VALPARAISO | For John Blosky, the house at 204 Jefferson St. was the right size and the right location for his business. Little did he know the surprises in store for him.

The house is more than 120 years old and was vacant and falling into disrepair from neglect. Most the interior had been gutted or was falling apart, but it's as if Blosky was as much the right owner for the house as the house was the right building to be the location of the offices for his Amereco Inc.

"My wife wanted a new building," Blosky said. "It was up for sale, but the owner was hard to get hold of. I said I think it will work for me. I just saw the potential. It has a lot of free parking next door and it's a neat old building."

Having most of the inside gutted made it easier for him because "I just had to put it together." The siding was asbestos, and, when it was removed, it revealed bevelled clapboard siding still in good shape. As the restoration began, Blosky discovered the paint used on the house was 50 percent lead, the highest he had ever tested.

Disposing of things such as asbestos and lead-based paint is what Amereco does, so the house was in the right hands. Blosky; his wife, Renee; and his brother-in-law Jim Kurtz, who is a carpenter, spent nine months restoring much of the home's original appearance. The surprises were only beginning, however.

As they worked on the interior, they found a postcard with a 1911 postmark on it, newspapers and comic strips from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s with ads for gasoline selling for 17 cents a gallon at the James Coulter Quick Service, at Lincolnway and Napoleon Street, and for a Friday fish dinner at Ye Old Style Inn on Lincolnway for 15 cents.

Probably the biggest surprise was a mint condition Jim Thorpe 1933 Goudey Gum Big League Chewing Gum card, which Blosky sold on eBay.com for $550.

Much of the historic material was turned over to Caroline Conner, of the city's Historic Preservation Commission, but Blosky said he sealed a lot of the old comics and newspapers back in the attic for the next owner to discover.

The final surprise came a week ago when he attended the annual Community Improvement Awards luncheon held by the Greater Valparaiso Chamber of Commerce and was given the Historic Preservation Award from the historic commission.

"I didn't realize what kind of award I was getting," Blosky said.