Photo by Deb Gau Visitors read about the history of the Jim and Ann Carrow residence on one stop of the Lyon County Historical Society’s Holiday Home Tour this weekend. The Carrow’s home dates back to around 1900.

MARSHALL — History and the holidays came together over the weekend, as area residents toured four Marshall homes. Local homeowners said part of the fun of the Lyon County Historical Society’s Holiday Home Tour was decorating their homes for the season.

“It’s fun to do. I do it differently all the time,” said Ann Carrow, who was busy greeting visitors at the Carrow home on West Redwood Street.

This year’s tour, which helps support the Historical Society, drew about 155 people, said director Jennifer Andries. Stops on the tour included the homes of Joyce DeCramer, Kevin and Nicole DeBoer, Jim and Ann Carrow, and Victoria Carlson and Berkeley Lewis.

Three of the homes on this year’s tour had a long history in Marshall. The Carrow home dates back to about 1900, and was originally built by Alexander Blanchard, the secretary/treasurer of the Marshall Milling Company. The mill was one of Marshall’s early industries.

“We call it the ‘Lady of Redwood,’ ” Carrow said. On Sunday, visitors were admiring details like the house’s original woodwork and leaded glass windows, as well as vintage décor from many periods of the building’s history.

Lewis and Carlson said they purchased their home on North Third Street in 2021, and have worked to restore and renovate it. Lewis said it all started with a search for old houses for sale in Minnesota.

“This house had just the amount of work that we wanted (to do), and the look that we wanted,” he said.

Some of the house’s features were there when they bought it, like vintage patterned wallpaper that Carlson said was hidden under a layer of less attractive 1970s wallpaper. Other details, like some of the bookshelves and woodwork on the main level, were built by Lewis.

At the DeBoer home, family, history and holiday decorating all came together. The DeBoers’ house is estimated to have been built before 1900.

“From what I’ve seen, it was down by Holy Redeemer Church,” Kevin DeBoer said.

The house was likely located on West Lyon Street, next door to the historic Gieske house at the corner of Lyon and 6th Street, he said.

While doing research for the city of Marshall’s sesquicentennial celebrations, the DeBoers found a 1952 Marshall newspaper with a photo of the house being moved by truck to its current location on North Hill Street. A replica of the newspaper page hangs on the landing of the house’s back stairs.

The DeBoers said their home included some original details, like a built-in sideboard. Other details, like tin ceilings in the dining room, were salvaged from another Marshall historic house that was demolished years ago.

“So many of the historical and vintage pieces are family pieces that we had to renovate,” Nicole DeBoer said. Items like kitchen cabinets and dining room furniture were built or refurbished by the DeBoers’ family.

Christmas decorations were the main focus at DeCramer’s apartment in Marshall.

“I’ve been doing this for years,” DeCramer said of her Christmas decorating. “I had my own decorating shop.”

Several different Christmas trees, each with its own decorations and color scheme, were on display at her home Sunday. There were also many Santas –DeCramer didn’t have a count of them.

DeCramer said she usually starts putting up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. Getting ready for the home tour, however, took about three weeks.

“The color of the room is kind of what I go by,” she said of her decorating plans.

DeCramer said she plans to take time to enjoy the results her decorating work until February.

“I figure, it took me long enough to put it up,” she said.