Sutton Nebraska Museum: Sutton House Project

It's time for an audience participation project here on the historical society blog.

One of the common classes of topics we hear goes something like this, "I just bought this house in Sutton and was wondering when it was built." Or who built it, or who use to live in it, etc.

Sometimes I can help but generally I'm bluffing on this one. I left Sutton for college at age 18 and didn't come back for 44 years. And when I was here I was a farm kid who didn't get around much in town and what I remember, I may very well mis-remember.

So let's try the ultra-modern concept of crowdsourcing soliciting your knowledge about homes in Sutton and build another picture of the story of Sutton, this one focused around the houses.

Past and present residents all lived in some house. The collective story of the houses can be a valid and useful entry point tot the story of all those people, when they lived here and what they did here.

So, let's play "What is the Story of that House?"

We have individual postings of the photos of Sutton houses. We'll identify the location of the house including street and house number (if we have it) or otherwise identify the location. And we may include bits and pieces or hints on occasion in a comment. Please make your contribution to the story of the house as a comment. (There seems to be a real reluctance (bashful) to posting comments by visitors to our blog. Get over it, please. Okay? This venue is more useful with more participants. Individuals tap out, groups not so much.)

The kinds of information we're looking for includes:

- When was the house built?
- Who built it? Owner, contractor, carpenter, etc.?
- Is there anything interesting or distinctive about the design, construction or features of the house?
- Who lived in the house and when?
- Was there a name that he house was commonly know as?
- Do you have a suggest of what name ought to be associated with the house?
- Were you ever in the house? What did it look like at that time?
- What stories have you ever heard about the house?
- Any other comments...

When posting a comment you will be asked to “Choose an Identity”

1. You may sign into your Google account after you click on “Publish Your Comment”, or

2. Select “Name/URL” and type in a name, any name – you may be asked to “Prove you’re not a robot by clicking on the box – a check mark will appear. Then click on “Publish Your Comment” or

3. Select “Anonymous” – you may be asked to “Prove you’re not a robot” by clicking on the box – a check mark will appear. Then click on “Publish Your Comment.”

If you have any photos of these houses from sometime in the past, we can use a copy to further document the history of the house and by extension, the history of Sutton.

At the start of this project we have about three dozen postings among the nearly 300 on the blog. There are multiple ways to isolate postings for the Sutton Houses Project:

The directory below links to the individual houses so far posted. Return to this page via the "Sutton House Project" link under the "Pages" title on the right side of the home page,

Clicking on "Sutton House Project" under the "Labels" title at the right side of the home page selects only these postings - scrolling catches the lot of them.

Okay? And thanks for playing.