You will find that once you get into the "network" of old house people, they will know the craftspeople who can walk through your house and read the shadows on the walls of what was there once.
I noticed where your house was. I grew up an hour or so away. One day while I was in Grand Island, I saw the work or a fine craftsman and picked up his card: Craftsman Wood Floors. The owner has a website. Get him over to peek under your carpet.
I worked with a carpenter who knew how to put my baseboards back to the right size, install picture rail, and put up crown moulding that is proportionate to the main rooms. My carpenter just made a screen door for my husband and me --and he sourced 100-year-old beadboard from an old ceiling so it matches the porch.
I agree--somebody messed with your arch.
I could feel your enthusiasm as your found the owner's obituary. I have had that happen to me, too. Since your owner must have been towards the end of his life, you might go back to the museum to read old phone books. I read backwards, once I knew the name, and found the other properties my owners lived at while waiting for the house to be built.
A school superintendent once lived in my house. He moved a couple times before settling into our house. Thus, our house was his "aspirational" house which he never left.
Welcome.
New here introduction and photos
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Kansas.1911
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Re: New here introduction and photos
Northeast Kansas
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SouthernLady
- Forgotten more than most know
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Re: New here introduction and photos
How neat is that to find an old photo of your house! I am still looking for photos of mine, you lucky rascal... 
A suggestion--based on what I did. I immediately began searching the deeds of my house. In my case, I was able to search the county tax records online until about the 1970s. I haven't gone to the county office to do the rest yet. Anyway, I made prints of each, then made a list of the names and starting with the earliest I put them in a Google search. Pretty quickly, I came up with an obituary, which listed the next owner as a niece, and from there I was able to get enough information to plug into a new Ancestry.com tree (I have an account for my own family research). All kinds of leaves began popping up, and I was also able to locate the census for my house, which was quite neat. Sometimes you can also find photographs. Through obituaries I found on Ancestry and Google, I was able to find contact information for the daughter of the last woman who had lived in the house (it had continuously been in the family until then).
I called her, explained who I was and that I had just bought her family's old Victorian farmhouse and was looking for any information she could give me to assist in my long-term restoration project. She was elated to hear the old place was being cared for after being neglected for a number of years. She gave a lot of helpful information and told me who to contact in her family for copies of pictures of the old place. (I haven't done so yet, but plan to over the holidays.)
Your tax assessor's office may also still have pictures of the house. I was told by my town mayor to check it out, and again I just haven't taken time.
I agree that the porch seems to have been altered in the '20s or thereabouts, and the arches don't match. Looks like you have quite the fun project ahead of y'all! I look forward to more pictures!
A suggestion--based on what I did. I immediately began searching the deeds of my house. In my case, I was able to search the county tax records online until about the 1970s. I haven't gone to the county office to do the rest yet. Anyway, I made prints of each, then made a list of the names and starting with the earliest I put them in a Google search. Pretty quickly, I came up with an obituary, which listed the next owner as a niece, and from there I was able to get enough information to plug into a new Ancestry.com tree (I have an account for my own family research). All kinds of leaves began popping up, and I was also able to locate the census for my house, which was quite neat. Sometimes you can also find photographs. Through obituaries I found on Ancestry and Google, I was able to find contact information for the daughter of the last woman who had lived in the house (it had continuously been in the family until then).
I called her, explained who I was and that I had just bought her family's old Victorian farmhouse and was looking for any information she could give me to assist in my long-term restoration project. She was elated to hear the old place was being cared for after being neglected for a number of years. She gave a lot of helpful information and told me who to contact in her family for copies of pictures of the old place. (I haven't done so yet, but plan to over the holidays.)
Your tax assessor's office may also still have pictures of the house. I was told by my town mayor to check it out, and again I just haven't taken time.
I agree that the porch seems to have been altered in the '20s or thereabouts, and the arches don't match. Looks like you have quite the fun project ahead of y'all! I look forward to more pictures!