Some time ago I posted about a house which I remembered from my childhood. The house had been built on Sprinkle Road in Portage, about a block from the Long Lake shore. It was originally owned by Carrie Paak/Peek Waruf and her husband Henry Waruf.
When Therese Remine inherited Ramona Park from them (her aunt and uncle), she also inherited their house. She divided her time between this house and a house she owned in Detroit.
I had heard that the house was relocated and mentioned that I had set my Kalamazoo sleuths on its trail.
Today I am happy to report that my detectives (Mom and Dad, also known as Janet and Rudy Hanson) have done their legwork. They discovered that, in 1990, the house was moved much farther south on Sprinkle–past Bishop road. It was replaced by a fire station. The new owner took the house apart “brick by brick” to move it. He enclosed the porch and put in an elevator.
Here are the new photos, taken by my father just as the current owner was trying to mow the lawn!
The house is now owned by Patrick “Mick” Lynch and is inhabited by his company, American Hydrogeology Corporation. They are an environmentally friendly company which helps with the clean up of water.
Mick has plans to re-roof the house and paint it white, which as you can see was the color in the old photo.
The other posts where you can read about Ramona Park, Long Lake, and the Waruf/Remine house can be found at Living by Long Lake, Portage, Michigan and The Park with a Literary Name .
The Family Kalamazoo 
Very cool! Your mom and dad deserve and A+ in sleuthing,
They do, don’t they? Yup, they did good. Reminds me of the times we drove around Kalamazoo while my parents solved clues for the radio mystery contests (KZO?), except this time I wasn’t in the car.
My friend bought a similar house in TN and painted it in beautiful colors. Before they change theirs, they might consider: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4131521762915&set=t.1536815102&type=3&theater
Joanne, what a stunning house! Just gorgeous!
Oh my! I never heard of moving a house! They took it apart brick by brick and literally moved it. Great to see the photos, well done mom and dad 🙂
When I was a little girl I watched them moving a house down the street. It was a sight I could never forget–seeing a house on wheels rolling down the street and hanging over the sides. That was not a large house. For a big house like this one, I imagine they would have to take a lot of it apart. Is it an American thing to move a house, do you think?
This house is just fabulous…so glad your detectives have done great work! They may deserve a raise…:)
Oh good grief, Sheila, don’t be giving my dad that idea! hahaha Yes, they did great!
What a great house! It’s nice that it’s been well-preserved.
Sheryl, I love that they rescued the house! When the city wanted to build the fire station, I’m sure they wouldn’t have saved the house if someone hadn’t stepped up.
I’d never have thought the house ever stood anywhere else but where it is now. What excellent work was done to keep it looking as it did in the past.
It really is amazing. I’m so glad they made the effort!
Good luck with your search. I like the name Sprinkle Road. Must be a story there.
[…] The Report from My Detectives […]
[…] The Report from My Detectives […]
When the Waruf’s house on Sprinkle and Carrie lane was moved to its new location, a few miles north of the original, it was raised and put on a some sort of base with wheels that moved it straight down sprinkle road, Sprinkle road was closed for hours, because the house took up the whole road and with Consumers power and the city – working together to take down every red light and power line that crossed the road. A lot of people watch as it was moved slowly to its new land, and others were frustrated because they couldn’t get down sprinkle and had to go out of their way to get to where they wanted to go.
But I knew the Kurtoff’s who owned the house and sold it to Mr. Lynch, they were a small family and when the boys left home it was a lot for two people.
Just wanted you to know how the house was moved.
Thank you for this information, Paula! It really adds to the story! One of my earliest memories with my grandmother is watching a house being moved down Burdick street. Of course, it wasn’t nearly as large a house as the Warufs (or what I think of as Therese’s house).
I am not sure exactly when Theresa moved into the end of the Palace,but when I was a teenager, I used to help her with some household chores, ans helping her clean up the barracks (as I called them) where the baseball stayed when they came to play baseball. I’ll always cherish my time spent with Theresa,because if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have gotten paid jobs in the neighbor, I cleaned and cooked one meal a day for the Jones, who lived at the top of the hill on Long Lake,next to my Aunt Leatha Carter, and I cleaned for the Burts, who lived on Waruf Drive, I use to give Evelyn Van Epps home perms,I enjoyed all the older folks that lived right there at the Park,they were all so nice, except for one family I despised. Growing up at the Lake, was wonderful and living there year round was fantastic. I will try and fine this one picture of our house, its the only one can find there at the park before we moved the house up on Gray Street, the next street south of Carrie Lane. Harvey Thornton was who my parents bought they’re cottage from, and in later years he became my brother in law. The same Harvey Thronton that was one of Henry waruf’s Pall bears.. The picture of our cottage was during a bad winter and waruf drive is totally closed and Harvey Thornton is walking on top of waruf drive right in front of our house. I will email you the picture.