been leaking for a very long
time.
No longer needing a man cave or renter’s
access to the second floor, we decided to remove the door and return the
stairwell landing to its original design. Well, sort of. We actually believe there was a stained glass
window in the stairwell above the landing, but a bedroom closet now sits in
this location so it’s not totally restored. Out on the porch, we removed the
internal stairs but we left the external walls up and the room closed-in. Now instead of a vestibule, we have a closet—or
what we call the porch nook.
We gave the external door a fresh coat of
paint, and customized a new screen to look similar to the one on the front door. The old peel and stick floor tiles were covered
with some new peel and stick floor tiles and a new ceiling light was hung. Both stained glass windows were removed and
the opening on the east side of the room was closed up to allow for more
hanging storage. The second window will be reinstalled after it has been re-leaded.
Some shelves for our garden gear were hung, a freezer set into place and our
bicycles patiently await our retrieval. It
may be a small room, but it has a lot of history.
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