William_R._Kirby_Sr._House

William R. Kirby Sr. House

William R. Kirby Sr. House

Historic house in Michigan, United States

The William R. Kirby Sr. House (also known as the Kirby–Keefer House) is a private house located at 377 State Road in Hillsdale, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1979[2] and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[1] It is one of the few early cobblestone houses extant in Michigan.[2]

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History

William Kirby Sr. was born near Leeds, England in 1805.[3] He married Hannah Sykes, and the couple emigrated to the United States in 1827.[4] After living in New York and Ohio, in 1835 they moved to Hillsdale County to homestead,[3] one of the first families to settle in the area.[2] In the 1840s, William and Hannah constructed this house.[2] It took three years to gather the cobbles used in construction.[5] Hannah Kirby died in 1876 and William in 1888, by which time their homestead had grown to 240 acres.[4] The house was eventually passed on to William Kirby Jr.[3]

The house was later owned by Robert Keefer.[5]

Description

The Kirby House is a two-story Greek Revival with a gable roof and single story additions on the side and rear.[2] The house is constructed of fieldstone faced with parallel rows of cobblestones, with cut sandstone quoins, lintels, and sills.

Images

  • William Kirby, Sr.
  • Hannah Kirby
  • Historic image from 1982

References

  1. [1]
    "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. [2]
    "Kirby, William R. Sr. House". Michigan State Housing Development Authority: Historic Sites Online. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
  3. [3]
    Crisfield Johnson (1879), History of Hillsdale County, Michigan: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Everts & Abbott, p. 228
  4. [4]
    Elon Galusha Reynolds, ed. (1903), Compendium of History and Biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan, A.W. Bowen, pp. 156–57
  5. [5]
    JoAnne P. Miller. "The Will Carleton Poorhouse - In the Beginning". Hillsdale County Historical Society. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
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