This Old House
By Bill Bucher
Sept. 26, 1991
To get some important details about this old house, it was decided that I would call Norm Bauman who lived just north of the old house when it was located to the north end of Whitehouse School and learn about some of the occupants, since I started to school in what is now the Board of Education Building. Hiram Davis lives there in 1920 when I was introduced to the first grade.
We used to sit out on the grass to the east of the school when Hiram Davis would come strutting up, straight as a ram rod, and he would sing war songs as well as tell war stories. Hiram was a veteran of the Civil War. Following Hiram was Roy Mastin's family. After Roy came 'Tiny' Turner, who some of you may remember as a very large constable who used to bring the law down on those who violated it. Norm's mother brought both Roy's children as well as Tiny's children into the world. It is quite well known that women did not go to hospitals to have their children and a midwife performed this important service. Insurance and better facilities were not available.
The cabin stood empty after Tiny's little family moved. When the house was to be moved to the George Dunn property, a kitchen which had been added to the rear was going to be destroyed. Norm's father asked if he could have it and was granted this wish. A little story surrounds the moving of the kitchen. Jacob Bauman got a bunch of round fence posts and put them under the kitchen. He hooked a tow rope to the Model T Ford and the other end to the kitchen. The only casualty was the the Model T and the rear end gears went out. Jacob replaced the gears and in the assembly he made a mistake and turned the rear end over halfway. From this position they found out that Model T had two speeds, backward and forward. This building is still connected to the old Bauman house.
The cabin served many years on the property to the south of the present location. The present elementary school building was built in 1932. George Dunn lived in the house across from the present location and used the old log cabin for a garage and workshop. The log cabin had been covered with barn siding and its identity was lost and people forgot about it.
When Sohio Started to rid the property of the house and other buildings on the site in preparation for a Sohio Super Service, the only building left was the old house. When the bulldozer pushed against the old cabin, it wouldn't move. On investigation, the operator looked inside and found out the construction. The secret was out and the news traveled like wildfire through town. To have a real live log cabin in town was just too good to be true. To have this priceless heritage and not save it from being destroyed would have been some sort of crime. 'Save the Log Cabin' was headlined in the Standard. The town was blessed with an active Business Association and the members were not going to let this venerable old building slip out of our hands.
A number of us went to Mayor Nofzinger and the town council to get permission to move the cabin onto town property across the street to the north. The property was a gift to the town and could not be sold. A community house had previously stood on the property and was used for church services, boy scouts and doubtless other things.
The Business Association received permission and immediately began preparation to move the cabin. A contractor had agreed to leave his low boy for us to use in the move. I don't believe many people realize the weight of such a building. We found out. Phil Springer furnished his 'M' tractor and his expertise to pull the cabin to its new location. The log cabin was loaded and was a quite unstable looking sight, sort of spraddled out with a hole cut in the back, not too good.
Bell Telephone raised the cable and the State gave permission to temporarily interrupt traffic. All was in place the big day had come. Phil moved onto the highway with his precious load. The low boy and its load was following well. If you have noticed, the sides of the street are somewhat lower than the middle and an immediate problem developed at a certain critical point. The logs creaked and groaned in opposition to forward movement and the log cabin stuck in the middle of Route 64! Don Scott rushed his wrecker to the spot. He tied the front to a tree and strung the cable to the top of the load. He took up the slack and put on the power of the winch. The wrecker settled down to business but did not move the load. More power was applied and Don winched by the inch with the load slowly moving across the high spot in the road. The cabin was free and an enormous emergency had ended. The people cheered.
The Business Association had dug trenches the size of the cabin to mount it on a solid and permanent foundation. We needed concrete. It happened that Bud Haybes, former postmaster, had become acquainted with the contractors building the AT&T station on Finzel Road east of town. This project used great quantities of concrete and, as it happens at times, there was a part load left after a pour. Bud told the contractor our dilemma of not having concrete for our log cabin. This must have touched a cord because it wasn't many days and we got the call, "The concrete was coming!" A number of us, including Bud, grabbed our shovels and rushed to the site to move and level the concrete. AT&T never did send us a bill.
We were in luck because we needed to save our money in order to complete the project we had started. The straightening of the structure on the foundation was a Saturday afternoon job. Cloyce Adams lived just west of Whitehouse on Whitehouse-Archbold Road. Most of the workers knew him quite well. He was the son of Harry Adams, a building mover in the old days. Cloyce and his brother Everett helped their father. Cloyce had his father's building jacks, wooden and hand-operated of another generation. Cloyce told us where to place the jacks and each took positions to operate them. Cloyce would tell Vic to turn a couple of turns watching the effect on the building and then would instruct someone else to turn. This went on with Cloyce watching the effects. Finally he was ready to measure the building and found it within two inches of square. I'm not sure that it holds true to this measurement today so don't hold me to it. Don Dick could hardly believe that it could come out so well and was amazed to see it happen.
This is not only a credit to the experienced eye of Cloyce but also the woodsmen that cut the trees and the carpenters that notched the logs. They didn't have tools that we consider necessary today but had to rely on mostly muscle power and craftsmanship. Cloyce donated his time and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself although retired for a number of years.
The hole in the rear of the building was discussed considerably. Obviously the cabin was heated by a cook stove that also served for cooking. We had removed the chimney in crossing under the wires and had to rebuild it. We still had to do something about that opening and finally decided that we would get an estimate from Gale Longnecker for a fireplace. He suggested a price which we knew was certainly below actual cost. Everyone seemed to know that the Business Association was running low on funds. So Gale did an excellent professional job on the fireplace and we pain him. However, it was decided that it was too perfect a job for the age of the cabin and the Historical Society took care of it by plastering the brick and using barn siding to cover the upper part of the inside area.
We learned how to 'throw mud' (plaster) in between the logs. Most of the old chinking was gone. Before the job was complete I lost the fingerprints on both hands. Eventually the Business Association had closed the cabin in and had spent its treasury. It was something in the amount of $1,600. We got a lot more work done due to so many people donating time and material.
Perhaps one of the greatest lessons of the entire project was that there was so much interest expressed by so many people and that this project generated area-wide involvement of young and elderly alike. The period of 150 years ago was a time of tough living conditions and certainly challenged the most hardy of souls. The living that we enjoy today is traceable directly to that generation of people who came to this area seeking freedom and lived through many hazards and tough times in order to allow us to live a better life.
The loving restoration of this old house has clearly provided evidence to us that the goal of those early residents in providing generations of successors with the type of living that we enjoy today was met. Their tenacity and determination is truly the measure of a legacy that shapes our community even today.
We used to sit out on the grass to the east of the school when Hiram Davis would come strutting up, straight as a ram rod, and he would sing war songs as well as tell war stories. Hiram was a veteran of the Civil War. Following Hiram was Roy Mastin's family. After Roy came 'Tiny' Turner, who some of you may remember as a very large constable who used to bring the law down on those who violated it. Norm's mother brought both Roy's children as well as Tiny's children into the world. It is quite well known that women did not go to hospitals to have their children and a midwife performed this important service. Insurance and better facilities were not available.
The cabin stood empty after Tiny's little family moved. When the house was to be moved to the George Dunn property, a kitchen which had been added to the rear was going to be destroyed. Norm's father asked if he could have it and was granted this wish. A little story surrounds the moving of the kitchen. Jacob Bauman got a bunch of round fence posts and put them under the kitchen. He hooked a tow rope to the Model T Ford and the other end to the kitchen. The only casualty was the the Model T and the rear end gears went out. Jacob replaced the gears and in the assembly he made a mistake and turned the rear end over halfway. From this position they found out that Model T had two speeds, backward and forward. This building is still connected to the old Bauman house.
The cabin served many years on the property to the south of the present location. The present elementary school building was built in 1932. George Dunn lived in the house across from the present location and used the old log cabin for a garage and workshop. The log cabin had been covered with barn siding and its identity was lost and people forgot about it.
When Sohio Started to rid the property of the house and other buildings on the site in preparation for a Sohio Super Service, the only building left was the old house. When the bulldozer pushed against the old cabin, it wouldn't move. On investigation, the operator looked inside and found out the construction. The secret was out and the news traveled like wildfire through town. To have a real live log cabin in town was just too good to be true. To have this priceless heritage and not save it from being destroyed would have been some sort of crime. 'Save the Log Cabin' was headlined in the Standard. The town was blessed with an active Business Association and the members were not going to let this venerable old building slip out of our hands.
A number of us went to Mayor Nofzinger and the town council to get permission to move the cabin onto town property across the street to the north. The property was a gift to the town and could not be sold. A community house had previously stood on the property and was used for church services, boy scouts and doubtless other things.
The Business Association received permission and immediately began preparation to move the cabin. A contractor had agreed to leave his low boy for us to use in the move. I don't believe many people realize the weight of such a building. We found out. Phil Springer furnished his 'M' tractor and his expertise to pull the cabin to its new location. The log cabin was loaded and was a quite unstable looking sight, sort of spraddled out with a hole cut in the back, not too good.
Bell Telephone raised the cable and the State gave permission to temporarily interrupt traffic. All was in place the big day had come. Phil moved onto the highway with his precious load. The low boy and its load was following well. If you have noticed, the sides of the street are somewhat lower than the middle and an immediate problem developed at a certain critical point. The logs creaked and groaned in opposition to forward movement and the log cabin stuck in the middle of Route 64! Don Scott rushed his wrecker to the spot. He tied the front to a tree and strung the cable to the top of the load. He took up the slack and put on the power of the winch. The wrecker settled down to business but did not move the load. More power was applied and Don winched by the inch with the load slowly moving across the high spot in the road. The cabin was free and an enormous emergency had ended. The people cheered.
The Business Association had dug trenches the size of the cabin to mount it on a solid and permanent foundation. We needed concrete. It happened that Bud Haybes, former postmaster, had become acquainted with the contractors building the AT&T station on Finzel Road east of town. This project used great quantities of concrete and, as it happens at times, there was a part load left after a pour. Bud told the contractor our dilemma of not having concrete for our log cabin. This must have touched a cord because it wasn't many days and we got the call, "The concrete was coming!" A number of us, including Bud, grabbed our shovels and rushed to the site to move and level the concrete. AT&T never did send us a bill.
We were in luck because we needed to save our money in order to complete the project we had started. The straightening of the structure on the foundation was a Saturday afternoon job. Cloyce Adams lived just west of Whitehouse on Whitehouse-Archbold Road. Most of the workers knew him quite well. He was the son of Harry Adams, a building mover in the old days. Cloyce and his brother Everett helped their father. Cloyce had his father's building jacks, wooden and hand-operated of another generation. Cloyce told us where to place the jacks and each took positions to operate them. Cloyce would tell Vic to turn a couple of turns watching the effect on the building and then would instruct someone else to turn. This went on with Cloyce watching the effects. Finally he was ready to measure the building and found it within two inches of square. I'm not sure that it holds true to this measurement today so don't hold me to it. Don Dick could hardly believe that it could come out so well and was amazed to see it happen.
This is not only a credit to the experienced eye of Cloyce but also the woodsmen that cut the trees and the carpenters that notched the logs. They didn't have tools that we consider necessary today but had to rely on mostly muscle power and craftsmanship. Cloyce donated his time and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself although retired for a number of years.
The hole in the rear of the building was discussed considerably. Obviously the cabin was heated by a cook stove that also served for cooking. We had removed the chimney in crossing under the wires and had to rebuild it. We still had to do something about that opening and finally decided that we would get an estimate from Gale Longnecker for a fireplace. He suggested a price which we knew was certainly below actual cost. Everyone seemed to know that the Business Association was running low on funds. So Gale did an excellent professional job on the fireplace and we pain him. However, it was decided that it was too perfect a job for the age of the cabin and the Historical Society took care of it by plastering the brick and using barn siding to cover the upper part of the inside area.
We learned how to 'throw mud' (plaster) in between the logs. Most of the old chinking was gone. Before the job was complete I lost the fingerprints on both hands. Eventually the Business Association had closed the cabin in and had spent its treasury. It was something in the amount of $1,600. We got a lot more work done due to so many people donating time and material.
Perhaps one of the greatest lessons of the entire project was that there was so much interest expressed by so many people and that this project generated area-wide involvement of young and elderly alike. The period of 150 years ago was a time of tough living conditions and certainly challenged the most hardy of souls. The living that we enjoy today is traceable directly to that generation of people who came to this area seeking freedom and lived through many hazards and tough times in order to allow us to live a better life.
The loving restoration of this old house has clearly provided evidence to us that the goal of those early residents in providing generations of successors with the type of living that we enjoy today was met. Their tenacity and determination is truly the measure of a legacy that shapes our community even today.
