Walking Tour-25 Buffalo Street-Walking Tour
(East Side of Street)

Previous research (see the Historic Site Building/Structure Inventory Form) listed 1861 as the construction date for the house. However, Jesse Millard owned the property beginning 1855 with the assessed value of $350, high enough to indicate the presence of a building on the lot by then. Also, the 1859 entry listed this site, Lot 7 Block 2, as that of a "house", specifically. Millard moved by 1863 to a house on the north side of Washington St., 51 E. Washington. Millard had a wagon and cooper shop on the east side of Buffalo St. (Lot 3 Block 7), south of East Church St., or the site of 41 Buffalo, until 1860 when he moved his shop to the east side of Main St. just north of the stream.

Elements of the original Greek Revival style of this house include the wide entablatures of the broken pediment under the low-pitched gables of the two story sections (at right angles to the street). The steep-pitched gable of the street facing facade is more typical of the Gothic Revival style. Possibly the house was built as a hybrid of styles, or the Gothic Revival element may have been added as an attempt to update the home. The front porch was certainly a result of the latter, probably added circa 1890, when front porches became fashionable because of the popularity of the picturesque Queen Anne style. The picture windows on either side of the front door seem to be from that period also.

The house served as the Methodist Episcopal parsonage from 1864 to 1958.

Official Property Description:

• The south 16' of Lot 6 & all of Lot 7 & Lot 10 Block 2 of Nelson W. Clark's Original Plat of the Village in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 20 in Independence Township. (Note that the Original Plat map has Block 7 mistakenly labeled Lot 9.)
• Lot 17 of the Assessor's Plat.

Significant Property History:

[A Synopsis Of Property Transfers Derived From Abstracts
(when available) And Periodic Changes In Ownership Or
Assessed Value Derived From Township Tax Records]

• 1831 United States to Butler Holcomb.
• 1833 Butler Holcomb & wife, Mary, To Roswell/Roosevelt Holcomb, the west 1/2 of the Southeast 1/4 of Section 20.
• 1833 Butler Holcomb & wife, Mary, To Roswell/Roosevelt Holcomb, and wife, Elvine Holcomb, and Daniel B. Holcomb and wife, Alimira, to Jeremiah Clark, the south part of the west 1/2 of the Southeast 1/4 of Section 20.
• 1839 Jeremiah Clark to Nelson Washington Clark, the undivided 1/2 of the west 1/2 of the Southeast 1/4 of Section 20 commencing.......
• 1842 Jeremiah Clark & wife, Polly, to Nelson W. Clark, the south part of the west 1/2 of the Southeast 1/4 of Section 20. Also other land.
• 1842 Jeremiah Clark & Nelson W. Clark to Village of Clarkston (Original plat of the Village).
• 1847 Harris Stillson, the south 1/2 of Lot 6 Block 2, assessed value $5, and Lot 7 Block 2, assessed value $60.
• 1848 Harris Stillson, the south 1/2 of Lot 6 and 7 Block 2, assessed value $20.
• 1849 E. Jones, Lot 7 & the south 1/2 of Lot 6 Block 2, assessed value $72. ( Note that on the Original Plat map of the Village Block 7 was mistakenly labeled Block 9. )
• 1850 Thomas Chapple, the west 1/2 of Lot 7.
• 1855 Jesse Millard, Lot 7 Block 2, assessed value $350, and Lot 3 Block 7, assessed value $190.
• 1859 Jesse Millard, as above, assessed value $400. The tax entry says "house".
• 1860 as above.
• 1864 Jesse Millard, the south 1/2 of Lot 6 Block 2, assessed value $160.
• 1872 Map of the Village shows a building footprint on this site.
• 1918 Methodist Episcopal Church parsonage.
• 1935 Methodist Episcopal Church, the south 16.5' of Lot 6 and all of Lots 7 & 10. Block 2.