Laura and Stephen Schreiner were refurbishing a bedroom when they discovered some old baseball cards and newspapers between the walls of their historic Elgin home. Although the cards and newspapers weren’t valuable, the mere discovery sparked their curiosity and led the couple to dig for information about the history of their home.
Like many other owners of historic homes in the northwest suburbs, the Schreiners wanted to know who had lived in their home, how old it was and what it looked like when it was first built.
“We had done some research at the library initially, and we were just fascinated by it,” Stephen said. “What really gives the house character is the history behind it.”
Across the suburbs, there are not only places to go to get the information but also people to help in the process. In addition, those interested in researching their home themselves need not have a degree in architectural history. Curiosity coupled with initiative and the right resources will get the job done.
Almost every home has a story to tell, according to experts. No matter how old a home is, there are clues that will help the current homeowner date it, determine its style and find out about its previous owners.
For the Schreiners, the process of rehabbing their home left little time for research, so they turned to someone specializing in house histories. Betsy Gurlacz, a Western Springs resident who calls herself a house history writer, is one of a select few whose profession involves researching old homes. She has done 31 histories, and her usual fee is $150.
Gurlacz defines her job as “researching and writing about the history of older homes for homeowners who are curious about how old their house is, who lived in it, what style it is and whether there are any old photos of it.”
After a few months of digging, Gurlacz was able to find out that the Schreiners’ Italianate home had been built between 1866 and 1870 and has a colorful story behind it. “I often find that the history of a home is a microcosm of the whole area,” she said.
The home, one of the first built on the far northeast side, was once a boarding house for employees of the David C. Cook Publishing Co., a Christian book publisher still in Elgin.
She found out what she needed to know from old records at the Kane County Recorder’s Office in Geneva. She provided them with the home’s lot number, address and other information to obtain the records.
A doctor named George Wilber had bought the land in 1866, Gurlacz discovered. “He bought the five-acre lot for $1,000 and sold it three years later for $4,000,” she said. The sudden jump in price indicates that the home was built somewhere in that time frame.
The Schreiners were pleased with the information Gurlacz uncovered. “I think it’s very fascinating,” Laura said. “I wish we could have done the research ourselves, but it takes a lot of time.”
For those who want to research their home, patience is key. Finding out about a home’s history is much like putting together the pieces of a puzzle.
Mary M. Hill, a house historian in Elgin, has a number of suggestions. So far, she has investigated 35 houses and normally charges $10 per hour for her research; she averages 5 to 10 hours of research per house.
“I would first start by tracing the ownership of the house backwards,” she said.
She does this by visiting the recorder’s office, the library and the historical society. Old publications such as city directories, newspapers, obituaries and probate records, which give an inventory of everything a person owned, can uncover hidden clues about a home and its owners.
“The story is going to unfold as you go along,” said Hill, who considers herself somewhat of a detective. “Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I can trace descendants of the families.”
On one occasion, she found two daughters who had old photos of a historic home in Elgin. Because of the photos, she said, “the owners of that home were able to put it back to what it originally looked like.”
Recently, she did research on a historic house on the northeast side of Elgin now owned by the Pullman family. “The house is unique to the area. There was no other one like it,” Hill said.
The family wanted to get a historical designation from the City of Elgin Heritage Commission, but they needed to determine the age of the house. Hill had done research on the home earlier but didn’t uncover much. This time she took on the task for no fee and was able to find the deed. “It’s my pride and joy. I worked about nine months,” Hill said. “I learned an awful lot, and I got it right the second time.”
Historical societies are good sources because they have experienced staff on hand to help locate specific information on old homes.
“Mainly we have people coming in to the museum who have bought an older home and are very curious about it,” said Nancy Fike, museum administrator at the McHenry County Historical Society in Union. “Our job is to try to help them and point them to the right resources and the right people.”
Recently, Fike helped research the Dobyns House in McHenry, a former restaurant. “It was a private home built around 1927 by a dredging contractor by the name of Julius Kegg,” she said. “He built this house on land that nobody thought was worth anything. It turned out to be a very classy place.”
She started with an abstract, a record of property that takes the land all the way back to when it was first purchased from the government. “It gives you a series of names to go by,” she said.
From there, investigators can check city directories and obituaries, which may reveal more information, such as the person’s profession.
Historical societies also have valuable information on people. “We have over 30 different record resources that you can look up by name,” said Marilyn Pedersen, museum coordinator of the Palatine Historical Society. “We have all the census (information about) Palatine Township from 1850 to 1920, family files and obituaries, and scrapbooks of people. Church records are all indexed too.”
The Palatine Historical Society also has a large photograph and slide collection.
“Often what you find are pictures of people on front lawns or on the front porch,” Gurlacz said. “They might get an idea of what their porch railing originally looked like. Often people nowadays are trying to restore it to the original appearance, and a photograph can be very valuable for that.”
For homes that have very little information in the way of records, determining the structure’s style can help to establish its age. According to Hill, people settled in the northwest suburbs around the mid-1800s. The styles of homes then were Gothic Revival and Greek Revival, followed by the Italianate design, popular around the 1860s and 1870s.
Queen Anne homes were built around the 1880s and 1890s, while the Prairie style and Craftsman homes came in the 1890s and early 1900s. The Tudor revival began in the 1920s. Overlapping that was the Colonial period, which occurred between the 1900s and 1950s.
The clues to a home’s design can often be found in the shape of the house, the hardware, the siding and the decoration around the windows, according to Meredith Taussig, preservation specialist for the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. She suggests people refer to publications to help them in their research.
“One of the best sources is the Old House Journal, a publication that people can either get by mail or easily find in their public library,” she said. “It publishes a number of very good style guides of vintage houses.”
The commission has its own free booklet, “Your House Has a History,” which can be helpful even though it primarily applies to homes in the city of Chicago (call 312-744-4256).
Local libraries can provide the materials needed to begin an investigation. One publication available at most libraries is “A Field Guide to American Houses,” by Virginia and Lee McAlester. The book describes various styles of homes and provides pictures for cross-referencing.
“We have a lot of genealogy and history work done here at the library,” said Brenda Leigh Weiner, community services coordinator at the Mt. Prospect Public Library. “In Mt. Prospect, there’s a lot of interest in history. It’s kind of a nostalgic look at the past and what has gone on.”
Weiner said there is a strong interest among suburban residents in the history of homes.
“There is a combination of people seeking information on their own homes and those who want to know about the area,” she said. “It’s wanting to know a little more about where you live and the historical side of the town where you live.”
