It is likely that Frank did not own his own home, but rather he rented a home built by Calumet & Hecla on Calumet & Hecla property. The neighborhood in which Frank lived had rows and rows of cookie-cutter "saltbox" style housing, which reinforces the idea that he lived in a company house.

Paternalism was in full effect with the Calumet & Hecla corporation, and what that means is that the corporation built neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, libraries and bath houses for their employees. They did this out of a belief that work and life were two sides of the same coin. That is to say, they are directly linked and sustain each other. Calumet & Hecla even donated monies to several nationalities of people who wanted to build churches of differing faiths, but Calumet & Hecla stopped short of maintaining church structures.

Of course, the monies put in to build such infrastructure came with strings attached. Miners had to pay rent on the C&H homes they occupied, and they had to maintain the house themselves. Miners could not sublet their homes or rooms in their homes without permission from the company. Leases were for 5 years at a time and could be re-newed, but sometimes the company refused to renew a lease. If the company let a person go, they had 15 days to vacate the company house. At no time was disorderly conduct tolerated on C&H property. You had to be a good citizen at all times, and a loyal and dedicated worker, thankful for the home C&H provided your family with. Company maintenance rarely happened on these houses, and it was common for a house to go without a fresh coat of paint for up to 15 years at a time.

Also, not everyone got a house. The Cornish, Irish, Scottish, French-Canadian, German and American employees got most of the available housing because they were either skilled tradesmen above or below ground, or supervisor-types.

Frank was a Timberman, which is a skilled profession underground, and he was a hard worker. So he was able to secure a home on C&H property.

The houses like the one Frank lived in were called "saltbox", named after the type of wooden box one would store table salt in Colonial times. The saltbox house had a sloping gable style roof - this is what made it look like a salt box.

The saltbox houses consisted of a 2-story setup with a 1-story addition at the back of the house. The downstairs part of the house consisted of the kitchen, pantry and living room, while there were 3 bedrooms upstairs. There was no heating, electric or plumbing in these houses!

Each house was on a 50-foot by 100-foot lot, and the houses themselves were rectangular and measured 18-feet by 26 feet. Every house had an outhouse in the backyard, and every yard had a fence to mark one's allotment of company property.

Example of a saltbox style house.
Photo taken of Bridge Street in Swedetown, just down the block from Frank Zawada.