Terrace Court NE, with eight typical alley dwellings, was built in 1889 as rental properties by Benjamin H. Warder, a major developer. Residents used stoves for heating and kerosene for lighting. In the rear yard was a toilet inside a shed and a water hydrant (the same type of pump used to get water at campgrounds). There was no running water or electricity on Terrace Court until the late 1940s. Due to the extremely small size of the houses, considered a public health hazard, alley houses like these were scheduled to be demolished by 1955, but the homeowners who had renovated the dwellings and converted them into modern, safe structures fought back, and the deadline to vacate the houses was repealed.
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For more information on these historic sites, go to the restoration society’s web page for the walking tour at http://chrs.org/historic-sites-tour-2020/
Best to view in "Original" because other versions resized by Pbase are decidedly unsharp.
Lone lotus, posted earlier:
