Conrad & Matilda Kich House

Conrad Kich arrived in Blue Island in 1849 at age 11, and his father, Peter, was among the first Germans to settle there. Conrad worked as a section boss for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad, served as a volunteer fireman, and became a City Trustee in 1879. He married Matilda Sittig, and they had nine children, building their two-story Italianate home in 1878. The Kich family lived there until 1907, when Walter and Frieda Alsip bought it. Italianate features of the house include double bracketed eave supports on the front gable, rectangular arched windows, and a single-story, column-supported front porch. The style was popular in the mid-1800s and was built by skilled craftsmen and homeowners using newly published pattern books and elaborate woodwork that made detailed design available to the middle classes.

Blue Island, Illinois · United States