Wienke: Memories of well-kept Victorian home at Lincoln, Hwy 75

To the Editor:
Memories:
Of my home at 219 West Lincoln Street at the corner of Lincoln and Highway 75 from 1950 to the early 1960s. It was a beautiful house. It had three fireplaces that did not work but were beautiful décor, and the home also had a built-in china cupboard, pocket doors and beautiful woodwork.
We were like one big family. There were mostly elderly widows who were residents when we first moved there. Later on, there were several families that were very special to me, the Cletus and Leona Gackes, the Dale and Beverly Davises, the Chester and Mary Bendts and more.
When Hugh Maxwell owned the house, he remodeled and added an apartment in the basement and another in the attic. So then there were six families that lived there.
I lived with my parents, Harry and Dortha Rusche, on the main floor west apartment. They moved to Pipestone in the early ’60s where my dad’s job with the Rock Island Railroad took him.
I was now working for Northwestern Bell Telephone Company as a telephone operator. I moved upstairs to the east apartment, where I had several different roommates that also worked for Ma Bell.
Oh, what good memories I have of that home. It has hurt me to see it get so neglected over the years.
Connie (Rusche) Wieneke
Luverne