Time For a Closeup

 

John Kuck Family Home 1897

I blogged about this photo a couple weeks ago when I first saw a low resolution picture of it laying on the Good Samaritan's couch out in Colorado Springs. Now that I have the albums scanned at a much higher resolution, I can actually make out a lot of details that I couldn't before. This allows me to zoom in and see who those people are on the front porch which I couldn't make out previously.

Clara, Elizabeth and Paul Kuck

On the back of the photo, it says it was taken in 1897 and is of John Kuck's home which I knew already from the previous photo. But knowing the date it was taken lets me calculate that Clara Kuck was around 16 years old, her younger brother Paul would be around 9 years old and their mother Elizabeth would be around 40 years old. Knowing all that I think the young lady holding up the bike is Clara, Elizabeth is the woman with the fancy hat standing on the front porch and younger brother Paul is in the background closer to the door. Up until seeing this album, I have never seen a picture of what Paul Kuck looked like and now I have probably dozens to choose from.

John and Elizabeth Brandau Kuck

I only had two pictures of Elizabeth Kuck including the one you see above which was given to me by a nice lady who was a descendent of John's younger brother Frederick whom I met some 15 or 20 years ago now. She was in her 70's back then and hasn't responded to any emails I have sent her in a long while so I'm guessing her original copies are now in the hands of her children... I hope. But the likeness of Elizabeth to the lady in the upper closeup photo are the same to my eyes. The other picture of her holding a baby Paul is even closer in resemblance. 

Also in the album is another view of the John Kuck home in the same orientation as the double image blurry picture which was the only picture I had of the home up until now. In this view you can see the bay windows on the side which confirms things along with the address which was written below it by Clara Kuck.

She even stepped out of the yard and took this picture of the house from across the street. This view allows me to see the addition on the back of the house which was mostly cut off and behind a tree in the other picture I own of the house. It also shows that at one time they had a swing set in the side yard as well.

I also found another picture of Clara on the right standing beside her sister Bertha Kuck on the left along the fenced in yard. 

Above is how Ferguson Street looked in 1897 and below is a modern day picture of Ferguson Street as it looks from somewhere in front of the Kuck house used to be. I wish I knew what direction the above picture was facing so I could compare it to modern day versions even though it would do me little good. Looking in either direction these days you see mostly a mixed use business type of district. I'm guessing after the EF5 tornado of 1968 which destroyed a 6 or 7 blocks of Ferguson (the width of the tornado path) and that many blocks of many other streets in it's path, ultimately rid the area of single family homes into what it is today. The actual site of John Kuck's house is on the right side of the photo below which is the front lawn and parking lot of a nursing home facility these days.

If you are interested and have 12 minutes to spare, here is a video of the event with several vintage news clips of the aftermath.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mtori2ucD0

Finally, I thought I would attach the picture I found of John Kuck's home after the tornado and was surprised to see there was a picture of it before that is lot better than the other one I have. It has been so long since I found it that I had forgotten about that little detail. I guess it shows that I should review everything now and then to see what else I may have forgotten about.