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1010 Broad Street, St. Joseph, Michigan (Back to Houses of Interest or Siblings Page)

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Bud and Karen bought the house at 1010 Broad Street in St. Joseph, Michigan in February 1964. Here is a listing of the home for sale in the Herald Press, November 9, 1963 (click or see below). The sale price was $6,500. Bud and Karen were able to put up the $500 downpayment from inheritance from Nana and the rest was placed on a land contract with the owner, Eva Hill Fowles Meyer. They paid off Ms. Meyer with a second mortgage loan ($4,500) from Adolph and Ione Eichler in 1972.

It was a three-bedroom, one-bath home on a rather steep hill leading to Broad Street. It was built in sections beginning in the 1860s. The house was in rough shape with plaster falling off the walls in the upstairs bedrooms. Bud remodeled parts of the house over the next few months including the upstairs bedrooms where he replaced the cracked plaster with light brown paneling with the help of his father-in-law Gib Ackerman.

The way the Christophers used the rooms changed over the 14 years they lived in the home. When the Christophers first moved into the home Mom decided to call the living room with the columns the "good living room" because it was to be reserved for special occasions or more serene activities. It housed the stereo and Bud's tape recorder and speakers. Over time, the TV was moved into the "good living room" and it became an everyday living room. Mom was particularly proud of the "picture windows" in the two living rooms. You will find photos of the "picture windows" painted for Christmas by Dad in the slideshow below. Dad only painted the windows a few years, one year he did both "picture windows." The photos of the paintings below are from 1965.

The five children shared the two upstairs bedrooms in different combinations over the years. There was only one bathroom with a tub, which made bath time a real challenge, to say nothing of using the facilities. Bud installed a shower in the basement somewhere in the late 60's to early 70s and it was a great addition. Just inside the basement the Christophers had a large freezer that was used to store food for the seven of them. There was a small room in the basement that stored pickled foods that came with the house. The basement was not very useable because of the coal and soot all over.

The home had a coal furnace until 1976. It was a bit tricky to control the heat and they had to constantly shovel coal from the coal bin into the furnace. Many times, the fire went out in the furnace and it got a bit chilly before someone threw another shovel or two of coal on the fire. The thermostat in the living room controlled the "draft" (how much air got into the furnace to increase or decrease the fire size).

Coal was expensive and the coal companies wouldn't deliver less than a ton (@$100). When hard times hit the Christophers in the 1970s (Dad moving out) there were some pretty cold days and nights in the home because we couldn't afford coal. The author remembers coming home from school a few times and seeing smoke in the fireplace with some excitement only to learn Robin had burned more furniture at Mom's direction. The winter of 1975-76 was a particularly difficult winter and the family had to live with Dayle and her husband Jim at their small home on a farm, where Jim was working, for a few weeks due to bitter cold and no electricity. In the fall of 1976 Social Services and family funds from those working replaced the coal furnace and for a few months it was very nice having a gas furnace.

Unfortunately, replacing the coal furnace with a gas furnace led to the end of the Christophers living at 1010 Broad Street. The city inspector came to inspect the new furnace and condemned the house in the winter of 1976-77. He had convinced Mom that if she let him go through the whole house and find problems that needed repair the City would use grant money to make those repairs for the Christophers. It turned out it was simply a rouse to condemn the house, there was no grant money. Mom and the boys were given 60 days to bring the house up to code or they would be evicted by the City. The house was in significant disrepair, and it would have cost thousands and thousands of dollars to bring it up to code. Some of the violations were legit but many were minor violations, if at all, but expensive, like replacing the siding on the house. Mom had no choice but to sell the home and look for alternative housing. By August 1977, Mom had to sell the home or lose it.

Mom turned to Fister Realty to sell the home, Mom and Dad had bought the house from Fister in 1963, and Mom went to school with Dave Fister so she trusted him. The series of unfortunate events continued as Fister sold it to an employee for far less ($5,500) than market value (@$10-13,000). Mom had no alternative but to take the offer because of the deadline to be evicted. It seemed like the perfect storm, or perhaps something more nefarious involving Fister and the City. Regardless, Mom & Dad received $5,500 for the house and owed about that much in back taxes and on a second mortgage to a couple named Adolph and Ione Eichler who had lent her and Dad in 1972 (Click to see payment recorded by County Clerk Office). Mom sold the 1010 Broad Street home on September 16, 1977 (Click to see sale recorded by Berrien County Clerk). The family moved to 189 Madeline in Benton Harbor for the next few years.

The floor plan below depicts the house around 1970 with some variations to show various layouts. See the slideshow below to see photos of the house, the yard, and alley as it looked when the Christophers lived there from 1963-1977.

The home changed hands many times over the years after. There are photos in the slideshow from the 1990s that show the outside structure of the house pretty much the way it was when the Christophers lived there. Bernie was checking out the home from the back alley in the 2010s when the owner saw him and after Bernie explained that he had lived there as a child the owner asked Bernie to come in to see the home and the changes he made. Bernie said they were significant. The owner was a firefighter from the Southwest part of the state and had completed reconstructed the house making major changes. Please click here or the photo below at the bottom of the page to see a slideshow of photos showing the major changes both inside and outside from 2020 when the home was up for sale. It is definitely worth a look.

Diagram of the Christopher home in the early 1970s (click on graphic to enlarge)