House moving on MLK
If you were out and about the morning of Sunday June 29th you may have noticed a house on NE Martin Luther King Boulevard. Not a house along MLK but a house in the middle of the road!
The 1908 Samual Kinsman house was originally built at 612 NE Broadway. It was connected to the Mountain Shop for many years and used as a snowboard shop. The house was slated for demolition to make way for an expansion of the Mountain Shop.
On Sunday after several weeks of delays the house started the journey to it’s new location in Eliot neighborhood. Slowly it rolled west on Broadway and then North on MLK. For a while it got “stuck” on MLK near Schuyler pending utility line moving and again while a light pole and sign needed to be moved.
Several Eliot residents and visitors stood outside Tiny’s and along MLK to watch the move. A man watched and enjoyed the unusual site while he shared stories of visiting his grandmother back when she lived in the house.
The move wasn’t without issue. As the house approached the end of the move MLK wasn’t quite wide enough for the house to fit between the median and the sidewalk trees. Unfortunately 6 trees in the median were cut so the house could pass. The mover received pre-approval from the city and has paid a fee for the tree removal and replanting. The city promises to replace the trees this winter.
At around 11 am after about 5 hours of moving the house was pulled off of MLK onto a lot near it’s final destination. By Monday it was inched behind two other houses at 433 NE Thompson onto supporting blocks over what will become the new basement.
It is estimated that 6000 board feet of lumber, or 33 mature trees were saved by moving the house instead of building new. Further, a house that would have been lost forever will be restored and re-used for it’s original purpose – a home.
