Rare Historical Photos - Moving Entire Houses By Horses, 1890-1910

Original Website HERE

Settlers move a house with the help of horses during the late 1800s.

These vintage photographs from the 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States show teams of horses being used to move entire houses to new locations.

With the rapid railway and urban development boom, a lot of people found themselves looking to relocate their log cabins, houses, Victorian mansions, and other abodes, and it looks like all they needed were some powerful horses.

Although many people find it hard to believe, a two-horse team was normally used to accomplish house moves. These incredible photos show how even fairly large structures could be moved from one place to another using plain old horsepower.

First of all, the house was jacked up off its foundation and was placed on heavy wooden beams. The ends of these beams were pointed and tended to act as runners similar to those on a sleigh.

An entire family gets involved with a house move, 

with children watching on as the horses cart their heavy load.

A temporary wooden track was put down in the street and the greased runners slid along it. The track consisted of flat planks, supported by cross ties, similar to those used on railroad tracks.

As the house inched along the street, the planks and ties left behind it were picked up and manually carried to the front of the house and laid down ahead of it. Numerous cross ties and planks, ready for reuse, are visible in the photos.

Obviously, you couldn’t hitch a team directly to the front of a house, crack the whip, yell giddeeyapp and expect anything to happen. Horses just weren’t that strong. Instead, it was necessary to mount a capstan in the middle of the street.

This capstan was anchored to some very strong objects well ahead of the house. It would appear that the capstan shown in some of the pictures was anchored to trees by means of heavy chains.

A team of horses started trotting over a bridge,

but the house was too wide. 1915.

A pulley was fastened securely to the front of the house, probably to a cross beam between the wooden runners. One end of a very strong rope, or steel cable ran from this pulley to a tree trunk or other highly immovable object. It then went through the pulley and was wrapped around the capstan.

The capstan was then turned by the horses which walked in a circle and tugged on a pole connected to the capstan. As they walked, the cable would slowly wind up on the capstan and pull the house forward. And yes, the horses had to step over the cable each time they encountered it.

If the structure was small, then it was just pulled by the horses without the need of using a capstan. One photograph shows six horses straining as they pull a two-storey abode forwards, with a group of men steering them as they go.

Another image shows an entire family getting involved with the house move, with children watching on as the horses cart their heavy load. Even when gas-powered trucks were available, horses were still used because they were able to step over the large cables as they circled, something that would halt a truck at the time.

The moving of houses and even churches and schools was briefly a big industry in the United States. There were a lot of companies offering their services to move your home to a new address.

As the country’s infrastructure became more established and building materials became cheaper, traffic, telephones lines and other services put an end to the era of moving buildings.

Moving a house during the winter. 

Twenty four horses all harnessed together to provide the 

‘horsepower’ to get the job done. 1915.

Horses rotating the capstan.

An engraving dating from 1877 shows a horse 

being used to move a three-story house in New York.

Moving a house using horses. San Francisco, 1908.

A house marching along the river. 1900s.

A group of men move a house down a street with a horse and capstan.

(Photo credit: Library of Congress / Museums Victoria).

Going Back In Time - 1944 vs 2014

This is really incredible -
First picture during war in 1944 -
Click on picture and see it as it is in 2014 - 70 years later

You can keep clicking picture to go back and forth between pictures
REALLY ASTOUNDING!!

https://interactive.guim.co.uk/embed/2014/apr/image-opacity-slider-master/index.html?ww2-dday

Will Smith's 2 MIL Motor Home

WOW!

That's a lot of motor home!!

Geography Lessons for Retirees

You can retire to Phoenix, Arizona where:
1. You are willing to park 3 blocks away because you found  shade.
2. You've experienced condensation on your butt from the hot water in the toilet bowl.
3. You can drive for 4 hours in one direction and never leave town.
4. You have over 100 recipes for Mexican food.
5. You know that "dry heat" is comparable to what hits you in the face when you open your oven door.
6. The 4 seasons are: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!



You can retire to California where:
1. You make over $250,000 and you still can't afford to buy a  house.
2. The fastest part of your commute is going down your driveway.
3. You know how to eat an artichoke.
4. You drive your rented Mercedes to your neighborhood block party.
5. When someone asks you how far something is, you tell them how long it will take to get there rather than how many miles away it is.
6. The 4 seasons are: Fire, Flood, Mud, and Drought.



You can retire to New York City where:
1. You say "the city" and expect everyone to know you mean  Manhattan.
2. You can get into a four-hour argument about how to get from Columbus Circle to Battery Park, but can't find Wisconsin on a map.
3. You think Central Park is "nature".
4. You believe  that being able to swear at people in their own language makes you multi-lingual.
5. You've worn out a car horn. (ed note: if you have a car)
6. You think eye contact is an act of aggression.



You can retire to Maine where
1. You only have four spices: salt, pepper, ketchup, and Tabasco  ....
2. Halloween costumes fit over parkas.
3. You have more than one recipe for moose.
4. Sexy lingerie is anything flannel with less than eight buttons.
5. The four seasons are: winter, still winter, almost winter, and construction.


You can retire to the Deep South where
1. You can rent a movie and buy bait in the same store.
2. "Y'all" is singular and "all y'all" is plural.
3. "He needed killin'" is a valid defense.
4. Everyone has 2 first names: Billy Bob, Jimmy Bob, Mary Sue, Betty Jean, Mary Beth, etc.
5. Everything is either "in yonder," "over yonder" or "out yonder." It's  important to know the difference, too.


You can retire to Colorado where:
1. You carry your $3,000 mountain bike atop your $500 car
2. You tell your husband to pick up Granola on his way home and so he stops at the day care center.
3. A pass does not involve a football or dating.
4. The top of your head is bald, but you still have a pony tail.



You can retire to the Midwest where:
1. You've never met any celebrities, but the mayor knows your name.
2. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor.
3. You have had to switch from "heat"  to "A/C" on the same day.
4. You end sentences with a preposition: "Where's my coat at?"
5. When asked how your trip was to any exotic place, you say, "It was different!"



AND You can retire to Florida where:
1.  You eat dinner at 3:15 in the afternoon.
2. All purchases include a coupon of some kind -- even houses and cars.
3. Everyone can recommend an excellent dermatologist.
4. Road construction never ends anywhere in the state.
5. Cars in front of you often appear to be driven by headless  people.

Church Made Into A Home

 A couple purchased an old church in Kyloe, Northumberland, in PA.

They invested a lot of money on the interior, but the exterior remained
almost completely intact.

They did more of a restoration, rather than a renovation, which would have
cost them 3 times less.

If they had not purchased the old church, who knows what would have happened to it, as it was in very bad shape.

Pictures found at the Library of Congress.

Slides found at the Library of Congress.

These photographs were taken from color slides found at the Library of Congress.  

    They are dated between 1939-1943.

The pictures are so clear and the color is so vibrant, it looks as though they were taken just yesterday.

These are just a few of the 70 pictures you can see at this site - Click Here

These images, by photographers of the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, are some of the only color photographs taken of the effects of the Depression on America’s rural and small town populations. The photographs are the property of the Library of Congress and were included in a 2006 exhibit Bound for Glory: America in Color.

 Faro and Doris Caudill, homesteaders. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Connecticut town on the sea. Stonington, Connecticut, November 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Farm auction. Derby, Connecticut, September 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Children gathering potatoes on a large farm. Vicinity of Caribou, Aroostook County, Maine, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Trucks outside of a starch factory. Caribou, Aroostook County, Maine, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Headlines posted in street-corner window of newspaper office (Brockton Enterprise). Brockton, Massachusetts, December 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Children in the tenement district. Brockton, Massachusetts, December 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Chopping cotton on rented land near White Plains. White Plains, Greene County, Georgia, June 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Backstage at the "girlie" show at the state fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 At the Vermont state fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Couples at square dance. McIntosh County, Oklahoma, 1939 or 1940, Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Children asleep on bed during square dance. McIntosh County, Oklahoma, 1939 or 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 The Faro Caudill family eating dinner in their dugout. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Saying grace before the barbeque dinner at the New Mexico Fair. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Homesteader and his children eating barbeque at the New Mexico Fair. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 School children singing. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Garden adjacent to the dugout home of Jack Whinery, homesteader. Pie Town, New Mexico, September 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Mill at the Camp Bird Mine. Ouray County, Colorado, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 On main street of Cascade. Cascade, Idaho, July 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Shasta dam under construction. California, June 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Grand Grocery Company. Lincoln, Nebraska, 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Wisdom, Montana, April 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 A crossroads store, bar, "juke joint," and gas station in the cotton plantation area. Melrose, Louisiana, June 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 A store with live fish for sale. Vicinity of Natchitoches, Louisiana, July 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Shulman's market, on N at Union Street S.W. Washington, D.C., between 1941 and 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Louise Rosskam. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Mike Evans, a welder, at the rip tracks at Proviso yard of the Chicago and Northwest Railway Company. Chicago, Illinois, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 General view of part of the South Water Street freight depot of the Illinois Central Railroad Chicago, Illinois, May 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Women workers employed as wipers in the roundhouse having lunch in their rest room, Chicago and Northwest Railway Company. Clinton, Iowa, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Children stage a patriotic demonstration. Southington, Connecticut, May 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Fenno Jacobs. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Street corner. Dillon, Montana, August 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Shepherd with his horse and dog on Gravelly Range Madison County, Montana, August 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Marine glider at Page Field. Parris Island, South Carolina, May 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 M-4 tank crews of the United States. Fort Knox, Kentucky, June 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

 Woman is working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber Tennessee, February 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Rural school children. San Augustine County, Texas, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress


February 2013