The east half of lot 9 and lot 10 sat the Winter House. It has gone through many changes. Twenty years before this writing S. Strieter owned Winter House but it was heavily mortgaged. He leased the building to D. W. Ferry and wife and then moved to Iowa. Mrs. Deierlein, who held the mortgage, foreclosed it and in 1893 it was sold. The building was sold under the Strieter Mortgage; the house has been run by Henning, Deierlein, Bossman, Clendenning, Carver and the Webbers. The Webbers changed it to the New York Hotel.
The barn across the alley north was burned in 1895. At the time it was occupied as a livery stable. Mr. John Deierlein occupied the house and on horse and two cows were lost in the fire. The animals belonged to a Mr. Couray. Mr. Deierlein built a house and a cold storage on the lot and sold it to Herman Muth and after changing hands a few times, it was purchased by the Webbers. At the time of this writing it was owned by Wm. Dahl and used as a cold storage for his beer business. A new barn was build south of the alley just north of the house.
On the northeast corner of the block was the home of Mrs. Bochert and then Albert Miller. Mrs. Bochert had reports that people had secured sums of money from her during her life and soon after her death matters were settled among them. Mrs. Bochert had business that was peculiar to others and some say she was a witch and had powers. She was noted also of her powers of healing and there was hardly a day that she was not consulted as a physician. Possible great faith aided to her healing powers though she was known to be odd in her later years. A woman that lived in the same house later noted that she could feel Mrs. Bochert’s fingers around her throat at midnight and noon trying to strangle her. The women thought Bochert was a “black devil and had a devil bible.”
Sawyer/Pahl 1998
To be continued.
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