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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHDC1984-008 Support DucumentsGN & CONSTRUCTION ASSOCIATES, INC. MAIN STREET P.O. BOX 9330 IORTH LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS 72119 (501) 374-1185 OR 374-4199 Supplied by Quapaw Quarter Association, Inc. 1001 Cumberland Lots 1 & 2 Block 45 Original City Built I believe in 1891 or 1892. Mr. Altenberg first built a small frame house at the back of these 2 lots facing East loth Street in 1876. The 1890 city directory shows him still at 303 E. 10th -- the 1893 directory shows him at 1001 Cumberland. Mr. Delbert D. Reedy and his wife, Lillie Belle Reedy bought the property in 1943 froib Mrs. Sweetland who was one of the Altenbergs 3 daughters. Thru the years the Altenbergs bought all of that block from loth to llth on Cumberland --lots 1,2,3,4,5, and 6. The Reedys have sold off all the other lots keeping lots 1 & 2 where 1001 stands. Mr. Reedy died about 25 years ago. Mr. Reedy's mother ran a boarding house and the Reedy's did too. First they rented 1001 Cumberland for 2 years and then purchased it from Mr. Sweatland who was living in Texas. Now Mrs. Reedy rents out rooms at $15. per week and she lives in 4 of the rooms at the back. Following is an article taken from Hempstead's Vol. II p. 682 Cos. Altenberg, a government claim attorney, L.R. Ark. has for many years been identified with the legal profession of this city. Mr. Altenberg is a native of the "Hoosier State". He was born in DeKalb County, Indiana, a son of Daniel Altenberg, who took up government land in that county and pioneered there in 1830. In Daniel Altenberg's family were four sons who Joined the Union army when the Civil War was inaugurated ---went to the front and were in the thick of the fight all through the struggle, all going out as members of the 21st Indiana Regiment of Infantry, afterwards the Indiana Heavy Artillery. One of these four was the subject of this sketch. He enlisted at Auburn, in Company H., Thirtieth Indiana Infantry, on September 24, 1861, for three years, after which he veteranized as a member of Company A, 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery. During the early part of the war he was with the Army of the Tennessee; later was in the Army of the Gulf, stationed at Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where he remained until Jan. 11, 1866 when he was discharged. The last battle of his regiment was at Mobile in 1865. Returning home when the war was over, Mr. Altenberg entered the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, of which he is a graduate with the class of 1870 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In the same year he graduated he came south to Arkansas and took up his residence at Augusta, Woodruff County, where he established himself in law practice and where he remained until 1876. Since that year his home has been at Little Rock. For several years he conducted a general law practice here, but finally gave it up in order to devote his entire time -to government claims of all kinds, including pensions, war bounty, etc. In this special branch of the profession he has enjoyed a continuously successful and profitable practice, and for more than 30 years he has maintained his office at the same location, room 115 of the Bulk Building on West Markham Street. He has invested in valuable realty in Chicago, now owning 2 beautiful modern residences on Lake Park Avenue,'riear 32nd Street, overlooking the lake, where he spends his Bummers. His Little,Rock home place comprises half a block at the corner of Tenth and Cumberland Streets. This property he purchased in 1876. At Auburn, Indiana, Mr. Alternberg and Miss Martha J. Crise were married and't6 them were given 3 daughters, all now married and settled in life; Mrs. Mame Gilbert of Chicago, Mrs. Rose L. Sweatland of Little Rock, and Mrs. Elsie Fee of Chicago. The Altenberg family is buried at Oaklawn. As best I can tell, the layout of the rooms have not been changed from the original. The porch across the back is added and the front porch is missing its capitals and the only original spindles left are.those closest to the library door. Also the wooden roof cresting is gone. Originally there were 2.2-story lattice porches on either side of the kitchen ---one remains and the one on the loth street side has been bricked and made into rooms. The house is brick veneer and is presently painted red. The window sashes were originally painted black and are now white. The Altenberg carriage stone is in the front yard and there is an old out building in the back. Also, there is a brick sidewalk in front running down Cumberland from loth to llth street. Now the interior is hardly changed. I believe the woodwork downstairs is cypress. The kitchen woodwork has been painted gray --wainscoting included. Upstairs all the woodwork is painted. The pocket doors to the front parlor are missing. All the hardware seems to be original but all the light fixtures are gone with the gas pipes still there. Mrs. Reedy had new wiring put in a few years ago and the wiring is put outside the walls in casings. Mrs. Reedy said the fixtures were copper. There are 2 stainglass windows -- a small one in the front parlor and one over the stairway. The porch on thelOth street side was already bricked in when the Reedy's moved there in 1941. They both have built in corner cupboards and the one downstairs has a corner mantel. Then there is a mantel in the front parlor,library, dining room, and 2 of the bedrooms upstairs. The chimneys have all been knocked off and capped. There is one old bathroom upstairs in -the back with wainscoting and a clawfoot tub and the Reedy's added one off an upstairs porch and 1 in the attic. I have enclosed a plan of the house as I can best -remember it.