It’s not a stately Victorian, nor a classic farmhouse, but it has its own charm, and it’s been saved from the dustbin of history by a family determined to preserve a piece of old Oak Harbor.

The little house at 625 SE Maylor is a block away from busy Midway Boulevard where once there were only Garry oak trees and wild roses. It could easily have fallen to a bulldozer, another victim of progress, except for the determination of Loann Gulick and her extended family that includes the Dougliss and Borgman clans.

Thanks to the work of several family members, the tiny one-story, roughly 600 square-foot abode is totally remodeled, from the foundation to the attic, with a happy coat of yellow paint, new wood floors and modern fixtures.

The most impressive addition is the bathroom: Something the house has never had in its 80 or so years of existence. It sat vacant for more than 40 years, playing host to squirrels and rats and trespassing kids. The old outhouse just outside the back door fell down a few years ago. No attempt was made to restore that as the city frowns on outhouses these days.

Gulick, whose maiden name is Thiesfeld, and her cousin Mike Dougliss were among the neighborhood kids who played around the house back in the ‘50s. A swing hung from the gnarly old Garry oak tree in front. When the house was vacated by its last tenant, George Borgman (Gulick’s great uncle), around 1960, a basketball hoop was nailed up inside. It served as playhouse before deteriorating into abandonment.

Gulick said the easy thing would have been to tear the house down when she decided something had to be done with it. Instead, the family started a restoration project that lasted three years.

“We could have flattened it out for another apartment or business,” said Dougliss. “But once you lose history, it’s gone.” The Dougliss family traces its roots in Oak Harbor back to 1874 and he advocates saving whatever remains of the old days.

Gulick found a newspaper dated 1929 when the house was gutted, and she estimates it was built around 1920. Jacob Smith lived in it in the ‘20s. A county record shows he sold it to Edward Beeksma, Barney Beeksma’s father, in 1938.

With its new foundation, plumbing, wiring, floor, fixtures and appliances, the house is ready for a new life, most likely as a rental for a single sailor. This little bit of history is safe for years to come, a sign of progress in the continuing battle to preserve Oak Harbor’s past.

“People driving by stop and say they’re happy we’re fixing it up,” Gulick said. Works like that tell her that the expensive and complicated restoration project was worthwhile.