Bungalow History – Part 2

We know that both the Horner House and the Bungalow sit on Lot 1 in Downey & Brouses Subdivision of Irvington, In. But, we don’t know exactly when the Bungalow appeared. We were curious why someone would place a bungalow so close to the Horner House so we tried to figure out how, when & why it “appeared”.

We did find out a few interesting facts. We have a copy of the 1925 Baist Map showing the Horner House and garage on Lot 1. (This map also shows the other Second Empire, the Riches House, on Lot 24. Notice that the house fronts on Emerson Avenue. This house was moved to front on English so that a gas station could be built on the corner of Emerson & English. I’m not sure what the actual date was for the move.) We also have a Baist Map for 1941 that shows both of these houses. But the Horner House is the only house on Lot 1. 

So we know that the Bungalow was not on the property in 1941. We didn’t find out any more details until we went to the CPAC (Christian Park Active Community) meeting back in September. We were asking if anyone knew anything about the Bungalow. One of the men spoke up and said that he knew the history.

He said that his father had owned the Bungalow when it sat on the Northwest corner of Emerson & English. If you look at the previous maps, it was on Lot 7. The house was moved in order to build the service station that now sits on that corner. This took place sometime in the 1950’s.

We’ll need to do some more digging to figure out exactly when it was built & when it was moved. I never really realized that it was so common to move houses. Much better than today’s knock it down & move on mentality. We’re glad it’s still here!