ED 368 649

AUTHORTITLEINSTITUTIONREPORT NOPUB DATENOTE

AVAILABLE FROM

PUB TYPE

JOURNAL CIT

EDRS PRICEDESCRIPTORS

IDENTIFIERS

ABSTRACT

DOCUMENT RESUME

SO 023 835

Ohrn, Deborah Gore, Ed.Homes in History.Iowa State Historical Society, Iowa City.ISSN-0278-02089333p.; For related issues see ED 339 631, ED 349 215,ED 346 014, ED 360 222, and ED 359 117.State Historical Society of Iowa, 402 Iowa Avenue,Iowa City, IA 52240-1806 ($10; 4 issues per year).Guides Classroom Use Instructional Materials (For

Learner) (051) Collected Works - Serials (022)Goldfinch: Iowa History for Young People; v15 nl Fall

1993

MFOI/PCO2 Plus Postage.Childrens Literature; Elementary Education; *Housing;*Learning Activities; Maps; Puzzles; *ReadingMaterials; *Social Studies; *State Government; *State

History*Iowa

This issue of "The Goldfinch," an Iowa historymagazine for children, focuses on issues relating to housing.Articles address such subjects as homelessness, neighborhood history,

architecture, and local folklore. One student activity is the"Building Blocks" game that calls upon students to fill in blanks tocomplete words from the issue relating to architecture. Anotheractivity, "Make a House," presents students with a cutout that, onceassembled, forms a replica of the home that served as the backdrop

for Grant Wood's painting, "American Gothic." The latest installment

of the magazine's regular feature, "History Makers," reveals how a

group of third graders turned their school into a national historicsite. The magazine also includes a map of places that the issue

features and subscription information. (SG)

***********************************************************************Reproductions zuoplied by EDRS are the best that can be made

from the original document.***********************************************************************

U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOft* of Educational fismalch and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

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2 The Goldfinch

GoldfinchVolume 15, Number 1 A

Fall 1993LckfTri'Ee e

EDITOR: Deborah Gore OhrnDIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS: Christie DaileyACTION EDITOR: Steven BlaskiCONSULTING EDITORS: Barbara Schmidt.education consultant. American Institute ofArchitectslowa Chapter: Molly Myers Naumann.architectural historian. Ottumwa: Loren Horton.senior historian. State Histoncal Society of Iowa.EDUCATORS ADVISORY BOARD: Jan Carlson.South Clay School. Gillett Grove: Margie Hood.Horn Elementary. Iowa City; Pat Rod. North HillElementary. Burlington.CHILDREN'S ADVISORY BOARD: Audrey AnnCoffield. Montezuma; Matthew Kendall and JacobKnoll, Cedar Rapids; Amber Massa and JillPennington, Iowa City.

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Laura Hoover. curator andresearch director. Brucemore. Cedar Rapids. forassistan,... with the story on page 12. RalphChristian. Judy McClure. Tory Pomeroy. and LyndaWessel, SHSI. for help with the activity on page16. Holly Hamman, kid interviewer. Des Moines,and Douglas Wells. architect. Well:, WoodburnO'Neil, Des Moines; Betty Martindale. educator,and Judy Cunningham. principal, Hillis ElementarySchool, Des Moines, for help with the article onpage 18. Steven Ohm, historic sites coordinator,and Nadine West. Montauk State Historic Siteguide. SHSI. for help with the activity on page 20.The characters of Wild Rosie and Goldie by JerryBrown, exhibit designer. SHSI.

CREDITS: The activity on pages 16 and 17 isadapted from EBSCO Curriculum Materials,Birmingham, Alabama,

COVER DEF.oN: Cooper Smith & Company, DesMoines.

The Goldfinch (ISSN 0278-02081 is published quarterly bythe State Historical Society of Iowa. 402 Iowa Avenue..towa City. Iowa 52240-1806 1319/335-39161. Secondclass postage pa:d at Iowa City, Iowa. Subscriptions are$10 for four issues.

Postmaster: Send address changes to: The Goldfinch,State Historical Society of Iowa. 402 Iowa Avenue. Iowa

.121, City. Iowa 52240-1806

AirIP-1.1. 'A A-leiVg.

©State Historical Society of Iowa. 1993No portion of The Goldfinch may be reproduced withoutprior permission except for classroom use.

F .3aturesMap of Homes 2Mission: Home History Search 4Living Homes 8Homeless in Iowa 11The Haunted Library 12Discover Your Neighborhood 16Ask an Architect 18Home History Project 20What's What 24Building Blocks Game 25Home Words Game 30

ESWhen I was a kid I loved to get scared. I went to horror

films, watched the Friday night "creature feature" on TV,and read creepy tales. As darkness deepened on longsummer nights, my friends and I would swap ghost stonesand dare each other to knock on the door of an abandunedhouse that we be,ieved was haunted.

Why did I like getting scared? I loved the thrill of thechills. And I think there was another re ghost andfantasy stories opened a door into another world. There,my imagination was set free from the day-to-day drudg, :yof cbing homework, taking out the garbage, and worryingabout the zits on my face.

Like Ellen in the story on page 12, I sometimeswondered if a ghost lived in my house. It was cool toimagine all that invisible activity going on under my nose.Who knows? Maybe there's a ghost in your house!

GOLDFINCH fiction editor Steven Slaski, when he was13, posesIn 1969 with one of his favorite creatures, Frankene+.,ein, at theMovieland Wax Museum in f3uena Park, California.

CONTENTSDepartmentsOld Places: American Gothic HouseHistory MakersAnswemThe Roost

26283031

The Goldfinch 3

MiSSiOn Home History Search

Agent Goldfinch! It's time to put

on your detective coat. Get outyour magnifying glass. You'reabout to start on a new mission.Crack the history of Iowahomesyour own and yourcommunity's.

Believe it or not, homes aretouchable, explorable clues to thestory of our past. You can readabout Iowa's history in books. Butby studying homes you can see foryourself how people have lived

over time.

4 The Goldfinch

Ever since people first lived inIowa, they made homes. From thefirst loway Indian bark lodges andEuropean-Amefican log cabins,people needed a place to eat, rest,and sleep. Some homes werefancy, some plain, some big, somesmall. The town you live in or nearprobably has evamples of manydifferent kinds of styles. With alittle reading, and a lot of explor-ing and looking, you can learnquite a bit about houses and thepeople who lived in them. Travel-

,

I f

I

ing to other towns or just going toschool will be more interesting ifyou know about the architectureof homes you see along the way.

Say "home"When you hear the word

"home" what comes to mind? Abuilding with lots of apartments, aone-family house in the suburbs, afarmhouse, arnobile home? Theyare all homes. Homes can behouses, but they also includethese other kinds of places where

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you sleep, eat, hang out, pick upyour room, do homework, watchtelevision, read, and relax.

Okay, Agent Goldfinch, nowthat you know what homes are,your mission is to get a bettersense of your community byreading and doing the activities inthis issue of The Goldfinch.

Clue 0Really look at the buildings in yourtown or nearby communities. Thefirst thing a history detectiveneeds to do is 'iook" at homes. Dothey look the same? Make aphotocopy of Discover YourNeighborhood on page 16 andtake it with you on a walking tour.Circle all of the details you see anddraw additional ones. When werethe homes built? Ask the oldermembers of the community. Oryou can go to the library and dosome research. The Home HistoryProject on page 20 will give you azillion ideas for ways to find outabout homes. The article "LivingHistory" on page 8 shows howfarmhouses have changed andstayed the same over time. You'llget additional clues to help unravelthe mystery of a home's history.How were rooms inside the homeused over time?

Clue 0Learn the words. Throughout thisissue, you'll see words in red.Most of them have to do witharchitecture/homes. Two primoword games let you play withthese new words

Clue 0Find out about how homes aredesigned and built. Holly

:71

3

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Hammon, a Des Moines kid,interviews a well-known Iowaarchitect to find out how hedesigns homes. Then you can puttogether a famous Iowa home, theAmerican Gothic house.

Clue 0Read about saving buildings. Theyare vaIuable evidence to the past.Read about a group of kids fromMount Pleasant who got togetherto nominate their school, ateachers' house, and a barn for aspecial national award.

Clue 0Have fun. Don't get too scared bythe haunted house story on page12. You can actually visit thehouse in Cedar Rapids.

(continued next page)

000...filliii,1

!..

Mission Home History Search

Agent Goldfinch, your final tipHomes show you the desires,

needs, and hopes of the people

who built them and lived in them.They are full of clues to show ushow life used to be and how it's

changed.

These three factors affect the way

homes have been built.

0 Climate/environment. It can get

burning hot and Icy cold here In

Iowa. For that reason, Iowans have

built homes that can take the heat,

rain, snow, and cold. You won't find

many year-round igloos herel

Purpose. Are homes temporary or

permanent? It depends upon how

wo live. The lowly Indians lived In

bark lodges that could easily be put

up or taken apart. Today most of

the homes you'll see are permanent

buildings.

Technoiogy. It's another way of

saying the kinds of tools, materials,

and labor used to build homes. In

the 19th century, Iowans used tools

like axes and hand saws to work

with logs. Later they more

commonly used sawed lumber.

6 The Goldfinch

Architectural historian Molly MyersNaumannpf Ottumwa' takes kidsand teachers on architecturewalking tdurs. A stud'ent drew tilesketch of the home she saw on atour (below).

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Think of your hand as a town Open your fingers The knucklesand fingertips are spburbs After World War II (1939-1945), abuilding boom took place throughout the United 5tates Manypeople moved to the outlying areas of cities Apartmentbuildings, townhouses, mobile home courts, and one-familyhomes were and still are built on the rini}of many Iowa towns.

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What does an Iowafarmhouse look like?You'll see a variety of

shapes and sizes on big and smallchunks of land. Iowans in the pastfarmed differently from the way

Living flamesThe-Ooldfinci, visited Livinci flistory farms

in Pes Moines to show you how I:arms have changed over time

Dy Susanna Ashton

they farm today. Modern machin-ery and global markets havecreated an industry out of farming.But growing food on the land hasnot changed all that much over theyears. Farmers are still dependent

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upon nature and still need to livenear their land. Living HistoryFarms in Des Moines show howfarms have both changed andstayed the same over the years.

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he loway Indians were theearliest farmers in Iowa.'Hwy managed to farm for

hundreds of years! Their "farm-houses" are actually small barklodges built to shelter people fromcold weather. These buildings

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were called nahachi (pronouncedna-HAA-chee). The loway usedthese houses for only pal t of the

year. After planting crops in tlw

spring, most of the loway wouldk.ave to hunt game for severalmonths and then return to helpwith the harvest. Some loway(usually the older people and theyounger children) would stay atthe nahdchi. Six to ten people livedin each lodge. Living HistoryFarms has two of these structuresbut often there would be groups ofmany more lodges together.creating an Ioway village.

The lodges were usually aboutthe size of a mini-van. They wereconstructed out of bark, sticks.and mud. Unless it was especiallycold outside. most Of the day-to-

day work would be conductedoutside of the structure, but with afire inside, the nahdchi was warmto sleep and work in when neces-sary. During warmer weatherpeople worked in groups outsideto cook, prepare food, and doother chores.

When European Americanscame to Iowa in the 1'330s,

Living in a Log CabinI share my home with some animalpests. In my tog cabin near Carlisle,Iowa, the spaces between the logshold a number of tiny mouse skulls.The mice carried hickory nuts Into thewalls to eat In dry comfort. Maybesome of the mice ate so many nutsthey were too fat to get back outagain!

The dining room and a smallbedrooin of my house are built of logs.These two rooms are actually a logcabin! The cabin was built sometimebetween 1850 and 1870 by an earlyIowa settler. In the 125 years sincethen, rooms have been added one at atime. Now the original log cabin sits inthe middle of a larger farmhouse.

Many log cabins and houses stillsurvive today, though some may behidden within the walls of farm-houseslike mine. Looking at thetemporary log cabins and morepermanent log houses of European-

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their style of farming was more ofa year-round affair. Although someextra crops were sold, the firstcouple of years were spent justsupporting the household bygrowing food. The basic pioneerfarms included several outbuild-ings, (the pioneer farm shownhere has a hen house, a barn, acorn crib, and a smokehouse fordrying and preserving food).Sometimes homes were made outof logs and sometimes out of sod.The farm shown here was typicalof many early pioneer farms inwestern Iowa in 1850. Log cabins

(connutli Ilex( paw')

Americans provides us with cluesabout how people lived in Iowa In the1800s.

My two log-cabin rooms togetherare about the size of a one-car garage.With logs the size of telephone poles,my cabin was probably built by a groupof people at a house-ralsing. No personwould have been able to lift one ofthese huge logs alone. The neighborswould get together and put up a logcabin. They had no power tools, nonails, no tractors, or other equipmentto Oft the logs Into place. But they didhave ropes!

Log cabins weren't airtight, evenwith the mortar In place. It was quitecommon to paper over the logsbutnot with wallpaper like you'd use inyour house today! That would havecost too much. My cabin, like manyothers, was covered with severallayers of newspaper. People alwayshad something to read!Sondra Feldstein

-me Goldfinch 9

like the one on page 9 wereusually considered only lemporarybuildings. Nlost farmers hoped tobuild larger and more solidbuildings atter they saved moneytor several years. This buildinghas l floor made Out of planksfrom a saw mill, but it was alsocommon to have a floor made outof dirt or logs which had beensawed in half. This home wasbasically one big room with a lollabove where the chiklren slept.

farmhouses around WOOlooked similar to the earlierstyle of houses, but since

styles of farming had changed, sodid the buiklings instead ofbuikling their homes with roughlogs, many families purchased

in The Goldfinch

The1900 pioneer farm showehow many lowane hid wit; lotsof pre-made matenale orderedfrom catalogs and delivered bytrains. Earlier Iowa homee weremade out of and decorated withlocal materials.

11111 111111

ol )0(1 from local saw-

mills. Several items in and on the!lolls(' were pre-nladC Or Illantliac-

tUred. NotiCe the dinner bell in thefront yard. It probably would havebeen bol:ght at a local store orordered from a catalog. In thishome there is a parlor, a kitchen, apantry. a back kitchell/work an.a,a front bedroom and two upstairsbedrooms. This farm also hasseveral typical outbuildings: abarn, a corn-crib. a hog house, achicken house, a machine sluql,and an outhouse.

Turn-of-the-century farm-houses wcre often bigger thanhouses from the 1850s. Sometimes

1

more !hall One generation oh dfamily lived together in a home. I

0 What are the similarities

and differences between

these three structures?

0 What things have

stayed about the same in

the three homes? What are

the biggest changes?

0 How has your home

changed since you have

lived there?

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bovva's orrile(ectz,sImagine for a minute what it

must be like not to have a homeat all. There would be no livingroom in which to watch TV. Norefrigerator to raid after school.No phone to talk on with friends.No bed to sleep in. No furnace orfans to keep you comfortablewhen the weather is unpleasant.And no special place to go tojust to feei safe and "at home."

Kids make up 50 percent ofIowa's homeless. Recently,experts estimated that morethan 8.950 kids in Iowa arewithout homes and the number isgrowing fast. That is a numberabout the size of the populationof Decorah. According to theIowa Coalition for Housing andthe Homeless, at least 16,111Iowans (kids and adults) arehomeless. Some people say that

the number is really much higher,but it's hard to pinpoint exactlybecause only the number ofhomeless people that go to

shelters can be counted.

Kids aveHomelessToo

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There are many reasonspeople hecome homeless. Rentprices go up. wages go down,and fewer jobs are available.Sometimes federal or stateprograms to help the homeless

get cut.There are lots of ways to

#j

dshelp homeless people in Iowaand across the nation. Manygroups have fund raisers that youcould help with, or you couldstart your own fund raiser anddonate the moitey you raise to alocal homeless shelter. Youcould also write to your state orU.S. Representative or Senatorand ask him/her to support billsthat would provide help forhomeless people. 1

Jen Guttenfelder

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The Goldfinch 11

f1R! '/iT's43,(L,rThe library at 113rm emere is a (CZ,' place.

but one night !Ellen saw something terrifYing.

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Ellen Douglas fidgeted in the big leather chair,and leaned her elbows on the desk. The wide deskand tall chair dwarfed Ellen and made her look like alittle girl, even though she was 14 years old. Ellenchewed on the end of her pencil and twisted hernewly bobbed hair. She was stuck on her last algebraproblem. As soon as she finished, she had promisedto roller-skate in the hall with her younger sisterBarbara. Ellen thought roller-skating was the :

Barbara liked to think that she was moderngirl of the 1920s because she knew how to roller-

skate.George Douglas, their father, sat in his favorite

armchair. reading the newspaper. Ellen loved to studyin the cozy library with its tall bookcases and longsmooth mantel with two big blue vases above thefireplace. Ellen held her chin in her hands as she letthe flames in the fireplace hypnotize her.

"Ellen, stop daydreaming and finish your lessons.

Father said, as he folded the newspaper and left the12 The Goldfinch

MOM.

Just as Ellen was about to answer her algebraproblem, she heard a hollow scraping noise. Eventhough it was soft, the sound made her jump as if acannon had just gone off outside the window. Ellenfroze as she watched the tall vase on the right end ofthe mantelpiece slowly slide toward the other vase onthe left.

Slapping her book shut, she flew up the stairs totell Barbara what had just happened.

They didn't skate that night. Instead they huddledtogether in the nursery whispering about what couldhave made the vase scoot across the mantel all byitself. b-t-UcJy, tco,--

The next evening when it was time for Ellen to doher homework, she protested.

"Father, can't I do my history lesson in thewith you, please?" begged Ellen.

"Not tonight, Ellen," said Father. "I've got a very

ii BEST COPY AVAILABLE

important business meeting and I can't be Mter-rupted." Ellen could see that there was no changing

his mind."All right. Father." Ellen whispered. She went

back to the library and began lwr homework.Su(ldenly Ellen heard a THI.JI) behind her. 'Me wordshe was writing suddenly turned into a scribble as shewhirled around to find that a heavybook had just fallen off of a shelf.She stood up to put it back. Oncethe book was back on the shelf.Ellen turned to go back to thedesk, and an icy cold breeze blewher papers to the floor. Ellen'sheart pounded as she picked upthe papers. She slipped behind theclosed heavy drapes to make surethe window was closed.

"Is anyone there?" Ellenwhispered. Another chilly breezeanswered. Ellen felt trapped in thesmall space between the closedwindow and the heavy curtains.

As she felt for an opening inthe drapes, a cold blast blew herhair.

Ellen screamed and desper-ately tried to escape, but she was caught in thedrapes. She clutched at the drapes and tried to run,but got nowhere. Instead the drapes tumbled down.She lay in a tangled mess on the floor when Mother,Father, and Barbara rushed into the library.

"What is going on here?" demanded Father."Oh, Father," cried Ellen. "A book flew off the

shelf, and my papers blew off the desk, and I felt aco fRetltq

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Idf inch 11-klit iighost behind the curtains. And last night I saw thevase move across the mantelpiece. Oh, Mother, I'm sofrightened." Ellen said, trying to untangle herself fromthe drapes.

"Ellen, your inmgination is out of control. "Ilemantelpiece in the library is just a little slanted, that'sall," said Father as Mother comforted Ellen. "And just

to stop any rumors, I'll get the.1rnenter's level to prove it."

Father marched out to the shedto get the tool.

Father returned and placedthe level on the mantel. Thelittle bubble came to rest rightin the middle of the tube. Themantel was not slanted after all.

"Father, does this meanthat there is a ghost in thelibrary?" Ellen asked.

"Absolutely not!" Father

said firmly. 'This doesn't proveanything. il wire for a scientistto come out and look over thehouse. I'm sure he will find ourhouse free of ghosts."

A week later, a ghost

buster from Chicago made aspecial trip to Brucemore at

Father's invitation. "Ille family met him at the front

door.'Thank you for coming, Mr. Peabody," Father

said. "I would like you to inspect the entire house andreport to me anything unusual you find, if there isanything unusual." said Father. "I would like your best

S tevel t00% to rneasu.(eu1t sornetr-.117.

'Me Goklfinch 13

scientific opinion."Have you experienced or noticed anything

unusual?" asked Mr. Peabody."Yes!" piped Ellen.

"I haven't." said Father.Ellen and Barbara squirmed uncomfortably.It took Mr. Peabody all morning to inspect the

house. At noon, Mr. Peabody gave his report to thefamily.

"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Douglas. you certainly have abeautiful home," said Mr. Peabody. "And I have foundnothing unusual at all."

"A-ha!" exclaimed Father. "I knew it," he smiled."Except." said Mr. Peabody, "in the library."

Father and Mother looked shocked. Ellen and Barbaragasped.

'There seems to be a rather unusual and unnatu-ral atmosphere in your library. Mr. and Mrs. Douglas.I can't explain it exactly, but I think something iswrong in there. I'd like to stay and do a few experi-ments to determine just what or who it is," said Mr.Peabody. Barbara stared at Mr. Peabody as if he was aghost himself. 1-1len's stomach fluttered.

"There will be no experiments in the library!"

14 The Goldfinch

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exclaimed Father, turning red. And with that hemarched Mr. Peabody out to the car and drove him tothe train station.

After that, Ellen did her homework upstairs withBarbara. And no one in the familynot even Fatherlliked to linger in the library alone.

PS. "Ile tale of a ghot,' 11 the library at Brucemoreis just thata tale. I got the idea to create this storyafter reading a book that Ellen Douglas wrote whenshe was grown-up. No one else in Ellen's family eversaid anything about a ghost in the library. Ellen wasknown for her wild imagination and ability to tell agood story. 111

! 6

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The Goldfinch 1.5

isco er Yo rA I ei or oo

Take a walking tour of your own neighborhood or a favorite neighborhood with aphotocopy of these pages. Where are the homes located? How tall are they? Whatshape? Can you identify the house type? Check out the roofs, materials, and windows.Circle the details that you see. You may want to draw additional details on a separatesheet of paper.

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Doug Wells always wanted to be an

architect. As a child, he liked to

draw, play with Lincoln Logs, and

tear apart o!d toasters to see how

they were put together. He followed

his childhood dream and today owns

an architectural firm in Des Moines.

Holly Hamman, 11, also knows

something about how buildings are

put together. As a fifth grader at

Hillis Elementary School in Des

Moines, she learned about how

buildings are built through her

school's partnership with a local

construction film.

"We learned about the tools

builders use, how they lay out the

blueprint, and what they do to be

safe on the Job," said Holly. "But I've

never met an architect, and I'm not

really sure what they do."

To solve the mystery, Holly and

The Goldfinch visited Doug Wells's

officea renovated brick house in

Des Moinesso Holly could inter-view Doug herself. Here are some of

the things Holly discovered.

(erovate.:1% estoceJto nloKe 1Atia vIelw

18 The Goldfinch

Holly: What exactly do you do?

We are hired by clients to manageconstruction projects. One part ofmanaging each project is design-ing a buildingthat's the most funpart. But there are a lot of otherthings we have to do to managethe whole processsuch aslistening carefully to what theclient wants, making sure thedesign fits their budget, hiring acontractor, watching the construe-

Holly is the daughter of 5hari Hammanand Bob Hamman, both of Des Moines.Holly said she never thought aboutbeing an architectshe's leaningtoward a career in the medical field. Butshe loves to draw, and took cartooninglessons at the Des Moines Art Center

last summer.

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19

tion to ma'.,laws.

tre it follows the

What kinds of buildings do you

design?

We specialize in buildings likechurches, schools, college build-ings, hospitals, nursing homes,and retirement communities.

Do you design or fix up homes?

Two-thirds of the work we do onhomes is renovatingworkingwith an existing house or addingan addition. About a third of it isdesigning a new house. That is asmall part of our business now.When I first started my ownbusiness, I did a lot of homes. Butnow we're doing more and morecommercial projects.

When you're working on a home,

what's the first thing you do?

I listen very carefully to what myclients tell me they want. In mybusiness listening is a big deal. If Idon't listen carefully. I'll have to goback and redesign it. It's a funchallengekind of a game formeto see if I can listen and ask

cornrnefc:Al". (-70A-ri tobUS;neS5

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enough questions during the firstmeeting so I don't have to changethe design.Do you have to be an artist to be an

architect?

No, but it's helpful. There's a lot ofart involved in making a beautifulbuilding. Buildings have decora-tion, color, and use of light... .Wewant to make our buildingsmemorable... that makes peoplehappy.

How much of your job is the creative

partcoming up with ideas anddesignsand how much is following

through with the job?

Maybe 10 percent of the time Ispend is the creative part. But wedon't get to see the idea unless wefollow through with it. Unless we

do our jobs. There's a goaland

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the goal is to get the building builtthe way the client wants it and theway we want it.

As the busi-ness owner. Iprobably spend athird of my timetrying to find moreprojects, interview-ing for projects, orputting informationtogether for aproject to be

considered.

How many hours a

day do you work?

I got here at 6:30this morning to getready for a meet-ing, and I'll end theday by going to a

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Kids interetd in being.irchitects: Learn now touse a computer! Much ofthe actual drawing i5 nowdone on screen. He saysit's more accurate thandrawing by hand, althoughhe can still produce adrawing faster by hand.

city council meeting to present aproject. I'll get home around 8:30tonightthat's a typical day. Butit's not workit's fun. IN

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You're a detective.Here's your mission:

Find out all you can about the history of your ownhome.

To help you, The Home History Project high-lights a famous Iowa home, Montauk. It's a historicsite owned by the State Historical Society of Iowain Clermont.

The following three pages provide clues to helpyou uncover the history of the house. (Remember.

"

,

you can ask the same kinds of questions about yourown home!)

The first five readers who send us historiesabout their own homes will receive a free subscrip-tion to The Goldfinch. Send us at least a one-pagedescription of your home's history using photo-graphs, interviews, maps, newspapers, and draw-ings. Send to: Home History Project, The Goldfinch,State Historical Society of Iowa, 402 Iowa Avenue,Iowa City, Iowa 52240-1806.

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High on a hill above the northeastern Iowa town of Clermont. stands a large red brick mansion.It was built in 1574 by William Larrabee, Iowa's 12th governor, and his wife Anna AppelmanLarrabee. The home is now a state historic site. The Larrabee's daughter, Anna, lived atMontauk after her parents' deaths. until she died at age 96 in 1965. Thousands of schoolchil-dren and tourists visit the mansion every year. Unlike most historic homes, it is preserved withfurniture and objects that either belonged to the family when they lived there. The photo aboveshows a bird's-eye view of the house and surrounding buildings.

20 '111( Goldfinh 2 1 BEST COPY AVAILABLE

t III 1[11 UrmawmI 11/111111UAIIMUIJM ir #09- 47,

IME miffWhen you were a little kid, no matter where you lived, didyou draw a house using a square with a triangle for theroof?

If you look carefully, you'll see that homes are notjust squares and triangles. All kinds of shapes appear on

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homes. To be a good home history detective you gottaSEE your details!

Look at this photo of Montauk. Circle all of theshapes and features you can find.

0 How do shapes influence the way buildingslook?o What shapes are In the building you live in?

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Can you find?O a circleo a squareo a rectangleO a triangleO an archO a balconyo a column or

pillar

O a lightningrod

o a porch

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Thv Goldfinch 21

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If you visit Montauk today, much of the house looks like itdid at the turn of the century. Like many historic homes,the furniture and family possessions have been pre-served. But sometimes it's hard to Imagine people livingin the rooms.

O Rock a baby to sleepo Listen to a CDo In-line skateO Play the pianoO Play NintendoO Have a recital

0 What are the clues that helped you decidewhat activities took place in each room?

Ust five things you can do In your room.

22 The Goldfinch 1"

Look at these two photographs to find clues aboutwhat kinds of activities the Larrabee family might havedone in each of these rooms. Circle three activities ineach photograph that the family could have done here100 years ago. Answers on page 30.

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O Wave a flagO SleepO Read a bookO Light a lampO Talk on the phoneO Play on a computer

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Sometimes its hard to imagine how people lived in ahistoric home, especially if it is now a museum likeMontauk. Luckily, we have a lot of photographs of thehouse.

Do you take pictures of your house or room sothat you can remember it? Probably not. Usuallypeople take photographs of the people who live in ahouse. People pictures can tell you a lot about thehouse that they llve in. even though the house is inthe background. Look at these photographs of thepeople who once lived at Montauk. What do they tellyou about their house?

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O Do you think these girls live in thishouse? Are they just visitors? What arethe clues that would tell you?O Do you think the picture Is supposedto be of the girls, the car, or thehouse? Why?

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There are lots of other ways to discover things abouta home without photographs. You can look at newspa-pers, letters, or diaries. You might want to interview theformer owner or talk to people who have lived in theneighborhood for a long time. Ask them questions aboutwhat your house used to be like, who lived there, or howyour house and the neighborhood have changed over time.

Read the following two excerpts about events atMontauk from a newspaper and see what you can find outabout the house.

This is part of an article about Julia Larrabee's weddingon August 10, 3.890. During this time, weddings wereoften held in the bride's family home, no matter how richor poor the family was.

The grand old family home, Montauk.near Clermont, was decorated in everypart with masses of beautiful flowersmostly gathered from the home lawn.Montauk Hill. on which the housestands, [has] a view of one of the finestscenes In all northeastern Iowa. .Thegrand staircase, where the bridal partydescended as from a fairy land above,was decorated with [beautiful flowers]. .. The happy pair [stood] in the largebay window, which was lined withevergreens and flowers. When the las:words were said .. . the windowopened, and the couple was coveredwith ioses.

0 instead of the aisle, what did thebride walk down?0 Why do you think people don't getmarried very often at home today?

The Goldfinch 23

What's WhatHere are three kinds of building styles you can see in Iowa. Famous archi-tects designed two of them. The other is just kind of strange. Keep youreyes open for these home styles sprinkled around Iowa.

What: TH, ,oirit of H.H. Pichardson. He's riotgnost, c. a famous architect from (5oston,

Massachusetts. who lived from 1e,39 to; itif; cin rro5t 01 his designed

buildings were actually built in Chicago or onthe East deSigns influencedbuildIngS tr-OughOut Iowa and the Midwest in

the 1850's and 1590's.What to look for: Hebvy rock walls, archesover windows. fancy carved stone around andabove wincicws.The style: F.' chardson's style became sofamous It ...as Marred after hitmt's atongue tw ster: Pichardsonian Potranesolue(some saY '?.ichrds Sahmon5-5tyle1).

What makes it special: Architects used'ocai materais from Iowa t.0 V)uild Richardson-like homes a,c1 other kinds of buildings here.

Where to flnd It: see some F;Lhardsonlan

buildings. v ..s,t one of these Iowa towns: SiouxCity, Ida Grove. Cedar Falls, Dubuque. andDavenport _..st to name a few.) The photoabove !s the Edinger House in Davenport built

in 1590.

24 The Goldfinch

L

What: Frairie School of architecture. Youcan't go to this sChOOL it., a building stylr

famous by Frank Lloyd Wright, a famousarchitect, who lived from 1567 to 1959. Theword "prairie" .,ymbolizes the Midwest.What to look for: Many of the homes arehorizontal with long, fiat or slightly angledroofs. Many have wide eaves (the roof partsthat hang over the edge of a house) and lotsof windows.The style: Wright wanted his homes to echothe broad, flat prairie. His designs were mostpopular in the 1900's through 1920's, thencame back in style ri thc 1940'S and 1950's.What makes it special: Frairie Schoolhomes are designed to fit the environment.For example, the wide eaves shield snow. Thewindows let in sun for light and warmth.Inside, there are big open spaces for thcdining arld living areas.Where to find it: All over the United States.although Wright i5 especially known for hiswork in Chicago. Illinois. and its suburb, OakPark. Several Prairie School homes are in Iowa.YOu can see them in Mason City, 5ioux City,Des Moines, Clear Lake, and Newton.

24

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What: Is it a bird?15 it a plane? No, it's ahouse made of steel! It's called a Lustronhouse. About 2,400 were assembled in theUnited States between 1945, arid 1949. Thiswas the time when many people moved fromcities to the new and growing suPurPs.What to look for: Little houses made of bigshiny steel squares in gray, yellow, or aqua.The style: the creator Carl Stradlundborrowed millions of federal dollars for theproject. He leased a defense plant in Chicagoto make the Lustron houses. Each house wasshipped in 3,300 parts in a single truck andbolted together when it got tO its yarcl.What makes It special: They never neededpainting. Lustron homes were made for onlytwo years because they became too expensiveto make on the spot. Their popularity didn'tlast long. But just imagine living in a house ofsteel! You could decorate your room withmagnets.Where to find It: At least 112 Lustron homescan be found in Iowa. You can see some ofthem in Des Moines, Clarion, Iowa City, aridWebster City.

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When you were a little kid, you probably played withIllir P.

building blocks or Legos. Use your past experience andnew knowledge about architecture to do some of your own/Is construction. Use the pile of bricks below to finish

11111111 building nine new words from this issue. Answers onpage 30.

Hint: means a combination block fits here.

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RICHARDSONIAN

RENOVATE

PRAIRIE STYLE

ARCHITECTURE

BLUEPRINT

LUSTRON

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The Goldfinch 25

Make a Houseby Kay Chambers

You can re-create the famoushouse in the background of lowaartist Grant Wood s paintingAmerican Gothic by making ashoe-box model.

You need:1 shoe boxscissorsglue or tape2 sheets blue construction paper1 sheet green construction paper6 round toothpickscolored pencils or crayons(access to a photocopy machine)

Steps:O Make a photocopy of the illustrations on these two pages.O Cut out the house and porch roof.0 Fold along lines marked V. One line marked VI must be foldedtoward you to make the L shape of the house.0 Glue or tape the roof tabs to the house sides.0 Fold under porch roof and position it around the house corner. Glueone tab to the front and one to the side of the house so that the top ofthe porch roof is straight along the dotted lines.0 With shoe box on its side, glue blue paper to represent sky andgreen paper to represent grass.o Center house against the long side of shoe box. Fold under tabs andblue them to the bottom of the box.O Cut and glue toothpicks to the bottom of the box and the porch tomake pillars as shown in the photograph.O Color the flowers and cat pieces. Cut, fold, and glue as shown tomake stand-up figures.

The original American Gothic house In Eldon, Iowa.

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26 The Goldfinch

Steven Obrn

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Schools may be common enough,but Pleasant Lawn School in Mt.

Pleasant is one-of-a-kind.It's so unique that some stu-

dents at the school decided itshould be a national historic site.

And that's exactly what itbecame.

By Kimber Mitchell

In 1985, the 18 third graders atPleasant Lawn began a historicaladventure right in their ownclassroom. They became curiousabout their school after somestudents found cinder on theplayground. They knew theirschool was old, but they didn'tknow much about its history. Thestudents were so curious that theirteacher thought a fun way to learnabout the school would be to writea booklet for a social studiesproject. The third graders wouldbe researchers, and the subject28 The Goldfinch

HISTORY MAKERS

would be their school. This wasthe beginning of a discovery thatwould make the students proud tobe a part of the Pleasant Lawnheritage.

School detectivesThe students needed to find a

way to learn about their school.But how? Who could tell themabout the old school and housenearby? The kids began theirreseal eh by talking to relatives,community members, the schoolprincipal, and people who had

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gone to school there before. Thecommunity responded by writingmany letters, sending pictures,and even volunteering to sing theschool song to them. The studentssoon found out that the school wasnot just a school to these people. Itwas the center of social life in thecommunity.

The students discovered thatPleasant Lawn became a school in1916, when four country schoolsdecided to join together and theynamed their new district thePleasant Lawn Consolidated

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

School. Originally, the school hadgrades 1-12, but in 1959 it becamean elementary school.

Every student chose a topicon the school to write about. Somewrote about the tornado of 1965that tore the school's roof off.Some wrote about sports atPleasant Lawn and how studentsOnce practiced basketball outsideeven in the winter before a gymwas built. Some kids wrote abouttransportation and howstudents would ridebobsleds to school inthe winter. Kids evendrew diagrams of eachfloor in the schoolusing graph paper andmeasured the schooland playground.Others set out to findout how many relativeshad attended theirschool. One girl hadfour relatives who hadgone to Pleasant Lawn.Her father, grandfa-ther, grandmother, andgreat grandmotherwere all once studentsat Pleasant Lawn.

The kids created a bookletcalled 68 Years on the Prairie Thehistorical adventure did not endwhen the kids finished theirbooklet. Two years later, the kids,who were now fifth graders, werestill thinking about their school'srich history. They kept wonderingif there were any other schools in

Iowa quite like their school. Theyespecially wanted to find out ifthere were other schools with aschool building, a teachers' home,and a barn for horses. With thehelp of their principal, the stu-dents discovered Pleasant LawnSchool was the only Iowa schoolstill in use that had three build-ings!

411,

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national historic site. The bookletand drawings of Cie school weresent as part of the school's applica-tion to the National Register ofHistoric Places.

After a meeting with NationalRegister officials, the school,house, and barn were officiallylisted on the National Register ofHistoric Places in 1987. Thestudents topped off a community-wide celebration by burying a time

capsule filled witharticles they hadwritten about theschool when theywere third graders.They will dig thecapsule up when theygraduate from highschool in 1994. I

Because their school seemedso unique, the kids, schoolofficials, and community membersthought it had a good chance ofgetting on the National Register ofHistoric Places (a national pro-gram to help preserve specialplaces of historic value). The kids'research was one of the reasonSthat their school would become a

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Me Goldfinch 29

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Two Zillionword essay

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Page 22: Photo on left-1, 4, 6; Photo on right-1, 2, 3.

Page 25: contractor, architect, renovate, Richardsonian, prairie style,architecture, Lustron, preservation, blueprint.

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I. What your teacher givesyou to do at night

2. A song about cowboys

3. Fix it up (also a TV show)

4. Made at home

5. You can score a run at

6. Where you hear announce-ments at school

7. Having no home

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31

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