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 interior of the house remains as it did when it was constructed, you can see photos of the inside at the Ionia County Historical Society’s website HERE

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It’s hard to miss this grand old house standing in downtown Niles. Henry A. Chapin and his wife built this beautiful queen ann home in 1882. Henry lived in it until his death in 1933 and then donated it to the city of Niles which used it as their City Hall for several years.

Chapin built one of the first general stores in the area. He did well as a merchant but it was his property in the Upper Peninsula that he gained his fortune from. In 1865 he purchased a large tract of land near Iron Mountain. A vast deposit of iron ore was discovered and the Chapin Mine was opened. “Mr. H.A.” as he was known, received up to $300,000 yearly in royalties from the mine. The house is now used as a historical museum.

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Not far from downtown Flint is the ornate brick house. The historical marker standing in front of it gives some of its history.

The central portion of this handsome Victorian home was built in the late 1850s. Several prominent Flint families lived in it before Robert J. Whaley purchased it in 1884. Whaley a local lumberman and banker, remodeled the house extensively. Three bays, the library alcove and a west-end addition were among the exterior changes. The interior was enhanced by adding ornate woodwork and colorful tiled fireplaces. In 1925, Whaley’s wife endowed the house, making it a home for elderly women. In 1975 it became a public museum.

Robert J. Whaley was born in Castile, New York, in 1840. He moved to Wisconsin with his family in the 1840s, then returned to New York. There he met and married Mary McFarlan of Flint. Whaley and his bride moved to Flint in 1867. Here, he joined his father-in-law in lumbering and later banking. He purchased this gracious structure in 1884. Serving as president of Flint’s Citizens Bank for forty-one years, Whaley was also a trustee for the Michigan Charitable Schools, a Mason, an Elk and a 1912 Democratic candidate for state treasurer. He died in 1922.

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