John:
Your place reminds me of my grandmother's place in North Carolina that my grandfather had built in 1952. She had electrical work done only one time in the 50 years that she lived there, which consisted of a sub panel and dedicated circuits run to all bedrooms for window A/C units in the 1960's. It was a crappy job: A Wadsworth panel with runs going into the crawlspace, then up the outside walls with UF.
Despite the age of her house, I was surprised that she had the original 100 amp fuse service. She had oil heat, but everything else was electric and even as a kid, I was fascinated by the fact that nearly everything was in pristine condition. This place must have been state-of-the art when it was built because they had properly-placed receptacles, outdoor lights and receptacles and lots of 3-ways. All switches and receptacles remained original except for one switch that I replaced in the pantry.
When we moved her out, we cleaned out the attic that had been a virtual junkyard of old toys, books and furniture. I was amazed once the place was emptied out how similar to today's standards the wiring was. It actually looked a lot neater than most of what you see today. It was all Romex (with ground!).
The people who bought the house did a major renovation, to include a service upgrade to 300 amps and central A/C. The new owners were family friends and they insisted that the old fuse panel behind the door in the kitchen remained. It was completely dead, but they wanted to keep it there for nostalgic purposes. When we went there for a visit, I was delighted to see that this original "hub" of the house was left untouched. I know it sounds silly, but there's no doubt that there was a lot more quality and pride in workmanship 50+ years ago.
