1230 7th Street

 

Architecture:

    Style:                        Folk House

    Description:              This large asymmetrical two-story structure, once a house and now a funeral home, is a two-story wood frame structure with vinyl siding and a brick foundation.  It is cross-gabled.  Below the front gable extends a massive two-story portico with Doric columns and wood railing on the flat roof.  There is one side gable facing south on Union Street and two side gables facing north.  A one story semi-hexagonal bay is located on the south.  One story, flat roofed additions are also located on both east and north sides.

 

 

Significant Period:

    Construction Date:     1850’s

    Architect/Builder:       Unknown

    Context:                    Abram L. Stebbins paid taxes on property valued at $700 in 1859, indicating a house on the combined lots. The 1870 Census listed Abram from New York, his wife Adaline from Maine, children Adaline and Willie, and a real estate value of $6000.  He was a lumberman, an agent for Avery & Murphy with an office over Westell’s Drugstore, and an Alderman.  They lived there until at least 1873.  Edmund B. Harrington, also employed in lumber and with McMorran Flour Mill & Co. lived there throughout the 1880’s.  He was born in Port Huron on March 14, 1845.  His father Daniel B. Harrington, was one of the area’s earliest settlers and developers.  By 1893-94, Charles H. Reynolds lived there.  J.M. Jenks & Co employed him.  The Walsh family lived there from the later 1890’s until the mid-1920’s.  Mary Walsh, widow of Thomas lived there the entire time.  Captain Joseph F. Walsh lived there from 1899 to 1902.  Through the years, he was Prosecuting Attorney, City Attorney, and employed by Avery Bros. & Walsh and Hayden & Walsh law firms.  Others in the family included Ann, Elizabeth, Helen, Regina, and William.  Elizabeth was a bookkeeper for Hayden & Walsh in 1901, and was likely the same Elizabeth listed as wife of Dr. A. Henri Cote in 1906.  William R. Walsh became employed by Walsh & Walsh, and was Circuit Court Commissioner in 1912.  By 1930, Arthur and Flora Smith owned the structure.  They used it for both residence and their business, the Arthur Smith Funeral Home, a business that continues today.  The front porch was indicated in the 1941 Sanborn Map and a two story front porch present in the property tax assessor’s records by 1958.