The PAST
Known history
When we purchased the house in Spring of 2020, we were provided with some known history:
- Built in 1905
- Built for one of two sisters, the house to the West was built for the other sister
- Garage is shared between the two properties
- Termite damage caused the extreme droop in the back of the house (proven true amongst other things)
- At one point it was a Quad-plex (4 livable units in the house)
Running theories
1. The property had been used for the Underground Railroad prior to the structure (house being built)
2. Barrels of booze were hidden in the trenches during Prohibition
3. We are open to other ideas, although the following have been debunked (coal shoot / storage, canning / subterranean storage, access to another structure on site)
"Tribal knowledge"
There are many themes that are present in historic architecture, however the focus of this is on one in particular. While studying abroad in Florence, Italy, I took a class called "Forces that Shape Cities." While the knowledge gained in this class pertained predominately toward European cities, some US cities were shaped from European origins.
One of the common themes was the placement of Churches, Governmental Centers, and the residences of those around those structures. In Florence, the closeness of your residence to either the governmental center or the religious center, indicated your prominence in the community. In the case of the Kent State Florence facility, the family that had owned the property was a very successful banking family, and the facility was located in close proximity to their governmental center. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_University#Florence_Center
While US structures and buildings do not date back as far as some European buildings, it is fairly obvious that the chapel at St Mary's derives from the historical practices of abroad. So it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that the neighbors of St. Mary's have a substantial historical significance.
references
References / Articles here