This old house stands in Flint near Powers Catholic High School. The school was originally the Michigan School For the Deaf. A historical marker stands next to the house and reads:

The Superintendent’s Cottage, completed in 1890, is the oldest building on the campus of the Michigan School for the Deaf. With the exception of the masonry work, the cottage was built almost entirely by male students. In addition, students made the furniture for the house in the school’s shops. The building reflects the craftsmanship of the boys who studied under instructors Edwin Barton and James Foss. Student labor saved the state money while preparing the boys for future employment. Construction of the cottage began during an 1880s diphtheria epidemic when faculty housing was reorganized to make room hospital space. Beginning with Francis Clarke and his family, who lived in the house from 1892 to 1913, every superintendent has resided in the cottage.

In 1848 the Michigan legislature established the Michigan Asylum for Educating the Deaf and Dumb and the blind. Flint was selected as the site for the new institution. The first student arrived on February 6, 1854. After the  School for the Blind opened in Lansing in 1880, the Flint facility began serving only deaf children. The curriculum, which combined academics and practical training. emphasized “market gardening and general farming.” Boys studied carpentry, printing, tailoring and farming, while girls learned the sciences of cooking, sewing, darning and patching. The schools mission was to educate deaf children so that they “may earn a living … may have culture enough to enjoy that living … (and) may be fitted for citizenship.

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I saw this old house in the small town of McMillan west of Newberry. I don’t know anything about it but it caught my attention. The community of McMillan was first settled in 1881 when the railroad built a depot named the McMillan Station to serve the area. The station was named after railway executive and future Michigan senator James McMillan.

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It’s hard to miss this big old green house near downtown Hastings. It was constructed by Daniel Striker in the 1880s.  He lived there until his death in 1898 and his wife Sarah lived in the house until her death in 1915. After that, the house was used as the second home for Hastings’ first hospital, then known as Good Samaritan. In the 1960s, it was converted into apartments and became a convalescent home. since then it has been converted back into a single-family home.

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This sandstone house sits just outside of downtown Ionia. It’s hard to miss when driving through town and the historical marker in front tells the story of the house and the man who built it.

John Celsus Blanchard (1822 – 1905) epitomized the American “self-made man.” He left his home in Cayuga County, New York, at the age of fourteen for the western frontier. Blanchard worked as a laborer in Detroit, Livingston and Shiawassee Counties before walking sixty miles to the U.S. Land Office at Ionia. Using $50 of the $53 he had saved, he purchased forty acres of land in 1837. Two years later he began “reading the law” as a student in the law offices of Roof and Bell in Lyons. His appointment as Ionia County prosecuting attorney in 1850 began a distinguished public career. That year Blanchard and his wife, Harriet, moved to Ionia where they devoted themselves to civic affairs and became generous benefactors to churches and schools, including Albion College.

The brick walls of this substantial Italianate House are veneered with variegated sandstone selected by John Blanchard from the Ionia Sandstone Quarry, which he co-owned. The house stands where the Blanchard’s first Ionia home was located. In 1880 they moved that house to the back of the lot and began constructing this elegant residence, completed in 1881. The house looks much as it did when Blanchard’s lived here and retains many original interior features, such as brass chandeliers, faux marble fireplaces and walnut shutters. In 1974 the Ionia County Historical Society purchased the house. The Blanchard House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The one thing that has intrigued me is that fact that it has two front doors. A set of double doors and a single door. I am wondering if that is the door to his office. I did a little research but could not find the answer online. If you know what the extra door is used for please post a comment below.

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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 old house near Posen enjoying the warm winter sun. It looks as if it has been a long time since it was heated from the inside. I drive past these old houses and always wonder about the people who built it and the life they lived. Way back when it must have been challenging to live in rural northern Michigan. Especially in the winter.

Thank you to everyone that came out to my presentation in Plainwell. It was wonderful meeting all of you. My next presentation will be  March 16th at 6pm at the  North Muskegon Walker Memorial Library 1522 Ruddiman dr. North Muskegon MI 49445

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