By Alan Van Ormer
Tribune editor

Joe Bowar comes from a family that purchases older homes and restores them and he is following in their footsteps.
Bowar recently received the Dell Rapids Society for Historic Preservation Award for 2009 for restoring the old ‘Stadem House’ on East 9th Street. Dan and Amy Ahlers received the award in 2008 for the restoration of the Jabberwock.
“It’s a honor,” Bowar said. “I was pretty excited about getting it because I put a lot of work in the house.”
The award is given out once a year to one person who the Dell Rapids Society for Historic Preservation Society feels has contributed to the historic preservation of Dell Rapids. It can be done by preserving a house, a business, or by working to place a location on the National Registry of Historic Places.
Teri Fiegen, president of the Dell Rapids Society for Historic Preservation, said it is important to preserve our history, the work that went into the buildings and the architecture it took to design them.
“Our ancestors put a lot of work into these buildings,” she said. “They are beautiful.”
Bowar said he purchased the house to restore it because it had nice woodwork floors and had a lot of character. “I wanted to make sure that the woodwork and craftsmanship remained the same as it was previously,” he said.
His sister Susie Dorris and her seven-year-old daughter, Libbie, rent the 1,700 square foot home in all levels that includes three plus bedrooms, a family room, dining room, living room and kitchen.
“I love old houses,” she said. “It is pretty cool to be here. I like the character of an old home.”
Like her brother, Dorris said she likes the character and the detail throughout the house.
Bowar purchased the home in April 2005 and worked for two years, mostly on weekends, to finally finish the restoration in 2007. He gutted the 1911 building, refinished the hardwood floors, refinished the woodwork, put new outside windows and siding and redid the landscaping.
The oak and maple floors are altered every other board in a square pattern called parquet, the stairway is mission style and there is a formal dining room and parlor, as well as an open staircase.
Bowar said it took time to restore because of the all of the details. “When you are working with older things you are trying to put back to the original house,”
This is the first house that Bowar has restored, but he has plans to do more in the future.