Historic Dunsmore House in Waterloo, Iowa | built about 1866

Historic Dunsmore House, Waterloo, Iowa.Photo byJim Roberts, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

On November 17, 1977, the Dunsmore House at 902 Logan Avenue in Waterloo, Iowa was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The house was built by a master stonemason from England named Thomas Chadwick. He used native rusticated limestone to build this house around 1866. It's one of the earliest homes that still exists. Chadwick had emigrated to the area around 1860.

John F. Dunsmore purchased the home in 1873. He was employed with the Illinois Central Railroad. Dunsmore died on July 12, 1904, at age 66.

In 1913, an addition was built at the rear of the house. The wood and wrought iron porch isn't original.

When the house was nominated for the National Register, its owner was the Black Hawk County Bicentennial Commission, Inc.

The house is five bays wide with a centralized entrance. The wooden porch replaced an older one. The main floor contained a kitchen and a one-story sun porch. Above the kitchen was a sleeping area.

The addition to the house was made with a concrete block basement. This basement was connected to the original limestone half-basement. The interior of the house included the central hallway plan. Originally, there were two rooms on each side of the hallway but were converted to one large room on each side in 1913.

The house also includes a black walnut staircase, a balustrade, and maple flooring. Whe the house was sold in 1913, the alterations and additions were made.

It had been reported that when it was discovered that buyers were looking at the site for a convenience store, the City of Waterloo acquired the house.

In early 2022, The Des Moines Register reported that while the city purchased the property in the early 2000s, the house has been empty and needs work. Although the city has funds, it's not enough to restore the house to its original state.

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