Many houses that line the streets leading to the downtown square have history.

Some are barely standing to tell it.

On Chestnut Street, St. James Apartments will be closed soon for mass renovation.

Some are still going strong.

At 1149 State St., the dark red brick, two-story Victorian house stands with a porch and a balcony wrapping around the right. An octagonal tower with bay windows is on the left. Above the attic is a green steel roof.

The house was built in 1890 by T.C. Mitchell. His name and the year are engraved into the red brick beside the front door.

This is the house that the Lee family lived in from 1934 to 1940. Dick Lee, 77, published a newspaper there about 70 years ago with his brother and his friend.

It was called The Tom-Tom.

The hectograph that they used was in the front hall, beside the parlor.

Now there is a barrister bookcase. George and Jane Morris live and work inside the house.

“Jane and I wanted to do a historic restoration,” George Morris said.

Moving “one room at a time,” the Morris’ have gutted, rebuilt, painted and wallpapered. It can take up to five months to finish a single room, Jane Morris said.

George Morris said that over the years, he and Jane have learned how to divide the tasks.

George Morris does the construction work and heavy lifting.

“I want to modernize and fix it up while keeping the look,” he said.

Jane Morris does the painting and stenciling.

She said she wants to reinvent the house’s original Victorian style, so she stencils remnants of the wall design before.

The Morris’ have gathered pictures and memorabilia from past owners and decorated the parlor.

One postcard from 1905 shows the 15-year-old house on the left. State Street was a dirt road. Across the street, where the Bell South building stands behind sidewalk, there were once trees and yards.

It’s one of a few houses still standing today, George Morris said. It’s a quality house.

The framing and the floor are built out of poplar and red oak, hardwoods. George Morris said houses today are usually built out of softwood plywood, of pine and spruce.

“The cost of materials to reproduce this house makes it difficult,” he said.

The house is a historic landmark of Bowling Green.

The Morris’ have won awards for their work – the Jean Thomason Award for Historic Restoration and the Operation Pride Award.

Outside of the house, Jane Morris is an office assistant in the Career Services Center at Western; George Morris is a self-employed contractor specializing in historic restoration, which explains why they moved into the house 12 years ago.

“We wanted this house, but it wasn’t in the market,” George Morris said.

Despite its status, George Morris said a customer at his antique shop told him to contact Lena Ellis, the previous owner.

When he did, Ellis told him that the couple that was going to buy it canceled.

“It was kind of like fate put us in this house,” George Morris said.

When George and Jane Morris first moved in, he said they were on “the 10-year plan.”

“Now we’re on the ‘15-year plan,’” he said.

George Morris said the condition was what contractors call “elegant squalor.”

“It was worn out,” he said.

But George and Jane Morris said they have come a long way. They hope to have the house done in three years. When they finish the house, Jane Morris said they will put up an iron fence in the front and back yards, like it used to have.

“Then we will just enjoy it for a while,” George Morris said.

Reach Ryan W. Hunton at news@chherald.com.