Otto’s Column

LOCAL HISTORY

‘Square’ houses are common in Ogle Count y area

Editor’s note: Otto Dick, Oregon has researched thepeople,places and eventsimportant in the Oregon area’s history for the Ogle County Historical Society. The followingis one of a series of the articleshehaswritten.

By OTTO DICK

During our daily trips in Ogle County Marilyn and I see many square houses. We’re guessing there are several thousand square homes in Ogle County.

The American Foursquare Houses popular between 1890-1930 were known as a box house, cube house, double cube house or simply a square type of American House. This style became known as a typical American House.

It was economical to build and today can be found in neighborhoods and farms across Ogle County.

It’s easy to spot a square home by its symmetrical appearance. These square houses have pyramidal shaped roofs with a central roof dormer which gives lighting to the third story attic. Many of these houses have a wide one story porch.

The first floor usually has four rooms including an entry foyer, living room, dining room and kitchen.

Upstairs three bedrooms and a bath are located in their own corner of the house assuming the owner wanted an indoor bath.

In one of the early Sears Square House plans, the bath was labeled toilet or store room. The rooms in the square designed house are usually square shaped.

The front of many square houses had a central front door and equal groupings of windows on both sides upstairs and downstairs. Some had an offset front door with windows above this offset on the second floor.

Not all square houses are alike. Exterior siding was masonry, sculpted cinder block, brick, stucco, clapboard or shingle siding.

Some clapboard houses featured clapboard siding on the first floor and wood shingle siding on the second floor.

Some dining rooms featured a bay window to break up the straight lines of the house. (President Bill Clinton’s birthplace is a square house.)

The Foursquare was a popular mail-order one story bungalow. When these houses were ordered they came in a boxcar with a book of directions and all the parts pre-cut and numbered for self-assembly.

These houses were particularly common in neighborhoods near rail-lines. These houses known as Workingman Foursquare Houses had a pyramidal hip roof and full tall basement underneath.

Company towns developed immediately before and after World War I often have clusters of one story foursquare houses.

Sears offered 15 different styles of the foursquare houses. Sears also sold prefabricated homes in the foursquare style between 1908 and 1940. They sold prefabricated houses in 370 designs. Foursquare designs were the company’s best selling house designs.

The American Foursquare or Prairie Box was a post Victorian Style house which had many features with the Prairie Architecture pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Wright designed his own variations on the foursquare, including the Robert M. Lamp House, a fireproof house costing $5,000.

He inspired other architects to design foursquare houses.

Peter Hastings left his footprint in Oregon, a Frank Lloyd Wright style house built in 1907 at 600 N. 4th St.

The price of this house was $11,475 with construction starting July 15, and the contract stipulated it must be finished by Dec. 1.

Information about the Hastings house appeared in an article in the Jan. 2, 1908 Ogle County Republican newspaper. The headline was “Handsome new Residence Recently Completed in This City by P. E. Hastings”.

Photos provided by Otto Dick TOP LEFT: The Hastings home is located on N. Fourth Street (Illinois 2) in Oregon. TOP RIGHT: This square home is now a two-apartment house in Mt. Morris. BELOW: This home is on N. 6th Street in Oregon.

MT. MORRIS SENIOR CENTER

Sig n up now golf outing and trip to Shipshewana!

The Mt. Morris Senior Center and the Women of the Mt. Morris Moose are happy to be working together.

The first cooperative activity together is a trip to Shipshewana, Indiana, and they hope you can join them.

The trip will leave from the Mt. Morris Church of the Brethren the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 13 and return to Mt. Morris on the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 14.

They will be going to the Flea Market, Downtown Shipshewana, the Cheese Shop, the Bulk Store, and more.

The trip will include an Amish Meal, an Amish Musical Play, and a one night stay at the Farmstead Motel.

All breakfasts will be included. The price for this awesome trip is $385 (double occupancy).

This trip will be led by Barb Davis of the Women of the Moose.

To join the trip please call Melissa at 815-734-6335 or stop by the Mt. Morris Senior Center at 9 East Front Street. Reservations need to be made by Aug. 9. All are welcome!

Golfers needed

The 18th Annual Hagemann/Miller Memorial Golf Outing is Saturday, Aug. 7. The cost is $60 per golfer which includes 9 holes of golf, a cart, a goodie bag, hole game prizes, and a steak dinner.

If you would like to join us just for dinner the tickets are $20 each.

Please call the senior center at 815-734-6335 if you would like to participate. All are welcome!