After publishing a blog post based on a property history report I completed for a client living on the north edge of Garfield Park, a resident on the south side reached out, wanting to know more about their home. I was excited to dive into the history of their neighborhood—it offered another opportunity to explore a seemingly ordinary place. These are the places I’m drawn to most. Their stories are often scattered or forgotten, and I find a deep sense of purpose in bringing

This post picks up where the first left off. If you haven’t already, you may want to start with Part 1 before reading on. Last time, we ended with William Irwin, who built the house in 1880 with his wife, Sarah Sandusky. William sold the property in 1899. By then, Sarah and their daughter, Susan, were estranged from him and living in Danville. The McDaniel family William and his third wife, Mary Denny, sold the house and forty acres of farmland to Sarah’s cousin, Christopher

I’m passionate about researching and preserving old homes that belonged to regular people. These are the houses we pass by on our daily drives, the places where ordinary lives unfolded minute by minute, year by year. Often, the most relatable and interesting histories come from these familiar dwellings. The home of a recent client—featured in the blog below—is a perfect example. -Mark Belloni Research Consulting Tucked near the bottom of page 11 in the April 4, 1929, issue o

My work as a historian is deeply shaped by my personal experience of living in, researching, and restoring a historic home over the past seven years. This experience gives me a unique connection to the work I do for my clients. I channel the passion I have for my own home into the research I conduct for others, whether I’m writing a narrative history of a property or preparing a nomination for the National Register of Historic Places . In this blog post, I’d like to briefly

This blog post came to be serendipitously after I stumbled across a few intriguing newspaper articles while researching a nearby, unrelated property. I kept pulling the proverbial thread until the full story began to take shape—one that I’ve outlined below. This kind of discovery is at the heart of my work. If you’re interested in uncovering the history of another property, you can learn more about my services here . -Mark Belloni Research Consulting If you’ve ever driven eas

When researching house and family histories , one of my favorite things to do is discover the local placenames that were historically synchronous with the subjects of my research. Placenames often reveal hidden stories, forgotten landmarks , and deep connections to the people who shaped a community. They add a layer of depth that traditional historical sources sometimes lack. Hopkins Ford in Brown Township, Hendricks County, is one such placename. In the not-so-distant past,

As we drive through the places we call home, it's easy to take the landscape for granted, overlooking the layers of history hidden in plain

An easy trap to fall into when thinking about old homes is to only consider them important and worthy of preservation if they were owned by