Sepia Saturday: Landlady

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday photo of a man digging a hole brought to mind photos I have shared before of the construction of an apartment building. With inheritance from her father and probably a bank loan, my grandaunt Violetta Davis set her sights on financial independence by building a home that would generate rental income too.

Jacob Conrad's crew preparing to lay the foundation
at 473 South Mason St, Harrisonburg, VA

It was 1935. Violetta was a school teacher and principal. She hired J. W. Conrad & Son Contractors and Builders for the job. The plans called for 5 apartments. She would live in one and rent the others. Her early renters included faculty at Harrisonburg Teachers College (now James Madison University – GO DUKES!) where she was also on the staff as supervisor of student teachers.

Framing the basement

Violetta supervising the construction of her home.
I wonder if that is Jacob Conrad on the 2nd floor in dress shirt and hat
or the man Violetta is talking to.

The finished product. The center door opens to a common hall
and stairs with doors to the apartments on the left and right.
Decorative iron grates below the first floor windows hide the fact
that there are basement windows too. 

The back of the building soon after completion

In 1936, Violetta married Virgil “Dick” Ryan. He was a business man, an entrepreneur, who owned a news stand and bowling alley. Newspaper articles indicate he had a good eye for opportunity. Whether it was HIS idea or Violetta’s to add on to the apartment building in 1937 is anyone’s guess. In several news articles about the building boom in Harrisonburg, the Ryans were named among owners and contractors who were building or remodeling.

Apparently the Ryans spent $20,000 to add an apartment
to the 473 South Mason Street building
from the Harrisonburg Daily News Record 25 Mar 1937

Evidently this is when Violetta’s apartment building went from 5 apartments to 6 when the attic was converted into a one-bedroom apartment.

The attic apartment 

While Violetta was the OWNER of the apartment building, Dick seemed to be the manager, if the rental ads are any indication.

 

from Harrisonburg Daily News Record 22 Jun 1940

from Harrisonburg Daily News Record 31 Jul 1940

Dick died young in 1941 and Violetta remained on her own the rest of her life. Whatever she learned about business from her husband she put to good use. In 1950, she purchased another apartment building just down the street. She always referred to it as “the Hartman house.” I never understood the significance of that name until a search in NewspaperArchive turned up an obituary for Roy S. Hartman. It turns out Roy’s wife was Dick Ryan’s sister. That means Roy was Violetta’s brother-in-law.

In 1940, Roy and his wife Edna lived in this apartment building. Google images show it is now a typical college apartment building looking rather worn. However, it used to look much neater. 

"Hartman House" from Google Maps

The summer before my senior year in college, Violetta offered me the attic apartment. It was CUTE. Those windows facing the street were in the living room OR possibly a bedroom, depending on how a renter would use the big open area just inside the entrance to that apartment. The renters at the time placed their beds in what more logically seemed like a kitchen-living room combo. Anyway, it was a cute apartment but I opted for the convenience of campus life.

Between Violetta and the Hartmans lived Edgar Sipe and family. According to the 1930 and 1940 censuses, their home was a single-family home, but I remember it as two apartments because Barry and I lived upstairs from 1975-1976. It was also one of Violetta’s properties but I have been unable to determine when she purchased it. Mr. Sipe died in 1943, so sometime after that, for sure.

 

"Sipe House" from Google Maps
We entered through the door on the left which opened to a landing
where we hung our coats before going up the stairs.

This apartment was HUGE. I wish I had pictures. While the 2 bedrooms were large with good closets, and the living room boasted those beautiful windows, and the eat-in kitchen had a real pantry, it was the bathroom I remember best. It had BLACK tile around the tub, black and white mosaic floor tiles, and the original pedestal sink. It was so pretty, but honestly, I never wanted black tile after a year of cleaning that bathroom. It really showed lint and dust.

Apartments were not the only properties Violetta invested in. She also owned a building that she referred to as “the store building,” whatever that meant. For a time, she rented it to John Edge for his piano and guitar business.

from the Harrisonburg Daily News Record
6 Jun 1959

Violetta was very much a woman with a head for business. And it all started with digging a hole.

Make your way to Sepia Saturday to see what others have dug up for this week.

Wendy

© 2020, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

52 Ancestors - IN THE NEWS: Chewing Gum Scandal

My grandaunt Violetta Davis was the love of Virgil “Dick” Ryan’s life. 

Violetta and Dick

However, by the way she never talked about him, I guess he was not the love of hers. Admittedly, he had been dead nearly 30 years before she and I ever had those grown-up conversations about life and family. Were it not for newspapers available online, I probably would know nothing about this man who, I have learned, was quite the mover and shaker in Harrisonburg, Virginia in the 1930s.

Violetta and Dick

He made the Daily News Record quite often, usually because of his involvement in the American Legion. But it was in several brief articles that Dick Ryan revealed himself to be a clever businessman. 

From Daily News Record 6 Aug 1934

From 1934 until 1938, he was a partner in the City News Company along with E. L. Klingstein who was also owner of the extremely popular and successful Friddle’s Restaurant in downtown Harrisonburg. In 1938, they dissolved their partnership allowing Klingstein to concentrate on the restaurant business and Dick to become sole owner of the news stand, renamed Ryan News Company.

Dick Ryan conducted several clever marketing schemes to promote his business selling newspapers, magazines, and novelties. He installed ballot boxes for customers to “vote” on important issues in the news including whether the number of judges on the Supreme Court should be expanded and whether

Bruno Richard Hauptmann was guilty of kidnapping the Lindbergh baby.

Daily News Record
26 Feb 1937

Daily News Record
6 Feb 1935

Daily News Record
29 Aug 1938

He also exhibited in the store window unusual items and puzzles for people to figure out, like the “ever-rolling light bulb.”

The most interesting story of Dick Ryan’s business ventures though was being fined $25 for operating a coin machine, supposedly an illegal one used for gambling. A new coin machine act had become effective in January 1937, and Harrisonburg police were eager to comply to rid the community of illegal gambling. In a raid on the night of January 7, police seized 12 coin machines belonging to eight businesses: Dick’s City News Stand, Klingstein’s Friddle’s Restaurant, a pool room, a coffee shop, and a few other restaurants. Two of the coin machines were empty, surely a sign that someone had enjoyed a big pay-off.

Daily News Record
21 Jan 1937

However, those highly suspicious coin machines were simply gumball machines. Chewing gum.

As the defendants explained, there was no element of chance involved, no pay-off. Pay your penny - get a ball of gum. Guaranteed. Nevertheless, the incident sparked a great deal of discussion over whether even a gumball machine would be considered legal under the new act, especially considering the profit to be made. Gumballs cost 15 cents per hundred and were sold at a penny each.

Oh, if only today’s law enforcement had only gumball machines to worry about.

Amy Johnson Crow continues to challenge genealogy bloggers and non-bloggers alike to think about our ancestors and share a story or photo about them. The challenge is “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.”

Wendy

© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.

Sepia Saturday: Jelly Beans and Kidney Beans

Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt shows a man standing beside one of those 1930s-1940s cars that my family refers to as “jelly bean” or “kidney bean” cars because of the bulbous shape.

Anyone who is obsessed with family history and challenged by trying to identify people in unmarked photos has surely heard of Maureen Taylor, the Photo Detective. She is everyone’s go-to expert on finding clues in old photos. With her instruction, even the casual family historian has learned to pay attention to details like styles of clothing, use of props, and what the photo is printed on.

In my best imitation of the Photo Detective, I decided to try my hand (and eye) at dating photos by studying jellybean cars.

Photo 1

Wendy and a Nash Statesman Custom

Can you date a photo with just a partial view of a car, specifically the wheel? Why, yes, you can. When I zoomed in, I could read “Statesman Custom.” Hmm, not familiar. With the aid of Dr. Google, I learned it was a Nash, an American car manufactured between 1916 and 1954, and then until 1957 after the creation of the American Motors Corporation. Since I know that adorable child, I used those sturdy walking shoes and balancing fists to narrow down the years the photo was taken to 1952 or 1953. Therefore, the car had to be older than that. 

Even someone who doesn’t know the child can date this photo if they pay close attention. As I studied wheel after wheel, I noticed that in early Statesman Customs, the model name appeared closer to the door, not over the wheel like in my photo. Then look what happened in 1952.

1952 Nash Statesman Custom

The folks at Nash moved the model name over the wheel.

MY GUESS - 1952 (early 1953 at the latest)

Photo 2 

The deckle edge is a sure sign that this next photo dates between the 1930s and 50s, but the car will surely point you to the later years of that range. Knowing these people made it easy to guess the make of this car and year. My father was a Ford man, so I guessed his father was too. The grill, the hill-shaped hood, the vented door window all cry FORD. My grandparents never had much money, so I could not imagine they bought a new car very often. Therefore, I started with 1949. However, from 1949 through 1951, the shape and placement of the fog lights or signal lights did not match my photo. The 1952 Ford however introduced the propeller-looking light mounted on the edge of the grill in a direct line below the headlights. But was it the Mainline, Crestline, or Customline Ford? The answer probably lies INSIDE the car, but I will guess the Mainline, certainly not Customline as my grandparents’ finances probably would not have allowed it.

1952 Ford Crestline looks similar
to my grandparents' car

MY GUESS - 1952 or later

Photo 3

Glenn on Granddaddy's Buick

The ultimate “jelly bean” was my grandfather Orvin Davis’s Buick. I do not know how many cars he owned in his lifetime, but I know this Buick with its iconic VentiPorts and gunsight hood ornament was his last. It was the car he chauffeured me and the neighborhood kids in to buy penny candy at the drugstore. It was the car that carried us across the state every summer to visit my cousins. As a child, I thought it was the biggest, heaviest, and ugliest machine ever imagined. I was probably right. 

But I digress - back to my detective work. I tried zooming in to read the name of the model etched across the grill. The best I can decipher is that the word is 5 letters, so that eliminates the Roadmaster. It could say Super. It could say Eight. From what I can tell, they were the same thing, but I find more photos showing “Eight,” so I will go with that.

Cropped  - small image from a large photo
Granddaddy's Buick

Since the 1948 Buick Super Eight had more of that jelly bean shape with a semi-fastback style than Granddaddy’s car which had more definition, his car probably dates after 1948. The metal strip on the windshield seems to have been eliminated from the 1950 models. Therefore, it seems likely the car was a 1949 model, and because I know the car was still around in 1963, dating this photo more accurately will require studying the little boy and his clothes.
MY GUESS - 1949 model but photo around 1953

Photo 4

Violetta Davis and Dick Ryan
between 1935 and 1941

One last jelly bean car is this one. I confess it has given me a fit. Knowing the people, I can say for sure the car dates before 1941 which is the year Violetta’s husband Dick Ryan died. The object of most of my research was this wing-like rear fender. I compared cars from 1935 (they married in 1936). Apparently that wing fender was popular among car manufacturers.

The Chevrolet, Lincoln, and Buick had a rear fender most like the one on Dick Ryan’s car.

Next I tried comparing the small rear window and exterior spare tire holder. The search was hampered by the fact that most of the pictures I found were of cars that have been restored by auto enthusiasts who might have altered the exterior. But for the most part, most cars did not have the same slope as Dick’s car.

Then I remembered I have another picture showing the front of the car.

First two women are unknown
Violetta and her sister Velma Davis Woodring 

Once again, like Dick’s car, the front fenders on the Chevrolet, Lincoln, and Buick had the same gentle slope like a sliding board. The other cars’ front fenders were more like a hill with a definite stop where it met the running board.

Furthermore, the shorter length and VERY pronounced vent on Dick’s car eliminated most of the contenders which had narrow vents and long front ends.

But I could find no car with a vent like this one. The very pronounced vent on the Buick seemed somehow related but not an exact match. I was beginning to think the car rehab artists of today may have substituted the vents. I put my research aside for another day.

Then BOOM - just like that, this picture popped up:

1935 Ford Slantback

Look at the side vents. Look at that slope and spare tire. This has to be the car.

And that led to this YouTube video. 

It’s long with a lot of talking. But I sat through it because my grandaunt and uncle had that car: a 1935 Ford Slantback which had NO TRUNK, by the way. The car in the video has not only the very large vent but also the same molded lines around the window and along the slanted back. One of the interesting features of this car shown in the video is the ashtray that spins around like a revolving door. Violetta was a smoker, so she probably liked that.

MY GUESS - 1935 or 1936

I am no Maureen Taylor, but studying the details of old cars has been a fun little exercise for me. Admittedly, there was no new revelation, no new connections to anyone, just little factoids to add to my family history.

Hop in your car and enjoy the ride to Sepia Saturday.

Wendy

© 2019, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.