Garages in Eau Claire, WI 1830s-2010 Hillary Johnson & Alicia Homan Geography 367 Settlement Geography of Eau Claire

Hypothesis Garage types and sizes reflect the age of the houses in Eau Claire. 19 th century houses are characterized by the absence of garages. We expected to find that garages began to appear in the 1920s as the popularity of cars developed. Garages would evolve from single detached to half-attached to full- attached, then grew in size from single to double to triple. (Bruno, 2009)

Garage Types and Sizes In Eau Claire 1.Detached 2.Corner-Attached 3.Half-Attached 4.Full-Attached 5.Breezeway Size of garages: single, double, or triple-car

Research Methods: Fieldwork Recorded garage type by observation - Random city blocks in Randall Park, Putnam Heights, and Suburbs Sample size: 265 garages *Small sample size, may not be representative of Eau Claire

Research Methods: Assessment Records Recorded year of house based on city assessment records Problems with data: *Assessment Records show year of house, not year of garage. May result in some inconsistency *Possible gaps in data: no samples from 1970s- 1980s. Can assume patterns similar to 1960s data

Garage Types by Frequency and Age in Eau Claire Garage Type#%Ave. Year None Double Detached Single Half Attached Single Detached Single Breezeway Single Corner Attached Single Full Attached Double Corner Attached Double Breezeway Double Half Attached Double Full Attached Triple Full Attached Total/Average

Garage Type Frequency in Eau Claire

Garage Type by Age in Eau Claire

No garage - Average year: 1883 – Randall Park Double Detached – Average year: 1924 – Later Putnam Heights & Randall Park Single Half Attached – Average year: 1932 – Earlier Putnam Heights Single Detached – Average year: 1940 – Putnam Heights

Garage Type by Age in Eau Claire Single Breezeway – Average Year: 1947 – Earlier Putnam Heights Single Corner Attached – Average Year: 1949 – Earlier Putnam Heights Double Corner Attached – Average Year: 1951 – Later Putnam Heights Single Full Attached – Average Year: 1951 – Later Putnam Heights

Garage Types by Age in Eau Claire Double Breezeway – Average year: 1962 – Later Putnam Heights Double Half Attached – Average year: 1965 – Later Putnam Heights Double Full Attached – Average year: 1973 – Later Putnam Heights & Suburbs Triple Full Attached – Average year: 1991 – Suburbs

Trends in Eau Claire Garages first appeared detached from houses in the 1920s, and became more embedded in houses with time Garage sizes increased over time, from single to double to triple Patterns in Eau Claire Randall Park: no garages and double detached Early Putnam Heights: single detached, corner, breezeway, and half- attached garages Later Putnam Heights: single full-attached, double detached, corner, breezeway, half, and full-attached Suburbs: double full-attached and triple full-attached (Chicago Tribune, 1992)

Evolution of Garage Types in Eau Claire Average year of garage type based on fieldwork in Eau Claire, WI, June, 2010

Works Cited "Eau Claire, WI.” Google Maps. (Accessed 8 June 2010). “History of types of garage doors.” Heidelberger, Mark (Accessed 10 June 2010). “In suburbia, some garages are outgrowing homes.” Chicago Tribune. Published in The Baltimore Sun, 11 August /features/ _1_garage-two-car-motor-room (Accessed 10 June 2010). 11/features/ _1_garage-two-car-motor-room "Property Search." Online Property Assessment Database. City of Eau Claire, (Accessed 9 June 2010). “The history of garage design.” Bruno, Gwen. 13 November (Accessed 10 June 2010).