| Author |
Message |
Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Sunday, December 23, 2018 - 6:36 am 
Hi Doc, Maybe in olden days of yore, parcel deliveries were done in the back of the house?
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Sunday, December 23, 2018 - 6:50 am
That is a thought Mame.
Trash collectors used to come to the back yards.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, December 23, 2018 - 7:50 am
Our house in Detroit had a side entrance and that had a doorbell, as did the front door. There was a milk chute by the side door where the milkman delivered milk, cream and eggs. It had a cast iron door on the outside, and there was an inside door too. That way the items were kept cold but didn't freeze. That door was outside the gate to the back yard.
According to Zillow it was built in 1939, another site says 1937.
My town home just has a doorbell in front, but many of my neighbors have converted the bonus room over the garage and rent it out and some have a doorbell in back by the garage because their renter comes in and out via the garage.
Built in 1961, I think.
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Weinermr
Member
08-18-2001
| Sunday, December 23, 2018 - 8:49 am
Bob, Calculus Rhapsody was great!
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Sunday, December 23, 2018 - 10:46 am
Thanks Sea.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Sunday, December 23, 2018 - 5:58 pm
My sister's house has both a front and back doorbell.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Sunday, December 23, 2018 - 7:58 pm
I am guessing the back doorbell was for tradesmen deliveries, such as ice to the icebox.
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Monday, December 24, 2018 - 6:54 am
Thanks Hecka and Juju
We do have a coal chute.
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Heckagirl631
Member
09-08-2010
| Monday, December 24, 2018 - 4:30 pm
Probably my late bil installed it. A lot of people (family) come in the back door.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Monday, December 24, 2018 - 8:07 pm
Okay, then if you have a coal chute, likely ice deliveries were received at the back door in the same era.
House I was born in had a coal chute, but coal furnaces were no longer used by the time of my birth.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, December 24, 2018 - 8:51 pm
We had the milk chute, a mail chute, a laundry chute (3 floors worth) and a chute for ashes from the fireplace down to the basement.
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Tuesday, December 25, 2018 - 6:39 am
We do have a laundry chute. I don't know why they went out of favor.
I use mine every day. There is no need for a clothes hamper.
I never shoveled coal either Juju. We have a boiler in the basement and radiators.
Sea, I am having trouble picturing a milk chute.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, December 25, 2018 - 1:06 pm
Well, not exactly a chute. Outside was a cast iron door. The milkman would remove the empty bottles and load in the milk, eggs.. whatever had been ordered.
The other side of the compartment opened inside on the landing between the back door and the kitchen. There was also a broom closet there and it was at the top of the stairway to the basement.
The mail chute also had inside and outside doors but the mail slid at an angle into the house.
The laundry chute started in the floor upstairs, there was an opening in the first floor bathroom and contents travelled down to the basement where there were laundry tube and mom had her washer and dryer.
In summer she hung sheets outside on lines but also had lines in the basement for winter
It really was a nice little house.
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Sadiesmom
Member
03-13-2002
| Tuesday, December 25, 2018 - 2:00 pm
my house was built in 42, had a front and back door bell (that never worked for me, last saw the previous home owner messing with it.) I had a coal chute that was replaced pretty early by an oil tank. have a mail slot, but it has two flaps but goes straight in and can get very cold. which is why I have a storm door. my apartment in Weehawken (built around 1900) had a small door in the wall of the kitchen we were on the 4th floor. I think it acted as a cooler in the spring, fall, and winter because the wall had mesh on the out side exposing it to the air.
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Tuesday, December 25, 2018 - 2:08 pm
The front door bell never worked either since we got the house. We moved there in the fifties.
One day when we had an electrician over for some other problem we asked him if could fix the front door bell.
He looked at it and said "Get a knocker"
Our mail slot was in the garage door. It was one of those old kind of doors that opened like barn doors.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Tuesday, December 25, 2018 - 3:14 pm
LOL, Dogdoc, you can get a battery operated one. That is what I have... It's a doorbell outside and has a hand held ringer that runs on AA batteries. I have it set on top of the thermostat and now I have a doorbell.
These condos were built in the late 70's and they have a push button doorbell on the door below the peephole. BUT when you have a security screen door no one can get to it, so the battery powered doorbell works great, no wiring.
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Biloxibelle
Member
12-21-2001
| Tuesday, December 25, 2018 - 3:48 pm
We had both front and back door bells growing up. The back door bell only had one chime and the front played a little musical tune. My neighborhood friends used the back door, the grocery boy used the back door, the cleaning lady used the back door. I can't remember if the meterman rang the bell or not, I don't think so. Our meters were in the basements and he had to come in to read them.
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Tuesday, December 25, 2018 - 4:22 pm
I sort of have a door bell, if a barking dog can be called a door bell.
Biloxi, did you know how old your house was?
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Biloxibelle
Member
12-21-2001
| Tuesday, December 25, 2018 - 5:58 pm
Barking dogs are the best door bell. My girls will bark at the sound of any door bell, real, tv, imagined.
I think the house was built sometime in the 40's.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, December 25, 2018 - 9:02 pm
If the house is still intact, you can look up the address. Zillow and other sites list the year built. This may or may not be accurate, as there were discrepancies between sites on our former Detroit house.
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Biloxibelle
Member
12-21-2001
| Tuesday, December 25, 2018 - 9:32 pm
I forgot about Zillow. I just looked it up, 1929.
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Mack
Member
07-22-2002
| Monday, January 14, 2019 - 7:23 am
So today I’m going out to “contract” some movers to come help us move furniture in the house. The situation is that we went out and bought a new mattress this weekend. Actually we decided to go from a queen to a king size bed. That also meant buying a new bed and we found a king size sleigh bed that comes close to matching our full bedroom set. So now the master bedroom queen size bed needs to go upstairs to the guest bedroom and the bed in the guest bedroom needs to come downstairs to be sold. Makes me feel old but no way my wife and I can move that much furniture up and downstairs. Neighbors and a couple of beers? Not happening. We’re all in our 60’s +/- with assorted ailments like bad backs, arthritis, and bad knees. Sigh.......the mind is willing but the flesh says no way.
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Jmm
Moderator
08-15-2002
| Monday, January 14, 2019 - 9:13 am
I know what you mean, Mack. Things that we would not even thought twice about even 10 years ago just aren't going to happen now.
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Monday, January 14, 2019 - 9:51 am
I think of it as getting wiser.
Let somebody younger do the work. Their bodies can still take it.
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Mack
Member
07-22-2002
| Monday, January 14, 2019 - 12:05 pm
Ok. Back from errands and movers all booked. New stuff comes Saturday so movers coming Thursday.
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