Seeing an article about the home at 231 Cook Drive being moved to its new location on 170th Street brought back some warm childhood memories for Kathy Johnson of Sioux City.
Her grandfather Charles F. Reibe was the carpenter and contractor who built the widely known round window in the home.
"I remember going to the house with my brother and sister and waiting in the car in the driveway of the house while my mother (Charlette Haakinson) went inside to see my grandfather and him waving out at us through that round window as he was working," said Johnson.
The morning the house was moved from Cook Drive out onto Hamilton Boulevard to begin its journey to its new location on 170th Street, Johnson just happened to be one of the cars in the line of traffic that was being rerouted to make room for its trip.
"I couldn't help but smile to myself as I thought of my grandfather and wondered what he would think about the house with the round window that we've always called 'Grandpa's window' moving to its new location with its new Flexx-Block foundation," she said.
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Her grandfather was a member of the Building Construction Trades Council, A.F.L.-C.I.O., but his career was cut short when he died in a construction accident at 1319 19th St. in 1961.
"I was in first grade at the time of his death, but I still remember him wearing his construction overalls and apron with the pencil in the pocket. He worked on many projects in and around Sioux City and at the time of his death, he was preparing work on construction of a new home on North Rustin Street next to our family. Had he lived, he would have been 97 years old now," she said.
Charlette Haakinson, Johnson's mother, recalled that her father was a contractor most of his life.
"He was a beautiful finish carpenter," Haakinson said. "He loved to build anything, including furniture."
Reibe built several homes in the Leeds area, including one across the street from the old Leeds High School in the 3900 block and another on Floyd Boulevard.
"After World War II, people needed housing. Money was tight, so contractors put flat roofs on houses to save money. The houses are located on the railroad track side. A lot of the houses have the same floor plan," Johnson said.
Being in construction ran in the family. Charles' father, John F. Reibe, was a contractor as well and built the house at 4318 Van Buren St., among others.
The story doesn't end there. Johnson wanted to move back to Sioux City from Ames, Iowa, to be near her aging family, so she and her husband James purchased and renovated the house at 4313 Harrison St., which her grandfather built in 1952.
Incidentally, her grandmother, Mary Anna (Nuessle) Reibe, 91, grew up in the house at 4333 Harrison St., just three houses up the street. And when Mary Anna and Charles got married in 1934, they moved to 4311 Harrison St.
"Where our house is standing (at 4313 Harrison St.) was an empty lot, and my grandfather built this house as temporary housing for them to live in. My grandparents were building a house on North Rustin Street next to my mom and dad," Johnson said.
Johnson's grandmother remained at 4313 Street a while after her husband's death. Eventually, she remarried and moved to Le Mars, Iowa, where she lived for 25 years. She broke her hip and resided in a nursing home for a time. When her husband got sick, she moved back to Sioux City to live with her daughter, Charlette. While she was living in Le Mars, she had the home converted to rental property, and it fell into disrepair.
Johnson asked her grandmother if she would sell the house to her and James.
"I bought the house from the memory of how it was when my grandparents lived in it," she said.
Because the house was in such bad shape when they bought it, they spent four months remodeling it before they moved in on Christmas Day 2005.
"We tried to get it as close to how it was when my grandparents lived here," she said.
They gutted everything. They stripped all the wallpaper and paneling from the walls, put all new walls and a ceiling (which had been removed) in the bathroom, had the walls in the house insulated and sheetrocked, had new wiring installed, put up a double car garage at the front of the lot, converted a greenhouse into a workshop, put in a new kitchen, and had all new siding installed.
They also refinished the oak floors, which have their own story behind them.
Johnson recalled that her grandfather had renovated a bowling alley and taken the flooring from there to put in the house.
"My uncle (Patrick) can remember the oak floors," she said. "He helped install them."
"They were hand nailed in by my mom and dad and Patrick," Haakinson added. "Mom used to do a lot of work with him. She helped roof the house, put up paneling, and did some painting. She enjoyed it."
Mary Anna chimed in: "Those were happy days."
The happy days of renovation continue in the family. Haakinson helped her daughter and son-in-law renovate her parents' home by painting, pulling up carpet, removing paneling and tearing out three windows. She also helped tear out the old kitchen cabinets and refinish the floors. Johnson has returned the favor this summer by helping her mother, who lives on North Rustin Street. She has been painting the house, the garage and the little barn. This week, Johnson and her mother were planning to paint her grandmother's bedroom blue.
"I must have applied over 30 gallons of paint this summer," she said. "I like to watch HGTV and get ideas on what we can do."
Johnson said she takes great pride in seeing older houses being taken care of. The house that her great-grandfather Reibe built on Van Buren St. has been renovated by its new owners, and she is happy that family traditions can continue in the house that her grandfather Charles built.
"My grandmother used to hang Christmas lights in the windows in the living room, the kind with a wreath and candle. And we'd have Sunday dinner as a family here. It used to fit the whole family.
"We try to have family dinners here, just to get together," Johnson said. "We have Christmas here every year. It's nice when family members who live so far away can come to the house and reminisce."
"We also used to have Easter here," added Haakinson. "We used to have Easter Egg hunts in the back yard and my parents used to give the grandkids big Easter baskets. Kathy does the same for her (three) grandkids."
Johnson said she thinks her grandfather would have been happy with the way the renovation turned out.
"Grandfather always wanted a double car garage in the front, but city code wouldn't allow it back then. Over the years, the city code was changed, and we were able to put the garage up that he wanted. I thought that was kind of cool," she said.
