Arthur Silliman House

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Arthur Silliman House
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Location116 S. Main St., Three Rivers, Michigan
Coordinates 41°56′37″N85°37′55″W / 41.94361°N 85.63194°W / 41.94361; -85.63194 Coordinates: 41°56′37″N85°37′55″W / 41.94361°N 85.63194°W / 41.94361; -85.63194
Arealess than one acre
Built1868 (1868)
NRHP reference # 79002662 [1]
Added to NRHPNovember 20, 1979

The Arthur Silliman House is a private house located at 116 South Main Street in Three Rivers, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, [1] and now houses The Historic Silliman Home and Blacksmith Shop. [2]

Three Rivers, Michigan City in Michigan, United States

Three Rivers is a city in St. Joseph County in southwestern Michigan in the United States. The population was 7,811 at the 2010 census.

National Register of Historic Places Federal list of historic sites in the United States

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred in preserving the property.

Contents

History

Arthur Silliman was born in 1831 in White Deer Valley, Pennsylvania to Alexander Silliman. In 1845, Samuel Silliman, one of Arthur's brothers, moved to St. Joseph County and sent back glowing reports. Inspired by his son's success, Alexander Silliman moved his family to the same area in 1847. Arthur Silliman went into the blacksmith trade in the 1850s, first renting a building on Portage Avenue in Three Rivers. In 1864 he purchased two lots at the corner of Michigan and Main streets near this site, and constructed his own shop. [3]

St. Joseph County, Michigan U.S. county in Michigan

St. Joseph County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan, on the central southern border. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 61,295. The county seat is Centreville.

In 1867 Silliman sold his shop and purchased this plot of land next to the St. Joseph River. He likely constructed this house soon afterward, in about 1868. The building served both as the Silliman family home and as Arthur Silliman's blacksmith and wagon-building shop. He used the house for a number of years, and in 1903 deeded it to his daughter, Sue I. Silliman. Sue Silliman was a librarian and state historian for the Michigan Daughters of the American Revolution. Her love of history prompted her to donate the house too the city of Three Rivers just before her death in 1945. [3]

St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan) Tributary of Lake Michigan in Michigan and Indiana

The St. Joseph River is a 206 miles (332 km) long tributary of Lake Michigan flowing generally westerly through southern Michigan and northern Indiana, United States, to its terminus on the southeast shore of the lake. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Michigan. It was enormously important to Native Americans and greatly aided in the colonial exploration, settlement and administration of New France and the nascent United States as a canoe route between Lake Michigan and the watershed of the Mississippi River.

Daughters of the American Revolution Nonprofit organization

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote historic preservation, education, and patriotism. The organization's membership is limited to direct lineal descendants of soldiers or others of the Revolutionary period who aided the cause of independence; applicants must have reached 18 years of age and are reviewed at the chapter level for admission. It has 185,000 members in the United States and other countries. Its motto is "God, Home, and Country."

However, the city soon sold the house to the Three Rivers World War Veterans Home Association, and it was subsequently refurbished to provide a home for the local American Legion post. In 1976 the house was sold to the General Telephone Company of Michigan. [3] The company proposed to donate the house to the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution on the condition that funds were raised for its restoration. The funds were raised, and in 1980 restoration work was begun. The restoration was completed the next year, and the house was deeded to the DAR. The house was opened to the public as a museum, and continues to operate as The Historic Silliman Home and Blacksmith Shop. [2]

Description

The Arthur Silliman House is located on a sloped, narrow lot on the bank of the St. Joseph River, very close to the river itself. The house is a three-story rectangular flank-gable brick structure on a fieldstone foundation measuring 40 feet by 24 feet. Because of the slope of the lot, the lowest story is exposed on the river side, but underground on the opposite side. The windows are six-over-six lights with brick, segmental arch heads. [3]

The house as originally built contained a blacksmith's shop on the first floor, living quarters (a hall, kitchen, dining room, living room, and two bedrooms) on the second, and open storage space on the third. There were no internal staircases connecting the floors, only exterior stairs. [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Abiel Fellows Chapter. "The Historic Silliman Home and Blacksmith Shop". Michigan DAR. Archived from the original on 2017-06-21. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Robert O. Christensen (July 24, 1979), National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form: Arthur Silliman House (note: large pdf file)
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