| The Curry House:
Built circa 1898, the Curry House will wrap you in warmth just as it used to house the "Flora Journal" and Dr. King's dental office. In fact, the good doctor's chair and drill are still in residence should you need work while visiting. (Actually, you may have to venture over to Dr. Wheeler's office in Milton-Freewater to have your dental work done, since he has it on display in his office.) |
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Although we are restoring the Curry House along with all the other buildings, we choose to do this one on the inside only. Walk through the door of a ghostly house into the restored inside-- a striking contrast.
The Curry House, owned by the Curry family from 1932 until 1998, will eventually have three guest rooms -- Paradise, Prairie Lost, and Promise all named after local one-room schools.
The red building in the background is the north end of the stable. The stable was originally built to house horses for guests staying at the Farmers or Wilson Hotel as it was known at various times. (The hotel was removed in the early 1900's to be used for a house in the north end region. We do not know where exactly at this time.) It was recently discovered that the garage (Powatka Room housing the laundry and Vanessa's bookkeeping office), the shop and the woodshed were built sometime after 1923.
Even though indoor plumbing was completely added in 1989, you
still have use of the three-holer outhouse located directly in
front of the woodshed--we often wonder if they wanted company
during nature's call or if this just helped to forestall digging
another pit!
In restoring the house, the plumbing remains a modern
convenience along with electricity. The original plug holes for
electricity can be seen in places along with the holes for the
old hot water pipes emanating from the wood cook stove in the
kitchen. The kitchen sink was placed back in the original
position to allow the long window to produce natural light as
originally intended. Remember ... at the time of construction
The Curry House used oil, kerosene or white gas lanterns.
Electricity came to Flora in the 1950's with the rural
cooperative, generators were used for a time before that.
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| The Clark House and the Conley House:
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North End Crossing's approximate two acres worth of Flora's townsite holds two of the first houses built in Flora, circa 1895. These two homes need several doses of TLC before they will see guests staying in the nine bedrooms housed within.
The Clark House, located on the corner of the property, has no indoor plumbing currently and very little electricity, not that you would want to use the very old wiring. It was built by George Clark, who also owned a warehouse and a store in Flora, neither of which remain to this day. A picture of the Clark House in 1904 shows that the current overly large fruit room on the back was added later. A welcome addition since "putting by" was necessary to the household in days gone by. The very large country kitchen (great for canning) contains a small pantry with an herb drying cabinet. |
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The Conley House, neighbor to the Clark House, remains standing through sheer stubbornness. This house needs more TLC, but we still hope to open it for guests in the future.
The back porch was torn down to prevent accidents, but the outline marks on the back of the house,
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and the change in the plant materials indicate the location. Recently, the front porch fell to the ground. So now with one remaining porch on the east side, we will once again dismantle a part of this house in order to save the whole thing. This house also lacks indoor plumbing with even less electricity than the Clark House.
But, The Conley House still has its three-holer outhouse-- one child, two adults-- just incase you like company. |
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