25 Buffalo 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.