Walking Tour-21 South Main Street-Walking Tour
(West Side of Street)

This rusticated block building was constructed in 1914, for use as the Independence Township Hall. J. D. Ogden and Austin Taylor (residents of the houses at 155 & 135 N. Main, respectively) acted as the building committee. Slaters of Pontiac, Michigan constructed the building of locally produced concrete block which was also used for the construction of 27 South Main. At least one wooden building occupied this site prior to the construction of this building. According to a photo caption in Heritage, page 58, Dr. Clark Sutherland's first home in the Village was at the back of lot of 21 S. Main (see Heritage photo of ice storm.)

After the present building was constructed Village Council meetings and elections, for a time, were held here. The building became the Clarkston U. S. Post Office in 1942. A 1958 Clarkston News article announced the retirement of postal clerks, Mrs. Clarence Drake & Miss Ada Scrace. The Post Office sold the building after it constructed a new facility on M - 15 in 1976, outside the Village limits. The building has been used for offices since. The street facade was remodeled in the late 1970s. An addition to the west facade was begun in 1998.

Official Property Description:

• Lot 2, except the north 12' of Block 25, of Nelson W. Clark's Original Plat of the Village in the Southwest 1/4 of Section 20 of Independence Township.
• Lot 77 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]

• 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.
• 1847 Jeremiah & Nelson W. Clark, Mill property, assessed value $2000.
• 1849 Nelson W. Clark & Abraham Houghtelin, Lots 2 & 3 Block 25, last description, Known as the Mill property", assessed value $1900.
• 1850 Nelson W. Clark, Lots 1, 2 & 3 Block 25, assessed value $500.
• 1857 E. Hirst, Lot 2 and Lot 3 Block 25.
• 1860 Ed. S. Hirst, Lots 2 & 3, except 15' off the side, including the house which belongs to the mill.
• 1870 Hirst and Stiff
• 1872 Map of the Village, Hirst & Stiff, see footprint of the building.
• 1878 "Erastus Stiff Lots 2 & 3 Block 25, except 15' off the north side which belongs to Dresser, & 67' running back to the Foundry Property", assessed value $250.
• 1881 Theodocia Stiff, the undivided 1/2, north by Hammond, J. H. Dresser and Bartlett, west by Mrs. West, south by M. A. Root, east by Main, assessed value $300.
• 1891 Mrs. H. T. Hirst
• 1898 H. T. Hirst, assessed value $300. (See Heritage, pg.58, which says that Dr. Sutherland lived in a house at back of this lot at this time.)
• 1900 Mary E. Hirst, assessed value $300.
• 1903 Mary E. Hirst, assessed value $400.
• 1909 Frank Green, assessed value $400. (says - east by C. Drake.)
• 1911 Frank Green.
• 1915 Town Hall (H.D. Survey says built in 1911.)
• 1942 The United States Post Office moved into the building.