This Prairie-style house is still standing and beautiful today! It shows up on Zillow, the real estate website, as being constructed in 1913, though it may have been 1910. The 1910 is the earliest city directory listing for this address and shows that the inhabitants were Parmer P. and Mary Lorimor. And with closer scrutiny of the present-day house it looks like an upstairs addition was added on in the back at some point.

This particular photo, from a cropped Real Photo Postcard, shows an AZO stamp box on the back, with two triangles up and two down, giving a broad estimate from around 1910 – 1930. However, we can see two ladies posing on the porch for the photo, and judging by their dress style, I would say it would have been taken in the 1910s (not necessarily 1910 as the house doesn’t look brand new) or maybe very early 1920s. Likely the two women are either Mary A. Lorimor and her daughter Eloise, or Minnie Siler and daughter, Mabel, Lettie or Flossie. The Lorimers lived there from around 1910 to about 1915; the Silers from about 1917 to about 1920, and the Nichols family moved in sometime between 1920 and 1924.

1910 – Federal Census. Parmer P. and Mary Lorimor

1913 – Parmer P. and Mary A. Lorimor; Eloise Lorimor (student).

1915 – Palmer P. and Mary Lorimor; Eloise Lorimor (student).

1917 – George K. and Minnie Siler; Flossie E. and Mabel O. Siler (students).

1919 – George K. (trucker for the C R I & P Railroad) and Minnie E. Siler; George and Minnie’s three daughters, Flossie E., Lettie E., and Mabel O. (teacher) Siler. The entry for George and Minnie shows 217 11th Ave W. for West – just a typo.

1920 – Federal Census – George and Minnie and their three daughters, Mable, Lettie and Flossie.

1924 – Della (widow of Henry) Nichols; living with Della are Marie Nichols (stenographer for the Hutchinson State Bank) Whitney Nichols (student) and Wilbur L. Nichols (salesman for Kansas G & E Company).

Divided back, cropped, Real Photo Postcard, unused with writing. AZO stamp box. Circa 1913 – 1920.

Price:  $20.00       Size:  3 and 1/2 x 2 and 1/2″

Sources:  R. L. Polk & Co.’s Hutchinson City Directory, 1910. p. 209. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

Year: 1910; Census Place: Hutchinson Ward 6, Reno, Kansas; Roll: T624_453; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 0173; FHL microfilm: 1374466. (Ancestry.com)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Hutchinson City Directory, 1913. p. 220 – 221. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Hutchinson City Directory, 1915. p. 211. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Hutchinson City Directory, 1917. p. 311. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Hutchinson City Directory, 1919. p. 325. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

Year: 1920; Census Place: Hutchinson Ward 6, Reno, Kansas; Roll: T625_546; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 182; Image: 893. (Ancestry.com)

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Hutchinson City Directory, 1924. p. 284. (Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989.)

McAlester, Virginia, and Lee McAlester. A Field Guide to American Houses. 1984. New York:  Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. Print.