BURTCH BLOCK
227 - 229 North Bridge Street

1888 Commercial Italianate
Home Tour 1998

This commercial structure, located at the southwest corner of Bridge and Main Streets, was built in 1888.  The property is located in the original part of town, as laid out in the original plat map of 1853.  The 1860 map of Grand Ledge shows a building on this corner, but we do not know what it was, or what became of it.  Later, the property belonged to John Burtch.  It is depicted on the 1881 map of Grand Ledge as a grouping of trees, and in fact, it was John Burtch's orchard at that time.

John Burtch was an interesting man in the early days of this village.  He was born Sept. 2, 1836 in New York.  He moved with his family to the Wacousta area when he was about five years old, and he grew up along the banks of the Grand River in Clinton County.  In the mid-1860's, he married Martha Jones of Eagle.  They had two daughters.  He was known around town as Skunkskin John because of his prowess as a trapper and fur dealer in his early years.   He loved to hunt and fish, and local historian Valorus Kent remembered how he would paddle his white pine canoe around the bridge and would throw out his spear .picking out the finny beauties, to the awe of spectators who were watching from the bridge.   He had many business interests in the town.  He promoted the development of commerce in the young village by being the only merchant in the area who would pay the farm wives cash for their eggs and butter, rather than paying them in trade as the other shop owners did.  This brought the farm families into town from all around the area.  He had a hotel, a lumberyard, and a grain elevator.  He was a dealer in seeds, grains, and wool.  He built the Burtch & Streeter Blind and Sash factory.  He built the Acme Opera House on North Bridge Street, which was destroyed by fire soon after being built.  Burtch and another man named Peter Boyce were the first to develop the islands as a tourist resort.  They built the first hotel on the island.  John Burtch operated the first boat livery on the island.  For ten cents, he would fill his boat with 10 passengers and pole them along the river for a sightseeing excursion.  He died of a heart attack in May, 1914. 

The Grand Ledge Independent reported on Sept. 2, 1887:  J.M. Burtch is excavating for a block of stores on his lots on N. Bridge St., in the old Burtch orchard.  Jas. Winnie is also removing the earth for the purpose of erecting a store adjoining Mr. Burtch's on the south.  Has the boom commenced?--Let ‘er continue. 

A building boom was indeed underway on that particular block.  On Jan. 27, 1888, the Independent reported that 8 new buildings were going to be built on that same block:  Burtch was building six, and James Winnie and George A. Youngs were building one building each.  The entire block will be two stories high and sixty feet deep.Five of Mr. Burtch's buildings (to be used for stores) will be 22 ft. front, and the sixth one, designed for a bank and to occupy the corner lot, will be 18 ft.  The draft of the proposed buildings was on display in Mr. Winnie's store for the public to view.  The new buildings were designed by a well-known local builder named George W. Brown.  The fronts are very attractive on paper.  The windows are of modern design, and with a tasty variety of artificial stone caps, galvanized iron cornices and variegated brick work.  It will make a block of which the builders and the village may justly feel proud.  The Historical Society photo collection includes a photo of the building, with the stone cap on top proudly bearing the name Burtch.  The stone cap is now gone from the building, but local residents called it the Burtch Block for many years. Although its landmark stone name plate is gone, there are several interesting momentos of the buildings early days still in place.  The current owner, Lee Irish, has painted the building, and he discovered several signatures on the brick on the back of the building, still readable after all these years.  The signatures appear to read Miss Lella Wygant 1896 and Merle Putterille.  There is also a bit of verse on one of the bricks:  Over the garden wall, the prettyiest girl of all.  Lee left these particular bricks unpainted. He also discovered the name Burtch imprinted into a brick, upside down, while working on a part of the building. The brick is located up high, near where the stone cap was, on the Main St. side of the building. 

We believe that the Burtch Building was used as a hotel or boarding house during the early years after it was built. The hotel rooms extended across the second floor of what is now #227 and #229.  A hallway ran north and south, and the rooms opened up into this hallway.  The rooms looked out over Bridge Street or to the rear of the building. The 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance map indicates that the building was being used as a bank at that time.  The 1900 Sanborn map shows that the building was then a barbershop; it also shows an outside stairway leading to the second story on the Main St. side of the building.  The original address of the building was #614 N. Bridge St.; the street numbering system in Grand Ledge was changed in 1914 to conform to regulations issued by the U.S. Post Office. 

In the fall of 1904, Fred S. Kebler opened a boot and shoe store in the downstairs at #229.  This was a new career for Mr. Kebler.  Fred Kebler was born June 15, 1865 in Eagle Twp. to Christian and Elizabeth Kebler.  Before he entered the business world, he was a well-respected teacher and principal at Rockford High School.  The April 21, 1905 Grand Ledge Independent said:  The stock handled here is of the best, buying only from the best manufacturers, and all goods sold here are guaranteed to represent the best of value.This gentleman has already won the confidence of his many customers, the natural result of close attention to business and fair dealing. He lived in Grand Ledge until his death in May, 1953.

The shoe store continued in business until some time after 1916.  It is unclear what business occupied the building for the next few years.  On Aug. 1, 1924, the Grand Ledge Independent announced the opening of the Farmers & Merchants Bank, located at #229.  They were opening the door to business on Aug. 9th, and their motto was Safety-Service-Courtesy.  The officers were prominent businessmen and farmers: Elmer Edwards, president; Wm. Schavey, vice president; F.M. Hoag, cashier; Luther F. Bosworth, 2nd vice president.  The board of directors included F.W. Nicholson, James Mead, and John Shaw.  They claimed to be the strongest bank in Eaton County, and boasted a modern system of burglar alarm and hold-up insurance.  The cashier of  the new bank, Francis M. Hoag, was an experienced banker with the Loan and Deposit Bank in Grand Ledge.  The new bank had difficulties early on.  The state and federal regulators questioned whether Grand Ledge was a large enough community at that time to support three banks.  Within a short period of time, the new bank went into receivership and out of business.  During this same time period, the upstairs of the building housed the Eames Realty Co. 

The 1930 Sanborn map shows that the first floor of the building at that time was a store.

In 1937, the Crest Furniture Co. occupied the building.  Morris L. Dorwin and Arthur Rossow were the proprietors.   This business appears to have been in operation only a short time. 

In the early 1940's the Church of God occupied the downstairs of the building.  The church was founded in 1927, and like many churches in town, they started out by holding services in meeting halls in downtown stores.  They rented space at several downtown locations.   The first resident pastor was Rev. Herbert Maguire, who served from 1927 to 1937.  The congregation built their first church structure in 1946 on S. Clinton St.

In 1945, Alva and Edna Sweet owned the building.  They were the owners of The Tavern, at 217 N. Bridge St. 

Throughout the years, the upstairs of the building was used for apartments.  The insurance maps indicate that although the downstairs of the building was divided by a wall into two separate buildings, #'s 227 and 229, the second floor was not divided and the apartments extended across both.   Some of the tenants over the years were: (1916) Jennie Tinney.  She was a bean picker and mother of five children.  She died at her home on North Bridge on April 16, 1921.  At the same time, Hallett and Esther Hayward were renting the other apartment at #229 ½.  He was a chair maker at one of the local factories.  (1937) Lloyd McPeek, clerk at The Tavern, and Timothy and Blanche Dooley rented the two upstairs units.  (1941) Lloyd McPeek was still a resident, and worked at Ray's Lunchroom.  Mrs. Etta Randall occupied the other unit.  (1945) Andrew Phinney, a laborer, lived upstairs, and Lloyd McPeek, who now worked at The Barn Tavern, rented the back apartment. 

The main floor of the building was apparently vacant for a few years, according to the 1950 and 1953 city directories.  However, the upstairs apartments continued to be occupied.  In 1950, Joseph and Viva Roberts lived at #229 ½ .  He worked at Lintzcraft Mobile Homes.  In 1953, Charles and Edna Dykhuis lived there.  Charles worked at John Bean Co. 

About 1953, Grand Ledge Auto Parts moved into the building on the first floor.  Charlie Torrey started the business in another location as Grand Ledge Salvage Co.  In 1942 he changed the name to Grand Ledge Auto Parts and dropped the scrap end of the business.  In c. 1953, he sold the business to Orlie Youngs, of Howell.  Harry Cotter managed the Grand Ledge business for Youngs.  Harry Cotter eventually bought the business.  Wayne Foote of Portland bought the business from Cotter.  Eventually the business outgrew the space available at 229 ½ and they moved across the street to a new location.  During the time he owned the building, Wayne Foote remembers that they made no major structural changes to the building other than to enlarge the opening between 227 and 229 on the first floor.  They also covered the facade of the building with vertical wood siding.

During the first few years that Grand Ledge Auto Parts was there, the upstairs apartments continued to be rented.  In 1956, Orville and Leona Parks lived upstairs.  He was a construction worker.  In 1961, Archie and Donna Barber were tenants.

Wayne Foote stated that when he acquired the building about 1972, the upstairs of the building was vacant, although traces of the former apartments were still visible in the form of wallpaper and wall partitions.  The second story was used for storage during the time his business was at this location. 

For several years, between 1983 and 1985, J&C Wholesale Inc. occupied the building.  They sold a variety of things: photo albums, mirrored sunglasses, air compressors, tools, garden tools, and electronics, to name a few items.