Then & Now: A House With A Past

This pleasant looking house has an interesting history that one driving by on Loring Avenue would not contemplate. When it was first built people came from all over the county and lined up to take a tour of it.

There was extensive press coverage with photos on the front page of the crowds waiting in line to enter. For the month of June 1924 it was the cause of traffic jams and much conversation.

What could possibly engender such interest in a then pleasant but not memorable property you ask? To answer that question one needs to go back in time to realize Salem has always had a love affair with electricity.

When electricity was seen as a curiosity during Colonial times there were lectures in Salem about this new form of energy. Over the years Salem was home to noteworthy inventors who worked with electricity. Such men as Moses Farmer, Prof. Page and Alexander Graham Bell put Salem at the center of electrical innovation. Salem residents were early on supporters and consumers of electricity and its uses.

As the 20th century began, there was a continuous stream of new ‘electrical’ applications and appliances that fascinated people. In this atmosphere The North Shore Real Estate Board in early 1924, came up with the idea of building an “Electrical Home” for people to see a state of art home.  

The plan was for the real estate board to build the house while the electrical men of Essex County would furnish the house with all the known electrical household appliances. The builders would work closely with the electricians to wire the home to the highest standards of the day.

In February 1924 they broke ground on a lot of land beside Walke’s greenhouses on Loring Avenue, a then under developed area. Working quickly they completed the substantial home by May, 1924, furnished it with furniture and appliances from Essex County merchants then opened it as an exhibit for the month of June.

Admission was free and there was nothing for sale, it was strictly for the education of the public according to news articles of the day that chronicled the construction. The exhibit was sponsored by the Essex County Electrical Club.

The Appliance Committee came up with a long list of electrical appliances that highlighted the furious pace of ‘electrical’ inventions sweeping the newly electrified country.

In the living room there was an electric clock, an electric log in the fireplace, a tea samovar, a table lamp, and a piano light.

In the dining room there were cooking appliances for a complete electric meal. Such appliances included an egg boiler, waffle iron, coffee percolator, toaster, grill, drink mixer, as well as an electric bell and a fan. 

In the kitchen there was an electric range, a fireless cooker, dishwasher, refrigerator, a bread and cake mixer as well as a fan. In the bedrooms in addition to lamps and clocks there was a hair dryer, Marcel waver, curling iron, violet ray, and heating pad. 

The laundry had a washing machine, clothes dryer and
electric ironers.

In the basement there was an ice cream freezer, electric heater and a work bench complete with a polishing wheel and soldering iron.

Also scattered throughout the house was an electric sewing machine, milk warmer for babies, heating pads, a vacuum cleaner and toy transformer for electric train sets.

It’s quite amazing to see such a list and realize the incredible impact ‘electricity’ had both then and now.

When the exhibit opened in June literally thousands of people from throughout the North Shore toured the house daily from 2 p.m. -10 p.m. Police details were needed to keep order.

At the end of June the exhibit was closed and the house reverted to the North Shore Real Estate Board who sold the house. The house shed its fame and became a home.

The house as it looks today is little different from when it was the famous “Essex County Electrical Home.”