When the Milwaukee road arrived in 1907, Forsyth boomed, and carpenter Maurice S. Lord decided to open his own business. “It won’t cost you anything to talk to me,” he advertised, “and if I can’t suit you as to price and quality, then give the job to the other fellow and we will still be friends.” A few years earlier, he and his wife Mary built this two-story transitional Queen Anne/Colonial Revival home. Lord likely constructed the residence himself. Its unusual T-shaped floor plan was a good advertisement for his skills as a homebuilder, especially since the house doubled as his office. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that business was slower than he hoped. Plumbers who added a bathroom in 1909 sued the Lords for payment, and three years later Richardson Mercantile temporarily attached a lien to the property. The Lords sold the home in 1912 and left Forsyth to try their hand at farming. By 1914, however, the family had moved to Columbus, where Maurice once again worked as a carpenter.
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