The first wedding in August Wilson’s childhood home closed a circle 80 years in the making

If you walk along Bedford Avenue on a weekday morning, you might notice him. He stands across from 1727 Bedford, looking at the house longer than most people do.

Reggie Howze studies the brick for cracks in the mortar. He checks the trim and the steps. He notices where trash gathers along the foundation after a windy night. Around midday, he watches how the light hits the front windows. If something looks off, he fixes it.

“I want people to do a double take when they come here. I wanted it to look as good as a Carnegie Library,” Howze says. “I wanted people to see that somebody cares.”

At 81, Howze tends the exterior of the August Wilson House, the modest brick row house where August Wilson grew up. He lives minutes away. He also contributes to the house’s oral history archive, “Voices of History,” meant to preserve the firsthand stories of a neighborhood that has watched its landmarks disappear.

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