Walking Tour-32 South Main Street-Walking Tour
(East Side of Street)

Historically there was a wooden structure on this site by 1856. The structure probably resembled the Greek Revival style building seen in a c.1877 photo of Frank Yeager's blacksmith shop. 1850 tax rolls listed Washington L. Clark for the property. (He also owned a house on the northeast corner of South Main Street and East Church Street.) This property in 1855 was listed as belonging to Perry and Clark, but the assessed value does not indicate a building on the Lot at the time. In 1856 Robert Perry was taxed for both pieces with an increased assessed value indicating a building on the site by then.

The 1872 Map of the Village has a building footprint with J. M. Clark as the owner. James M. Clark was one of Clarkson's first blacksmith's. This building became the site of Yeager and Son, a blacksmith shop. Jedediah Yeager, also one of Clarkston's early blacksmiths, had shops previously on West Washington and North Main St. (Jedediah's son, Frank, lived at 8 E. Washington. There was a barn in the southeast corner of that property where he also did some of his work. That barn in the 1850s was shared by more than one craftsman.) Frank owned this 32 South Main Street property until about 1914.

In 1919, the Seeterlin brothers, built a new building here to house their Chevrolet Sales & Service. The Seeterlins moved their business to the north side of East Church Street. Henry Buck & William Chase started a Ford dealership and Ward Robbins had a service station here also. Reuben Beattie bought the building in 1927 and the Beattie's took over the Buck & Chase dealership. E. A. Baker had a custom auto repair shop in the rear of Beattie's building for a time. In 1943 a fire burned the building of Beattie Motor Sales. The building was subsequently rebuilt. (The last location of the Beattie Ford dealership was on Dixie Highway at the intersection of Andersonville Road). The last car dealership on this South Main Street site, Bill Spence Rambler moved from here in 1961 to Dixie Highway. The building then became the Haupt Bump Shop, an extension of Haupt Motor Sales on M-15 north of the Village.

The site south of 32 South Main is now a parking lot. Historically tax records indicate that there was a building here by 1855, owner George Perry. By 1858 the building became Richard Broomfield/Bloomfield's (both spellings were recorded in the tax records) wagon shop and the site of his home. According to an article in a 1938 Clarkston News, Mr. and Mrs. Broomfield moved from a farm, first to a house which later became the Baptist Parsonage, then to a house on this site built between 1872 (see map) and 1880 when the property's assessed value was high enough to indicate a building. The map shows a wagon shop on the northwest corner of the west 1/2 of Lot 3. The Broomfield family owned this property until after the turn of the century. The house, a Victorian Style building, was moved in 1933 to its present location at 6129 S. Main (Lot 62, Section 29, Clarkston Estates). Dates of the move conflict. The house may have been moved as early as 1933.

Official Property Description For 32 S. Main:

• The west 1/2 of the north 1/2 of Lot 2 Block 8 of Nelson W. Clark's Original Plat of the Village in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 20 in Independence Township.
• Lot 58 of the Assessor's Plat.

Significant Property History For 32 S. Main:

[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).
• 1844 John Pratt, Lot 2 Block 8, assessed value $50.
• 1846 Nelson W. Clark, Lot 2 Block 8, assessed value $20.
• 1847 Nelson W. Clark, Lot 2 Block 8, assessed value $10.
• 1849 Nelson W. Clark, Lot 2 Block 8, assessd value $30.
• 1850 Washington L. Clark, Lot 2 Block 8, assessed value $75.
• 1856 Perry and Clark, the west 1/2 of Lot 2 Block 8, assessed value $7.
• 1857 Robert Perry, the west 1/2 of Lot 2 and the north 1/2 of Lot 3, assessed value $250.
• 1862 James M. Clark was the ownerof this site by now according to an abstract.
• 1867 J. M. Clark, the west 1/2 of Lot 8 except 8' from the south side, assessed value $400.
• 1872 Map of the Village has a building footprint, owner, J. M. Clark.
• 1884 Jedediah and Frank Yeager, the west 1/2 of Lot 2 Block 8, except 8' off the south side, assessed value $45.
• 1885 Yeager, as above, assessed value $400.
• 1891 Yeager & Son, the west 1/2 of Lot 2 Block 8, except 8' off the south side, assessed value $300.
• 1914 Frank Yeager, as above, assessed value $400.
• 1917 R. F. Townsend, beginning at the northwest corner of Lot 2 Block 8 then the east 83' of the south 57', assessed value $600.
• 1920 Seeterlin Brothers, as above, assessed value $5000.
• 1921 Seeterlin Brothers, as above, Dodge and Chevy Dealership.
• 1927 The Seeterlins sold to Reuben J. Beattie.
• 1933 R. J. Beattie Estate, beginning at the northwest corner of Lot 2 & the east 83' of the south 57', assessed value $4400.
• 1939 R. J. Beattie, Estate, the west 57' of the west 83' of Lot 2, assessed value $3700.
• 1943 The building, on the Lot then, burned.
• 1949 Lang and Poole, purchased the site & built a Chrysler/Plymouth dealership.
• 1954 Ford Motor Sales.
• 1956 Clarkston Motor Sales.
• 1979 Gans IV.

Official Property Description For Parking Lot South of 32 S. Main:

• The west 1/2 of Lot 3 Block 8 in the southeast 1/4 of section 20 in Independence Township.
• Lot 59 of the Assessor's Plat.

Significant Property History For Parking Lot South of 32 S. Main:

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

• Note: All the properties currently located in the Historic District were originally part of a tract registered by Butler Holcomb with the federal government on October 22, 1831. Thus, abstracts for these properties, when they exist, show the original transfer to be from the United States to Butler Holcomb and may also include references to then President Andrew Jackson.
• 1850 Nelson Abbey, Lot 3 Block 8, assessed value $20.
• 1855 George Perry, the west 1/2 of Lot 3, assessed value $230.
• 1855 John G. Owen, Lot 6 assessed value $500 & the south 1/2 of Lot 3 Block 8, no assessed value.
• 1858 R. Broomfield/Bloomfield, the south 1/2 of the north 1/2 of Lot 3, assessed value $250 "wagon shop".
• 1860 John G. Owen, Lot 6 & the south 1/2 of Lot 3 "dwelling" and "occupied together.
• 1860 R. Broomfield/Bloomfield, the south 1/2 of the north 1/2 of Lot 3, assessed value $330.
• 1870 R. Broomfield, assessed value $525.
• 1872 Map of the Village shows the footprint of a wagon shop on the northwest corner of the west 1/2 of Lot 3, owner, Broomfield. R. Broomfield, Lot 6 & 1/2 of Lot 3 Block 8, assessed value $550, the north 1/2 of the west 1/2 of Lot 3 Block 8, assessed value $250. & 8' off the south side of the west 1/2 of Lot 2 Block 8, assessed value $25.
• 1875 R. Broomfield/Bloomfield, as above, & a piece in Southeast 1/4 of Section 20.
• 1878 Broomfield /Bloomfield, as above, & a piece south of the Union School on N. Main.
• 1880 R. Broomfield, Lot 6 & the south 1/2 of Lot 3 Block 8, assessed value $1200. the north 1/2 of the west 1/2 of Lot 3 Block 8, assessed value $400. 8' off the south side of the west 1/2 of Lot 2, assessed value $20. N. Main St. site, assessed value $300
• 1883 R. Broomfield, the north 1/2 of the west 1/2 of Lot 3 Block 8, and 8' off the south side of the west 1/2 of Lot 2 Block 8, assessed value $400. Mrs. J.D. Benjamin, Lot 6 & the south 1/2 of Lot 3 Block 8, assessed value $900.
• 1884 R. Broomfield, north 1/2 of the west 1/2 of Lot 3 Block 8, & 8'as above, assessed value $700.
• 1886 R. Broomfield, as above, assessed value $500.
• 1892 R. Broomfield, as above, & Lot 3 Block 26, assessed value $120, and other prop.
• 1905 R. Broomfield Estate,-"Florence and Lottie", assessed value $700.
• 1906 Florence and Charlotte Broomfield, assessed value $700.
• 1909 Florence Edgar and Charlotte Broomfield, assessed value $700.
• 1910 A.K.and Florence Edgar, assessed value $800.
• 1911 as above, assessed value $1000.
• 1914 as above, assessed value $1200.
• 1917 L.S. Voorheis, the north 1/2 of the west 1/2 of Lot 3 and the south 8'Lot 2, assessed value $1000.
• 1925 A. Landi, the north 1/2 of the west 1/2 of Lot 3 and 8', assessed value $1900.
• 1926 Anthony Landi, as above, assessed value $1900.
• 1933 Anthony Landi, as above, assessed value $1500.
• 1932 Anna Landi, assessed value $1000.
• 1935 Beattie, Robert, Marg., John, Ruth, and Ida Mae, the south 9 Feet of the west 83' of Lot 2 & the north 41' of the west 83' of Lot 3, assessed value $1300.
• 1939 House which was on this lot was moved to 6129 S. Main
• 1935 Ida Mae Beattie, Et.al., assessed value $1300.
• 1937 as above, assessed value $700.
• 1938 as above, assessed value $600.
• 1941 Ida Mae Beattie, Lot 59, assessed value $400.
• 1943 R.C. Beattie and wife, assessed value $400.