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Page 146 EARLY BUSINESS AND
BUILDING
After the owner had purchased his lot, if it happened
to be in the woods, he proceeded to clear it. If it were in the
field, all he had to do was to remove what stumps might be on the
property. If the lot were not along a public road the purchaser
would likewise have to grade his own streets and alleys, if he
wanted them graded. He didn't bother about building sidewalks, as
none were needed.
Houses were of three sizes, 16 by 24 feet and from 16
feet to 18 feet high, which was usually called a four-room house,
two rooms upstairs and two rooms downstairs. Another style of house
was 18 feet by 24 feet, and another size 22 feet by 28 feet. When
the house got to be 18 by 24 feet, a hallway was constructed at one
side of the house with a stair going to the second floor. The
foundations of these houses were wooden posts sunk in the ground to
a depth of 2 feet. If a stump were conveniently located, it would
form a corner of a house or probably support the center of the
house, or maybe the middle of a sill, thus saving a post. Two
carpenters working from six to six would build a house of this
character in ten days or two weeks. Of course, it was not
weatherboarded and not plastered. The interior would have a heavy
grade of cheese cloth tacked on the walls, upon which paper was
spread. The chimney would be in the center of the house, set on a
flue stand four feet from the floor, and the flue was frequently
made of a yellow tile, using a tee for the pipe to enter. This flue
was constructed in the center of the house, so that the stove could
be placed in the front part and the cooking stove in the rear. The
windows and doors were what was known as "stock" doors, that is,
made by a factory and shipped in. The actual cost of a two-story
house 16 by 24 feet, and 15 feet high, completed, without
weatherboarding, was from $450.00 to $500.00 Three carpenters could
build the small house in ten days or less.
Weatherboarding was done if the owner got sufficient
money to help out in the finishing of his house. Rents ranged from
$4.00 per month for a four room house, $6.00 for a house with a hall
it it, and $10.00 was an extremely high rental for a house 18 by 28
feet with six rooms in it. Of course, all the houses were not
finished in this way. Some of them were weatherboarded and painted,
but most of them were as above referred to.
The business buildings were put up in the same manner,
except that they were not muslined and papered inside, but lined
with either white pine or hemlock lumber. One can get a very good
idea of the interior of a store by looking at the "Caldwell Atlas"
of 1878, showing two prominent business places on the corner of Long
Avenue and Brady Street. One also gets an idea of how people dressed
at that time, for both of these pictures contain lady customers.
Shelves on the wall exhibit the class of merchandise handled in both
drygoods and hardware stores.
The writer saw the following incident: One morning
coming down he noticed a load of lumber on East Long Avenue, piled
on a
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