This fall we are starting a project that has been a long time coming, the restoration of the Wagner garage. When the Glenview Park District purchased the farm there wasn't much that didn't need major repair. The buildings that were in the worst shape got priority so the barn and the house were first to get attention. Then we reworked all the fencing and outbuildings. Over the last couple years we have been putting effort into infrastructure and grading. After almost a decade we can finally put a little attention to the last building on the site to be restored, the garage. Built at the same time as the farmhouse the two buildings tell us a lot about the Wagner family and the times in which they were living. If you went back to 1920 the idea of building a new farmhouse in the Prairie style with brick would have seemed pretty trendy and a would have definitely been a mark of prosperity. Add in the house features of electricity, indoor plumbing and closets in all the bedrooms and you have what would have been "state of the art" for that time period. The garage itself also helps us learn a little bit about the family. While today a house isn't considered complete without a garage that was not the case 90 years ago. When a farm laborer would make about $500 a year and a car cost over $1,000 cars were not something that every family had. However, it interesting that cars and telephones were some of the most eagerly adopted new technologies on the farm. In 1921 the census shows that in Illinois 53% of farms reported owning a car. Compared with only 9% owning tractors it is interesting to think of the conversations that were going on around the dinner table regarding these purchases. At the time, the Wagners were a fairly well off family and they too owned a car. However, there's wasn't a common old Ford but a Maxwell. Like much of the mechanical and implement purchases of the era, cars were expensive and a farmer wanted to take care of them. For farm items like tractors this often meant adding on a shed to the old barn. For automobiles this meant building a garage. Of course, you wanted the garage close to the house so that during bad weather there wasn't so much ground to cover. From the little data that we have it looks like the Wagners may have owned 5 different cars during their time at this property. For those interested, the last car they bought was a 1954 Chrysler Windsor Deluxe.
Our next step in the restoration of the garage is to finish rebuilding and painting the three windows and install the new bi-fold garage doors. Jeff, Beth and Andy have been hard at work to get this project off the list. Once we are done I'll post some more pictures of job.
