Photo 50-OCH-3

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We live here and have since Oct. 1974. The property was so overgrown from being vacant that my husband did not know the home existed until we discovered it when he took me mushroom hunting in the woods northwest of this home. He drove past the house daily on his way to WPAFB and never saw the house! We inquired of the ownership and was able to purchase our first home! The willow trees are gone..they just snapped off the ground since they were old. The hedges out front are gone as is most of the trees...we had to cut some down to allow the house to breathe since it was built only about a foot from the ground. We have a three car garage to the north side of the house. We put siding and shutters on and roofed it twice. We still have the sidewalk shown and the same porch and awning. There was a three seater outhouse to the northwest side of the home.. it has been torn down since my husband put a dog kennel building in that space..my sons loved playing in it since it had not been used for years..there was a stone foundation and some cement steps just north next to the driveway that were taken out as well as all the black walnut trees that were there..we never did find out just what building or home place was on that foundation but suspect a church or schoolhouse..This house was one room in it's first living quarters..some have said it was an old chicken house..if that was the case, it was a large one, say 17' X 20'. Later, someone added on two rooms west of it. Then the whole southside was added on which included three bedrooms and a long wide hallway attached them to the north side of the home. When we checked out the attic crawl space, we found a roof under the existing roof. As with other older homes, people would add additional living quarters whenever money allowed. The home is old. It creaks! It is so uneven that we always have to level the furniture to keep them looking right and functional! We have knotty pine tongue and groove paneling on the walls of the living room, the entire hallway, and the three bedrooms. It was so dark but we loved the wood, so we just put up ceiling fans that had lights on them..we had to swag them since we did not have money to rewire the whole house. I could go on and on since we have been here over 40 years but I won't. I will conclude this update to say this home has a lot of memories for us and we are content to stay until the roof collapses on our heads unless the Lord takes us to our heavenly home first!

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Do you have a connection to this photograph? Maybe you grew up here or know someone who did? What has changed in the 56 years since this photo was taken? Tell us!