KUSA — The inside of Matt and Cassie Childers' Baker house is pretty ripped up right now.
They’ve been replacing floors, trim, doors and pretty much everything since closing on the place in July.
“A lot of what we loved about this home in the first place is the history that came along with it,” Matt Childers said. “With the remodeling we’re doing, we’re trying to pay homage to the original character of the house.”
While replacing some trim in their office, Matt uncovered a little piece of history.
“Tucked right in about here was this blue card,” Matt explained while pointing to the wall just above the floor. “At first I thought it was an old building inspection.”
He handed the card to Cassie. After wiping away some dust and dirt, she saw what she was holding,
“I realized it said ‘The Public Library of the City of Denver,” Cassie said.
The juvenile library card was made out to Hazel Postlewait dated with an expiration date of May 31, 1929.
It explains that the penalty for keeping a book past its due date is $0.02 per day. One of the exchanges on this card is tabbed with a $0.04 fee.
Matt and Cassie reached out to the city of Denver who crunched some numbers about Hazel’s potential past due fee.
“They went as far as calculating out every day since 1929,” Matt explained, “And I think the total bill racked up to be about $700 in 1929 dollars. When you calculate for inflation, it comes out to $9,700 or something.”
Cassie added with a laugh: “We jokingly offered to pay off her balance, and we politely rescind that offer now.”
The couple plans to frame the relic and display it proudly in their new home. They also hope to learn more about the little girl with a $0.04 charge on the last book of her library card from 1929.
“I definitely plan on doing a lot more research,” Cassie said. “I want to figure out who she was, did she live here, was she a friend of somebody that lived here. We’re really interested in the history.”
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