William R. Kirby Sr. House
William R. Kirby Sr. House | |
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Location | 377 State Rd. |
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Nearest city | Hillsdale, Michigan |
Coordinates | 41°55′36″N 84°34′41″W / 41.92667°N 84.57806°W |
Area | 3 acres (1.2 ha) |
Built | 1845 |
Architectural style | Greek Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 82002836[1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | July 20, 1982 |
Designated MSHS | June 15, 1979[2] |
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]
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/William_Kirby_Hillsdale_MI.jpg/150px-William_Kirby_Hillsdale_MI.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Hannah_Kirby_Hillsdale_MI.jpg/150px-Hannah_Kirby_Hillsdale_MI.jpg)
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.
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f "Kirby, William R. Sr. House". Michigan State Housing Development Authority: Historic Sites Online. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
- ^ a b c 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
- ^ a b Elon Galusha Reynolds, ed. (1903), Compendium of History and Biography of Hillsdale County, Michigan, A.W. Bowen, pp. 156–57
- ^ a b JoAnne P. Miller. "The Will Carleton Poorhouse - In the Beginning". Hillsdale County Historical Society. Retrieved December 12, 2013.