BY DESIREE COOPER
Detroit Free Press, Jan. 31, 2008

When Mark and Carolyn Carter bought their Detroit house eight years ago, they knew they were getting a good deal. But they had no idea what else they were getting.

"Right after we bought it, our attorney said, 'Do you know who used to live there?' " Carolyn Carter said of her home in the Boston-Edison Historic District. "That's when we found out it used to be Walter Reuther's."

As in the visionary labor leader and former UAW president.

If these walls could talk

People often research their family histories, but what about researching the histories of their homes?

"A lot of people who are drawn to older homes like the connection to the past," said Ellen Thackery, a field representative for the Michigan Historic Preservation Network and for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "When you know about the previous owners, it enhances your experience of living there."

We live in a Detroit house that's more than 70 years old. We're only the third owners and have photos of our house when it was surrounded by the majestic elms that used to be so characteristic of Palmer Woods. Knowing something of the history makes it feel like we're holding the home in trust for those who loved it in the past or might live there in the future.

The Carters were amazed at how much their home still held an aura of the Reuthers, who moved out in the 1950s.

"There was barbed wire around the side and back when we bought it," Carolyn Carter said. "And they had a lot of bright lighting around the outside."

No wonder. Reuther had been the target of several assassination attempts, according to Elisabeth Reuther Dickmeyer, his daughter. In her memoir, "Putting the World Together - My Father Walter Reuther: the Liberal Warrior," she detailed how her father moved the family to Oakland County after someone fired on their house in Detroit. Reuther also drove a car with bulletproof windows.

"The storm windows have been replaced, but not the inside windows," Carter said. "The bullet holes are still there." There's also a tree in the front yard that Reuther planted.

At home with history

Reuther and his wife, May Reuther, died in a plane crash in 1970, but his legacy lives on in a personal way for the Carters.

"It's strange how things have come full circle," Carolyn Carter said. "My husband and I have both been union members and precinct delegates active in politics. It's interesting to live in a house where someone was so politically involved."

Home is where the heart is. But it's also worth remembering that your home is where history is lived as well.

Contact DESIREE COOPER at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Listen to her on American Public Media's "Weekend America," 2-4 p.m. Saturdays on WUOM-FM (91.7).

HOW TO LEARN MORE

To organize a seminar for your club or community on how to research the history of homes, contact the Michigan Historic Preservation Network at 517-371-8080 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it