Doug & Marie's Kitchen Adventure

We’ve let Joe and his crew know that we’re interested in any surprises or clues they might find that help us understand more about the house and the back kitchen. We may never know exactly how and why Walter enclosed the space.

But we do know when.

Yesterday, the guys found some old papers that had been wadded up and jammed in the wall space as insulation. An interesting collection: the Portland Telegram (an afternoon paper that went bankrupt in 1927 and was sold to the Portland News in 1931); The Sunday Oregonian, particularly the autos section; and The Oregon Journal. The Morrisons were newspaper readers.

Here’s a clip about the Reo Convention coming to Portland, from the Sunday Oregonian on February 2, 1930. Apparently they passed out matching hats…

Here’s an interesting scoop about the world’s largest passenger plane — a 30-seat Fokker – coming to Portland. And below that, from January 26, 1930, a story about a record order expected for new Chevrolets to keep up with a booming demand for new cars. Apparently, the market had not yet found the bottom. Hmm.

To confirm this general timeframe, indicated by the papers, here’s a couple of very nice pictures of Jean Morrison, taken in the backyard in May 1931. The newly installed casement windows are on the right, a much sturdier version of the neighbor’s garage is behind her, with the neighbor’s house over her shoulder. A pear tree is leafing out in the background.

Below is one last view of the casements, showing Edith Morrison cooling off in a lovely backyard. Venetian blinds hang in the casement windows in this photo, and the pear tree is well established.

This was taken in the late 1940s, about the time the house behind us was built. This was the absolute peak of attractiveness for the backyard, which went seriously downhill until we took over in 1989. We’ve never had it looking as nice as Edith did. Maybe next year.