Maxine and I have lived here since 1950. I’ve made some improvements to the outside, built a big porch and stuff like that, but the rest of the house is pretty much like when we moved in.
When Maxine and I first saw this house, we liked it. It cost us $8,800. I had this house, the lot next door and the lot in the back — all of that for $8,800. It’s been appraised at close to $200,000 now. I can hardly believe that’s accurate, but that’s what they say.
I have two children now: One is 58, she lives in Buffalo, and my other daughter is 55 and lives over on 12th Street. She gets over here pretty often to check on the old folks.
The street was a dirt road. One day a man came out, and they were surveying. And then a few days later, along comes big bulldozers and trucks and they cleared the street off and built the curbs and paved the streets. That was around 1970. They charged the homeowners half the cost and then the city paid the rest.
Bill Hunt Sr. was a guy who I used to work with. He worked in the shop with me and then one day he came over and asked me if I wanted to go with him as his toolmaker ’cause he’s opening up his own business on Munroe Falls Avenue. So he opened it up in 1952, and I worked with him. And that’s what I did until I retired in 1985 when I was 65.
Go down to the gorge, the Cuyahoga River. It’s a nice place to hike. When I was younger, I’d go down. It’s safe enough to go down if you go down the right pathway. There’s a pathway that goes down, and they have the waterfalls down there. If you ever get a chance, get a friend and go down there.
