I think I found the porch. Sam Weller’s “The Bradbury Chronicles”, photo number 3, 1921, Ray is about one, “...on his grandparents lawn.”; stained class window, dark clapboards, white trim and brick foundation. Now note photo number 4. Ray is about three, sitting in a toy car, house in background has same stained glass window, clapboards and trim and…a porch.

OK, his grandparents' house used to have a porch. dandelion and I were talking about the parents' house.

Sorry. I should have been more observant. Fascinating discussion though. Hope you find the answer.

Sam Weller tells us that the home we're looking for — or dreaming of — was actually the home of Ray's great-grandparents:

quote:

The house has long since vanished, but it once stood at 22 North State Street, which would later become Sheridan Road. From the living room windows, through lace curtains, one could see the expanse of Lake Michigan. The house had an ornate wraparound front porch with a lacework of wooden railings and banisters and a central tower that rose four stories high; the grand residence was the inspiration for the fictional Spaulding grandparents' home in Dandelion Wine. Though Ray's grandparents lived in a smaller, more humble home, he chose to imagine them in the old Bradbury residence with its high attic window looking out upon the entire green world below.

Ray's great-grandfather Samuel I. Bradbury was a newspaper publisher and mayor of Waukegan.

The Waukegan Historical Society published a 128-page pictorial book on Waukegan, and a library near me has a copy. Next time I'm there I'll see if it has a photograph of the Samuel I. Bradbury residence.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Walloon,

I was at the library today. Unfortunately, the Waukegan Historical Society's pictorial history of Waukegan does not have a picture of the Samuel I. Bradbury residence, the inspiration for Doug Spaulding's grandparents' home in Dandelion Wine and the Elliot family home in From the Dust Returned.

However, I was happy to find that my library does have a microfilm of Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of Waukegan going from 1885 to 1929.

Here are the homes of Ray's parents and grandparents in 1929. Ray's parents were at 11 S. St. James, and his grandparents were next door at 619 Washington. The "D" means "dwelling", and the "A" means auxillary building (in this case, a garage). The numbers 1 and 1 1/2 refer to stories, and the black dots refer to a composite roof (the type of roof covering is important for fire insurance).

Relevant to our discussion here, both houses originally had porches that they no longer have. Porches are indicated on the maps with broken lines. The porch going across the front of the grandparents' house has been removed. And the porch that was on the southwest corner of Ray's parents' house has been walled in as an enclosed part of the house. (See Nard Kordell's photos on the first page of this thread.)

I wish I could find the Samuel I. Bradbury residence on one of the Sanborn maps, but the street addresses were renumbered in 1922.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Walloon,

St._James_1929.jpg (35 Kb, 18 downloads)

I was curious, does anyone know how this turned out? Who got the house, or whether it has been changed at all? I honestly cannot believe that no one with the means ever seemed interested in buying this property, and the house next to it, and turned them both into some sort of museum, or restored them to their 1920's appearance. Sigh...

theoctobercountry:

Don't know who eventually bought the house, but they likely didn't know what the house was all about. I say this with some reservation, tho even the realtor, a Tomas Gomez (remember the name from a Bradbury story?) didn't know that those by the name of Bradbury once owned the property. I doubt if he (the realtor) was even familiar with the writer, Ray Bradbury.

Biographer Sam Weller mentioned to Ray that the house was for sale. Ray, in turn, said he'd put up $50,000 to buy the house if the city would put some money in as well. Sam thought it would be a great prize to behold, I thought as well, seeing that significance of the property. But the city never acted on the suggestion. (Walt Disney's house, for instance, where Walt created Mickey Mouse by befriending a mouse that would visit his room... all this on Harding Avenue in Chicago...was up for sale in the last ten years and the Disney organization still didn't fancy buying the old place. It still goes as a rental today as far as I know).

When you think how much restoration it would have taken (in terms of BIG BUCK$) maybe it would have worked out in the very long run to buying the place. Thirty years from now the $50,000 down payment might possibly seem a bargain if our present standard of living remains intact by then. The house eventually sold last year (I believe it was last year)...for about $230,000.

Wow, the selling price is higher than I expected, given that Waukegan seems like a economically depressed sort of area.

I guess I'm worried that someone is going to tear down the place, or make it look even worse than it does now. (Argh---what if the new owner tossed out the "strawberry window" at the foot of the stairs, without realising it was the specific inspiration for several Bradbury stories?) It really would be amazing if someone would buy the two houses and restore them to look as they did, circa 1927 or so. I can very easily picture the place in my mind with the awful siding and shutters gone, and the porch put back in place, etc...

I guess I just have to come to terms with the fact that the Green Town of my imagination no longer exists, and nothing can bring it back now. Kind of sad. I was only there once, nearly twenty years ago, and while the ravine was everything I could have hoped for, much of the rest of the town looks kind of depressing. So many great old buildings were apparently razed, and replaced with horribly ugly modern structures. The new library in particular was absolutely hideous. And what was that ugly box called---the apartment building that replaced the mansion from "Jack in the Box"? 'Lilac Ledge,' or something? Ugh...

Yes, and did you see the sad excuse for a courthouse which houses a magnificent picture of the old one, clock and all? By the way, there are two of those stained glass windows. I wasn't in the house, but would guess one to be on a lower stair landing and another further up the stairs.

Yes, somewhere or other I have the photos I took when I was in town, and when taking them I made sure that the two windows with the coloured glass squares clearly showed in the photographs!

Unfortunately, such windows are exactly the sort of thing that would likely be consigned to the rubbish heap, if the new owners are not of a nostalgic bent, and are replacing the old windows with more energy-efficient ones. It does make me worried... but as I said, I guess I have to accept the fact that the Green Town of the 1920's is long gone and can never be brought back...

theoctobercountry:

I think one of the windows may have been removed. I seem to recall (during my visit a couple years ago) there was a panel of plain glass. But I may be mistaken. (That really helps, eh?) I have color photos of the windows, but they are, alas, in storage in Chicago. However, I have a black and white photo (black and white?? Yes!)...posted on my website. Go to:
http://www.catchaway.com
...and click on the BRADBURY icon in the green bar. Then regard the top listing of Bradbury Photo Album (NOT the Bradbury personal photos) and click on that. When you are on the first page, go to the top row of photos and click on the middle black and white photo. You will see at least something of one of the stained glass windows.

Very nice site, Nard! I'll have to peruse it in more detail later (computer problems today; everything is loading very slowly), but I did view the photo you noted.

That really is too bad, if one of the windows has been removed already. These windows have a limited value on their own terms---similar windows come up for sale on eBay now and again, and as a rule don't sell for more then $100 or so. But when you think of the fact that they were the inspiration behind several classic stories written by a famous author, their value is incalculable.

Man, it must seem that I am obsessed by these windows, or something! Must be due to the fact that I do work in stained glass, and also that "The Man Upstairs" is a long-time favourite story of mine.

quote:

Originally posted by Nard Kordell:
But the city never acted on the suggestion.

They never do!

quote:

Originally posted by lmskipper:
This is just far too freaky. I am totally spooked!!

Then Ray's job here is done!

Doug Spaulding:
It's been quiet around here without you! Come to think of it, where's lmskipper been hiding. Now that school is out, there's no excuse for her not posting, unless she's teaching summer school. Eeek!