2009 Home Tour
By: Kathy Gemperle
Planning for this year’s Home Tour began last Fall when two neighbors requested the tour be in their area – Magnolia Glen. It sounded fine and with the promise of help we went ahead with the plan by sending Photographer, Larry Rosen out to take pictures in the spring before the leaves appeared. But plans changed and the neighbors who wanted to be in the tour begged off. Back to square one.
We sent out letters to other homeowners and apartment dwellers in the area bound by Elmdale on the north and Hollywood on the south. A few people responded, one being Marge Ford. Two of them, Alletta Kovalchek and Mary Stoner, had been on previous tours. Then Lynn Pierce began asking people she knew in the EPIC neighborhood, which is in the northern section of Magnolia Glen. That’s how we met Bob Kaplan and Kimberly Sobo.
It was August and we had only four sites. Next, LeRoy and I went door to door talking to residents. That’s how we found Timothy Devitt and Justine Aten and signed them up for the tour.
Another friend, Ed Fleming, agreed to show his apartment home. We also asked Kathy and Jerry Stern whose home has been on three tours and they graciously agreed when their son Matt offered to help and be a docent.
The last two homes added to the tour were a bit of a surprise. For Arthur Grauman it just took a second phone call. For Christina Kiaer and George Kresak it took a gracious invitation by Nancy Schroeder and Larry Ebert, who were just walking by to admire the new painted lady on Magnolia.
Once again the Bethany Lutheran Church at Thorndale and Magnolia was generous with their parish house as a gathering place for the pretour dinner. Pastor Paul Dobberstein and his wife Pamela hosted the event and then Pastor Paul worked all afternoon as the docent for the tour of the beautiful Arts and Crafts church building. Many thanks to them for their support.
It was an enjoyable tour with quite a variety of housing from individual apartments, a two-flat conversion to a single family home, the Walter Burley Griffin twin houses and three single family homes dating from 1889-1910. The presentation of this variety of housing tells the story of how a community is built.
Many thanks to all our homeowners and docents who gave of their time and knowledge. Each year we are heartened and encouraged by the generosity of the neighbors in Edgewater who are willing to share their homes for a day and support our efforts to make community history important to all.