The evolution of a blue house in Searcy Arkansas....

THANK YOU, Barbara...now THAT is MY HOUSE.

Kate, if I did buy it,  I would, indeed, put the front porch back on.  I loved my front porch and the swing.  But I'd also like to have a sleeping porch, screened in, of course.  I probably wouldn't be able to sleep out there - in Arkansas - but about 5 days out of the year, if that many.   One of my dear friends from Griffithville, Ark. had a sleeping porch on the back of their house, her parents slept out there in the summer.  No one had air conditioners then and certainly not in rural Griff.  They also had a party line phone.

Barbara, funny what one remembers....I should remember the house in the second picture where the porch is first seen missing.  I do not remember that house with the porch on it.  Also, do not remember the second picture without the carport.  The third picture is where I come in, although I thought the blue came after Corinne....Anita, correct me if wrong.  Funny story about the car....Bob and Anita allowed me to drive it to my Junior-Senior banquet my junior year...May of 1961.  My date for the evening was Ann Sowell, daughter of Ralph and Elizabeth (Darden) Sowell.  (Ralph Sowell was killed in World War II.)  Ann's brother was Marvin Lee Sowell.  Ann is now deceased.  Anyway, we went to the banquet...and I thought I was the king of the school in that convertible.  It was a hard top convertible with a motorized top.  When I took Ann home that night...around 2:00 the next morning...the top got stuck in mid-air.  Try as hard as I could, I could not make it budge.  Had to wake Ann's stepdad, Elzie Darden, who laughed his head off.  I also had to call Bob and Anita to come fix it.  Mortified.....does not even begin to describe how I felt.  I really love that house on Arch Street and the memories that were made there.

Believe it or not...Mother did not paint the house blue...even though she LOVED Wedgewood blue and used it inside her condo that Barbara sold.  It was white when she sold it, but she did put that siding on it.

My only memory of the car being loaned to Billy is that Mother told me he didn't top off the gasoline tank when he brought it back.  Having said that, you couldn't have been using too much gas, Billy....I'm sure you didn't go to Little Rock or anywhere outside the city limits of Searcy! But what were you doing until 2:00 a.m.?   

Your memory is a little skewered, Billy:  we were living in NYC, so couldn't have been called to come fix it!  When we first left for The Big Apple, we left the car at Mother and Daddy's.....it wasn't until later than we took it up with us.

Yes, Mother added the carport.  We had one of those big chest deep freezers out there.  She made planters for flowers along the side of the brick.   From the carport you entered my bedroom. and there were two other entrances into the house;  at the back and the front.  She did the asbestos siding, NOT the vinyl.

Billy can make up any excuse he wants to, for his date for the prom has died.  She was a darling girl. She and Billy weren't sweethearts, as I recall, just very good friends.   (he may contradict me on that, after all I'm just his older sister-in-law, and what do I know about his romances?

It is so interesting to read about the "revolution" of the blue house on Arch Ave. My husband Andy and I just purchased the house in September 2010 and we love it! I finished school at Searcy High and moved away in 1972. My friends and I spent lots if time on Arch Ave walking to town and back from my parents house in Lambert Terrace but I cannot say that I remember this house.

When we had a plumber looking over things under the house he said that 1942 was painted under the floor near the kitchen.

Ms. Anita I would love to visit with you about the house when you are available.  I gave my contact info to Ms. Barbara.  

Pam

Hey Barbara, the house was white when my mom and dad, Phyllis and Norman Cole bought it in mid 70's.   Mom picked the blue vinyl siding.    I love looking at these pictures.   I wish I could see more pics of what the house looked like on the inside from the beginning.    My bedroom was the large bedroom that you went into from the carport.   I loved the size of the room and the built in desk where the window was.   We went into the house after they remodeled some on the inside and they had made a hall there and reduced the size of that bedroom.     It's a great house.    My mom loved the large formal dining room and living room with the high ceilings.   One of the first times I ever drove a car, my dad was with me and when we got back to the house and drove into the driveway, my dad told me to pull up under the carport.   Well, our other car was also parked under the carport and I didn't want to pull up there because I would hit the other car...my dad insisted and when I was all the way under the carport my dad told me to brake and I got flustered and hit the gas.   I rammed the car into the door and wall (a storage area).   Not one of my best moments!  We also had a chest freezer in that storage room which was demolished in that incident!    We loved the large backyard with the huge trees too, which are now all gone I believe.

Barbara,  I love the pictures of the "Cole" house.  We lived there 30 years.  It has alot of fond memories for our family. My daughter says if she had money she would buy it back for our family.  Like everyone else, I wish the porch had been left.  When we moved in, there was a treehouse in the big tree in the backyard. Our dad would get up there and have tea parties with us.  One day someone called for him and one of us told them he couldn't come to the phone because he was in the treehouse having tea!  I can still hear the squeak of the floors and hear the way my bedroom door popped when you opened it.  Like my sister said, I would love to see pictures of the inside now.  Thank you for the wonderful pictures of a very special place to our family.