This excellent Queen Anne Style house, completed in 1890 was the residence of Wilbur F. Davidson until his death in 1913. Born in Adrian in 1852, Davidson opened a Port Huron dry goods store in 1882. The next year he installed in the store the first electric light plant in St. Clair County. Much of the rest of his business career was with public and private electrical utilities. Davidson’s daughter lived in the family home until 1951. In 1972 the building was entered on the National Register of Historic Places.

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This yellow octagon house stands on the back roads near Oxford.  Known as Maple Grove it was constructed around 1850 by Harry Frink, who was a farmer and master carpenter from New York State. At the time octagon houses and buildings were all the rage and about fifty still stand in Michigan.

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This massive white brick house with tan trim stands in Saginaw on Washington Avenue in The Grove neighborhood near city hall. A small red sign with the words “The Home” stands in front of it, and It is curious that it has two entryways.  The house was built by Timothy B. Corning in 1872 at a cost of $25,000. Born in Wilmington Vt. he moved to Detroit when he was 19 years old. When salt operations started in the Saginaw Valley he and his wife Ann moved to East Saginaw, which is now part of the City of Saginaw.  T.B. Corning was one of the founders of the First National Bank of Saginaw and owned steamers and barges transporting goods out of Saginaw.

The house was built as two separate residences for himself and his wife on one side, and his son Gurdon and his wife Ida on the other.  T.B died in 1874 leaving his estate to his Wife and son, eventually they passed, and Ida inherited the house and lived in it until her death in 1917,  In her will it was to be used as a home for elderly women, and it became ”The Home for the Aged”. Recently it was sold and is now a privately owned residence. I am not sure when the first duplex house was constructed in the United States but this one is historic and spectacular looking.

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If you have ever traveled through the central Lower Peninsula on M-46 you have probably seen the ornate Victorian mansion in St. Louis. The massive white wooden castle-like home was constructed by Colonel John Elwell. He invested in the Chicago, Saginaw, and Canada Railroad and made a fortune when he turned the company around after it had been struggling to make a profit.  John Elwell rose to the rank of Colonel for his service to the civil war and he moved to St Louis in 1875. He purchased the whole block on Delaware Street in 1880 and finished construction of his elaborate home in 1884. He lived in the home until his death in 1910.

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This large home is located in the middle of Alma. Called Saravilla, this mansion was built in 1894, originally as an enticement for Sara Wright to stay near her father, local businessman Ammi Wright, after marriage. It has been used as a Masonic Home, a retirement home, and for the past few decades it has been a bed and breakfast.

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I saw this ornate brick two story house not far from the southern Michigan town of Hudson. I got to wondering about it’s history and found it has an interesting story.

Hudson businessman and banker William Treadwell began construction of this magnificent house in 1862 but he never got the chance to live in the house. William was raised in the town of Hudson and worked at the People’s State Bank. In 1859,With capitol from his father, he purchased the bank and managed it. A few years later he was accused of embezzling over 60,000 dollars from the bank and had absconded with the money in a suitcase. The weeks after he disappeared he was captured in Ohio. He was tried and convicted and on the day of his sentencing he escaped from jail with the help of an accomplice. The accomplice later murdered Treadwell for the money in his pocket and Treadwell’s body was found in the woods two weeks later. The house William had started constructing was never completed in time for him to live in it before he was was apprehended for his crimes.

The house still stands today and is privately owned.  When I saw it I thought it was an interesting house but I would never imagined I would find such an interesting story about the man that constructed it. The house was designated a Michigan State Historic Site, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974