This post is part of a collection of posts written in 2016 for Glenwood’s 150 year celebration. To see the map and full list of locations included in the walking tour, click here.
Christman / C.L. Peterson house – 127 1st Avenue SW
An article in the Glenwood Herald in September 1897 describes this house as follows:
“One of the neatest residences in Glenwood is that of C.L. Peterson, which is now practically completed at the corner of Pear and Green streets.
Three months has been required for its construction, George Hallett beginning on the foundation about June 1st. On June 21, Simmons Brothers began work and continued steadily at it until last Thursday. They had a little assistance but the house as it stands today is practically the work of Frank and Luke Simmons, and it is a job to which they may reasonably point with pride, for every portion of the building bears the mark of skilled workmanship in its construction. Combining as they do the trades of carpenter and plasterer they were able to finish the building ready for the decorator, from the foundation in less than ten weeks from the time they began.
The house fronts on Green Street, being 33×35 feet with 21 foot posts. A neat porch extends across a portion of the front and as one opens the front door he finds himself in a small entry which opens into the dining room, 12×16.5 feet and into the parlor 15×19 feet. Back of the parlor is a bed room 12×12.5 feet. The kitchen, 10 x 12 feet, is directly back of the dining room, with a swinging door between and a handy commodious chin closet is built in between the two rooms. From the kitchen, stairs lead down to the basement, extending under the whole house, with a cistern directly beneath the kitchen. The odd feature of the house is the location of the stairs at the rear between the kitchen and the bathroom, next to the parlor bed room, rendering necessary to pass through the dining room or through both parlors in order to reach the stairs from the front entry, which makes the upper story of the house warmer.
On the second floor are four chambers, each different from the others, but all pleasant rooms, and supplied with large closets. Above is the garret, affording plenty of space for a children’s playroom.
The house will be heated by furnace, all the rooms except the kitchen and chamber above being fitted with registers and ventilators, old copper hardware being used in the registers and indeed all over the house. The doors and wood work throughout are of soft wood, oiled and varnished, E.H. Sibley doing the inside work in this line, while Wollan did the outside painting.
While not the most expensive house in town, everything about it is neat, modern and will finished, built with a view to utility, convenience and beauty. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson can justly take pride and comfort in this realization of months of planning and the addition of such a handsome resident is a benefit to the village as well.”
Pope County Museum - Museum Musings 