Fromm House - 2404 10th Avenue

 Print Listing Historical Name - Fromm House
Style - Ranch Type
Built Year - 1949
State ID - 5WL4962

Description - The residence at 2404 10th Avenue is single-story, wood frame, modest Ranch style dwelling. Overall, the building measures 32 feet square; however, it is actually L-shaped with a 19' by 6' cutout at the south end of the west elevation (façade) where the front porch is located. The house is supported by a low painted white concrete foundation, which is penetrated at intervals by single-light hopper basement windows. The exterior walls are clad with wide, painted green, horizontal siding. The intersecting hipped roof is low-pitched, and is covered with grey asphalt shingles. The eaves are boxed with painted white wood trim. A single-light fixed-pane window , flanked on either side by a narrow 1/1 double-hung sash window, penetrates the façade wall to the south of the entry door. A set of paired 1/1 double-hung sash windows penetrate the façade wall to the north of the entry door. Both of these sets of windows on the façade are covered by aluminum awnings. Elsewhere, the home's windows are primarily single and paired 1/1 double-hung sash with painted white wood frames and surrounds. A painted blue wood-paneled door, with six upper sash lights, covered by a silver aluminum storm, enters the house on the west elevation. This door leads into the house from a 6' by 6' 3-step concrete porch, with a black wrought iron railing. The porch is covered by a corner of the main intersecting hipped roof. A side entry door enters into the dwelling from a 2-step concrete stoop on the south elevation.

Historical Background - This house was built in 1949, and it has been owned and occupied by three generations of the Fromm family from that time to the present (2005). Among the region's Germans from Russia population, Mary Fromm (maiden name unknown) had been born at Saratov, Russia on April 13, 1890. She immigrated to America at a young age, and on March 3, 1908 she was married to Peter Fromm at Windsor, Colorado. The Fromms lived near Windsor until 1935 when they moved to Greeley. During these years, Peter and Mary raised a family of five sons and two daughters - Alex, Pete, Esther, William, David, Jacob (Jake), and Mary. Peter passed away in 1947, and a few years later members of the Fromm family, including Mary and Jake E. Fromm, moved into this house on 10th Avenue Court. Mary Fromm continued to live here until shortly before her death on August 24, 1973 at age of 83. Greeley city directories indicate that during the 1950s, the Fromms rented a portion of the home out to a tenant, most likely in a basement apartment. Between circa 1963 and 1973, the home was shared by Mary Fromm and her daughter Esther Fromm, Esther, who never married, served in the Women's Air Corps during World War II. Following the war's end, she obtained employment as a Library Assistant with the City of Greeley in 1947. She became the city's Head Librarian in 1958, and she then held that position for the next twenty-six years until her retirement in 1984. Prior to her retirement, in April 1978, Miss Fromm had been recognized for thirty years of outstanding service to the city. Following her mother's death in 1973, Esther continued to live in this house until late 1990s. She presently resides in a retirement center in Greeley. The home is presently (in 2005) occupied by Kristopher Fromm.