66 East Washington Street

The value of this property rose from the $56.00 which John M. Clark gave Nelson W. and Phidelia Clark for the property in 1856, to $500.00 four years later when John sold the property to the Methodist Church. There was apparently a building of some kind on the lot by 1860. This property belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church from 1860 to 1867. Samuel Demerest, who owned the property to the west of this, bought this piece from the church in 1867. He sold it to Ransom Johnson by 1870 when tax records listed him as the owner. The 1872 map has a rectangular building footprint (short side of the rectangle facing the street), on the far west side of this property. This footprint does not match the part of the house on the site now. There is no information presently available to describe this building or what happened to it. Was it used for a part of the existing house, was it moved or possibly destroyed ? It seems probable that Ransom Johnson built the original section of the house which is on the lot now. The tax assessment value jumped from $350.00 in 1872 to $800.00 in 1878 indicating a major improvement on the property. The late Victorian Vernacular Style of the two story section of the house and its proportions, support the later construction date. A 10/14/1954 Clarkston News item announced the estate sale of Lucy B.Coon, appraised value $10,500.000. Lucy and husband, Linsley I. Coon were residents of the house after her mother, Jennie Vliet, died. The house served as a two family residence for many years. The single story wing was a separate apartment until recently when the rental unit was gutted and remodeled to accommodate a family room. At the time new windows were installed on the street facing facade replacing a central door with windows on either side. Windows which were mismatched (probably reused or reclaimed from another building) on the west facade were removed. The front porch supports were built in 1998.