Sometime around the turn of the century, when Julia would be fifty-one years old, she began building and developing the farm home into one of the show places in the country.

Selling off the corner of the farm property to the local school Board in 1899 may have given her the money and impetus to begin the beautiful brick house which still stands on the farm. Barns and outbuildings were also built and a magnificent orchard planted. The grounds around the house were well landscaped and flowers and shrubs planted.

This was quite an achievement; considering that in 1900 it was very difficult for a woman to borrow money or conduct business on her own signature. Julia managed with the help of her brother Patrick Kehoe and brother-in-law Michael Crowley. The story was told that both men had many misgivings, but she overcame them and got the help she needed to move ahead. At this time Julia appears to have been a very lively, intelligent and determined woman indeed!

THE HOUSE AS REMEMBERED BY JULIA ROONEY WHEN SHE WAS VERY YOUNG

The red brick house was set well back from the road and there was green grass in front. There were bushes of lilacs, phlox, peonys and bleeding heart. It seemed to me they bloomed all summer and I well remember carefully picking off the red hearts, wondering if they were good to eat! The fragrence of the flowers is still very vivid to me and summer memories are much stronger than winter, though I must have often been there in winter also.

A wide gravel lane or driveway ran past the house and down to the barn and driving shed. There was a big backyard between house and barn and a windmill at the back of the house. I think I remember a huge wooden tank to gather the water for the horses and cows. A great row of maples ran along the driveway.

Gram's house was like a castle to me. It was red brick - we lived in a white frame house. Gram had linoleum on the dining room floor- we had pine boards in our kitchen and no dining room! Gram had stained-glass panels in the front windows which reflected beautiful colours and made me think of church and music - we had plain glass! Gram had a hanging-lamp over the table with beautiful flowers - we had no hanging lamp. Perhaps best of all, Gram had an attic filled with weird and wonderful things for a small girl to rummage in. There was a spinning-wheel and an old wooden cradle (we had a white wicker cradle!) as well as piles of papers and magazines - I remember settling down on the floor by the window facing the road to look at the magazines.

Beautiful Virginia Creeper, green and cool in the summer, gloriously red in the autumn, covered the veranda and double balcony at the front of the house. In the cellar there was a huge furnace and a cistern for soft water, which was pumped up to a washroom off the pantry. There was an organ in the parlour and my mother talked about the parties of young people who came after Sunday night vespers. Julia encouraged the music and dancing and among the guests would be the cousins, Longeway, Crowley and Kehoe, as well as neighbours.

It must have been a "grand" house even by grown-up standards. Much later, when fuel became scarce and expensive, the house seemed very large and hard to heat; during the depression it was difficult to keep up such a great house. Repairs were expensive and upkeep costly. But in the beginning it was beautiful and a fitting monument to the hard work and industry of the pioneers.

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