Similar to many modest houses on the North Side, the early ownership of this house is undocumented. Numbers of small rental houses were erected hastily by speculators or landowners to house the influx of workers following the startup of the Swift and Armour packing plants. Tenants changed frequently in these houses, which are simple vernacular forms adapted for use as workers’ housing. Mrs. Birdie Kenney, the widow of a switchman at the Cotton Belt Railroad Yards, is the first jaiown tenant in 1907. The extended L-plan frame house exhibits a long porch which extends along the inside corner. The porch is embellished with jigsawn ornament.
