Mrs. Van Slate lived on the main floor so she could put wood in the fire at night and get up early and make breakfast so that when the borders came down from upstairs they would have a meal waiting for them here in the dining room. Comparable to a dormitory; the people lived upstairs and had their meals and a common area to gather on this floor. An interesting thing is that the people that lived here, probably more than half of them were ladies. It was somewhat uncommon for ladies to live on their own and especially at that point in time, it was not common or not socially acceptable for them to be walking alone and unescorted, especially in the early morning or late evening hours. But because this building was located a block or two from the main business area most of the borders that lived here worked in either an office or in a store downtown, so it was acceptable for ladies to walk this block or two to and from the boarding house. Can’t you just imagine the dining room with borders sitting here having breakfast and Mrs. Van Slate in the kitchen making it and then they would be off for the day. The dining room chairs were actually made by the craftsmen at the Rhinelander Boat Company and we know this because Marge Peters donated them and her husband owned the Boat Company at the end. Unfortunately we were not able to ask if they made for the owner of the company use or perhaps the thought of getting into a different market as the wooden boat business was declining. If you look at the chairs, you will see the expert craftsmanship. The fireplace was always only ornamental as it is made out of wood and never a functioning one. There is a chimney behind it and we envision that there was probably a box stove on both sides one in the dining room and one in the living room to help heat the building. In the very beginning they heated the house with wood stoves. Sometime later a furnace was installed in the basement , but early on there would have only been the kitchen stove, these box stoves and then a box stove up in the hall upstairs that would've heated the building so it probably got pretty cold in the winter.
Dining Room Highlights
Listed below are a few of the items in this room that you may be interested in learning more about.
Dining Room Table Chair
As described in the Dining Room introduction, these chairs were made by the craftsmen at the Rhinelander Boat Company. The men were excellent craftsmen, so it would not have been a stretch for them to create these fine pieces of furniture. Note the fine carving in the chair backs.
Dining Room Dishes
While Mrs. Van Slate most likely would not have used her fine china for everyday use, this set is on display to show the fine china people of the time would use for special occasions.