Minnie's Cooperative House
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ooo ooo
The ICC bought the 307 N State St coop from one Minnie Wallace, whose family had owned the house in sickness and in health since the first decade of the twentieth century. 'Twas a well kept house, and when the first coopers moved in during the fall of 1970, they found that Minnie had left her mark on the house; the house was painted the drab gray so typical of semi-Victorian rooming houses, each room decorated with wallpaper of horrendous taste, and in one of the first-floor rooms hung a cross with a Jesus that glowed in the dark.
Minnie was a sweet little old lady who owned an aged dog that she daily walked to the corner of Lawrence and State. That half-block trip generally took half an hour, since the dog had short legs and needed numerous breathing spells because of his aged condition. Usually Minnie would carry the dog back home, since the two half-block excursions in one day might have killed the wee creature.
Minnie ran a tight ship, so to speak, at three zero seven. She was prone to awaken her roomers at the vile hour of eight in the morning. She allowed no guests (of the opposite sex, that is), and her nose was on standby alert twenty-four hours a day, ready to sniff out any of her roomers who dared to smoke tobacco cigarettes, pipes or cigars.
For years she found the boys at Mich House next door scarcely tolerable as neighbors, and not seldom did people in the lofty upper echelons of the ICC have to listen to Minnie talk about the "exhibitionists" living at Mich House who paraded naked and semi-naked past their bedroom windows at night. Her raps about the wild and wicked Mich House "Orgy-Parties" were enough to make every red-blooded American cringe at such examples of the moral decadence overtaking this land.
Minnie's spinster life changed entirely after a middle-aged taxi driver and practicing nudist named Bill Bixby (also the name of the actor who played the "The Incredible Hulk" in the TV series) started renting a room in her house. Minnie fell in love with him, and the two ran off together to Cleveland, Ohio. Minnie's co-opers quickly redecorated, painting the exterior of the house purple, reported to be Minnie's favorite color.
All of the members of Minnie's board (take our meals) next door at Mich House. We do have our own small guff kitchen. There is no smoking allowed in Minnie's. Minnie's is located at 307 North State St. and you're welcome to drop by anytime and visit.
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| Our front porch allows for our members to hangout outside and socialize with both house members and visitors from Michigan House. | Welcome to Minnie's lobby! | Because Minnie's boards at Michigan House next door, our house does not provide a full service kitchen as other Co-op houses do on campus. Rather, our kitchen is just large enough for our members to make a small meal for themselves throughout the day. |
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| Though small, our kitchen does come with a fridge, microwave, toaster oven, dish washer, stove and oven. | We try our best to keep our bathrooms clean! Some wonky characteristics of this particular bathroom: it has two sinks...and... | ...and two toilets! |
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| Our living room, where we have our house meetings, comes with a tv, piano, and... | ...and a treadmill, punching bag, and... | ...and our very own popcorn machine! |
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| Upstairs are our rooms, connected by hallways. | Throughout the house you will find beautiful and interesting murals, such as this one. | In the basement are our washer and dyer. |
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| If sitting out on the porch doesn't fullfill your needs, we also have a hammock! | Our house also comes fully equipped with all-natural bike racks! | Parking space is shared between both our house and Michigan House next door. We have 6 parking spots. |
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| Minnie herself! The woman who we have named our house after. |