831 Court Street

Architecture:

Style: Gothic Revival

Description: This is a two-story brick structure with steep cross gables. The gables on the front and back have decorative vergeboard. A wraparound porch graces the front of the house. This porch has square wood columns on brick column bases, wood railing, and single-spaced brackets in the eaves. There is evidence that the flat porch roof once had railing. The windows on the first story are tall and narrow, and all the windows have brick window crowns.

Significant Period:

Construction Date: mid 1870’s

Architect/Builder: Unknown

Context: Henry Howard and Spaulding paid property taxes for the entire block on a value of $1000, in 1859. By 1877, Henry Howard paid property taxes on this lot and structure with a value of $450. The first documented resident was Major Wyllis C. Ransom in the 1877-78 City Directory. He arrived to take up his duties as auditor for the C & L H Railroad as stated in the Port Huron Times, dated January 8, 1877. His father was Epaphroditus Ransom, governor of the state of Michigan in the 1850’s. In 1878 J. Beard paid the taxes. April 21, 1879 a fire broke out in the rear wood addition. The paper reported arson as the cause. In 1883 and 1885 Mrs. David Beard paid the taxes. City directories 1883 to 1885 list David, a lumberman, and his wife as residents. David Beard was born January 10, 1839 in St. Clair County. His parents John and Hannah Beard of Chenango County, New York came here in 1831. Philo and Helen Truesdell paid taxes and lived there from 1888 to 1897, when they moved next door to a new home at 825 Court Street. Philo Truesdell was the owner of Port Huron Marble & Granite works, located at 401 – 405 Butler Street. Thomas Griffiths, a commercial traveler, lived there in 1899. Fred Weston, Superintendent in the Illinois Life Insurance Company, lived there with his wife Ella from 1904 to about 1915. Helen Trott, widow of Albert, lived there in 1918. William E. and Maud E. Roach occupied the house from 1920 to about 1983. William was first manager of the National Grocer Company, then President of Shields Grocery. In 1921 he was First Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce, and in 1923 the local President of the Boy Scouts of America. His daughter Lucille M., who remained at home as an adult for several years, was city chemist and county bacteriologist. She returned home in the 1940’s, to live with her widowed mother.