515 N. GROVE AVENUE
HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE
515 N. Grove Avenue was built in 1897 for Charles and Sophia Rippberger, as income property. Charles was a well known real estate person who also engaged in house rentals. This home was built in an area where renting was in high demand as it was filled with people of common means including laborers, carpenters, painters, and stone masons. The Rippbergers sold the home in 1901 to brothers, Edward and John Factly.
Edward and John Factly were born Burlington, IL and were the sons of Henry and Catherine. Their father was born in Switzerland in 1848 and passed away in Elgin in 1918. Edward passed away in 1909 and his brother, John, in 1937. The home transferred to several owners until Donald and Elizabeth Range bought it in 1947.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE
515 N. Grove Avenue is a one-and-a-half-story gable front and wing, National Folk house. The house is simplistic in nature as it was typical of the affordable dwellings made available to ordinary working class families. The original configuration of the house is hidden by the enclosed porch and its front porch and south side's triple vertical windows suggests that they were installed in the 1920s.
TIMELINE OF PREVIOUS OWNERS
Sources: 1996 Heritage Plaque Application; Audio: TextAloud