I recently spent an afternoon happily perusing documents, maps, and photographs at the Capital City Museum in Frankfort (a wonderful place if you’ve never been) when my attention was diverted by a black and white photograph of a young family. Solemn in front of the camera, their house provided a perfect backdrop to their small ensemble. The caption helpfully gave me information about the four people posing in front of the picket fence in 1896 – George Jillson, Jr., his wife Ada, and their two children, Ernie and Ruth. But I wondered (of course I did!) about the house. Was it still standing? And what did it look like now if it had managed to survive the ensuing 124 years? Would George Jilson and his family recognize their home?
The Jillson family, circa 1896. Photograph from Historic Images of Frankfort, Volume II, by Russell Hatter and Nicky Hughes, Photo Restoration by Gene Burch, Frankfort Heritage Press, 2005, page 143. Contributed by Brenda Duvall from the John Duvall Family Collection.
Fortunately, I have some familiarity with South Frankfort, the neighborhood in which the Jillson family lived until at least 1933. The house in the photograph is typical of late-19th vernacular construction in the area – it had a cottage like appearance, with a roof comprised of hips and gables, a projecting square bay window on the façade, and a very small portico over the entry door.
The Jillson Family Home, circa 2012-2013. It looks a little different, but the original house is there!
The house I surveyed several years ago is the same house…but with a façade that camouflages the original face of the house. Several years ago, I wrote about a late-19th century house in Owensboro, Kentucky, that experienced a major personality change with the addition of a 1930s porch.
A porch figured into the changes of the Jillson Home as well – but in a completely different way.
In 1901, the house has the same footprint as the historic photograph – with a small portico extending out over the entry door at one side of the façade. Sanborn map of Frankfort, 1901.
It took me a few minutes of examining the photos I took several years ago, peering at the historic photograph, and consulting the Sanborn maps before I think I figured out what happened.
The black arrow indicates the location of the original façade, from the side (east) elevation of the house. What extends out beyond that (in foreground of photo) is the circa 1912 porch that was enclosed at a later date.
Sometime around between 1901 and 1912, the Jillson family added a front porch to their house. Not the charming, but very small porch seen in the historic photograph, but a porch where folks could actually sit and enjoy themselves, children could play, and the household could interact with the neighborhood.
The family included George*, who worked for the Frankfort Canning Company, his wife Ada, and their two daughters, Ruth and Emma. Their son Ernie, seen on his father’s lap in the historic photograph, died in 1898. He was only two years old.
The blue arrow shows the Jillson House and their new porch. Sanborn map of Frankfort, 1912.
The new porch provided an outside room for the house, and would have hidden a bit of the late-Victorian period influence of the house. But it appears, based on the roofline, that at some point in the 20th century, porch #2was enclosed, and another porch built in front of it (the current porch), further disguising the shape and form of the house.
Aerial view of the house (marked by a blue arrow). The yellow line marks the approximate location of the original front of the house.
I’m not quite sure how to answer the question of the Jillson family recognizing their home, as the succession of porches has changed the look of the house – but those changes are historic themselves, and part of the story of the structure.
I know without a doubt that George and Ada Jillson would recognize the neighborhood – South Frankfort has weathered many changes since 1896, but its historic character is very much in place. And even the front porch has made a comeback in 2020, as it allows people to visit in the fresh air, and socially distance at the same time. Here’s to front porches – and the puzzles they can make of historic houses!
*Census records and the city directories give different accounts of George’s occupation. In the 1910 census, he is listed as a proprietor of a Racket Store. In the 1914-16 Frankfort City Directory, he is listed as working at the Frankfort Canning Company.
I love the original with the tiny porch. They removed the character of the house by putting on that later porch. Makes me sad.
The first thing I saw was the chimney top. I remember those!! What is the reason for their elaborate height? Is it just that the greater weight keeps the cap on tightly? I, too, loved the petite old house. As a young man, my gg-gf lived in Frankfort (1790-1810) and returned ever two or three years. He wrote about it in his newspaper, the Missouri Telegraph of Fulton.