BULL-SIMPSON-WELCH-WALDO
327 Franklin Street

1868 Spartan
Home Tour 2002

The house at the corner of Franklin and Scott Streets, #327 Franklin Street, is located in the original part of the village of Grand Ledge, as it was first platted in 1854.  It is a very old house indeed, going back to the early days of the village.  Although it has been repaired and updated inside, the basic layout of the house probably remains close to what it was when the house was built, with the formal living area on the first floor, and the bedrooms upstairs. The house did not have a bathroom when it was built, of course, and that space was taken from one of the upstairs bedrooms.  The exterior of the house is still remarkably similar to the tall, square house that appears on the 1881 sketch map of Grand Ledge.  The stucco was added much later; it was often added to older homes as a means of cheap repair and modernization for old wood siding.  Although the house lacks the ornamentation found on more elaborate Italianate houses, such as the brackets under the eaves, it still has the basic tall shape, shallow hipped roof, and tall narrow windows.  The bay window on the south side of the house is also a style element of the Italianate style. 

The land changed hands a number of times in the early years before the house was built.  Moses Beach, a local businessman and farmer, acquired most of the land in this neighborhood in the 1860s.  He lived in the large brick house that still stands at the corner of East Jefferson and Franklin Street today.  Mr. Beach bought and sold a great deal of real estate over the years.  In June 1868 he sold the lot where the Flowerday home is located to George W. Bull for $150.  Mr. Bull was a chairmaker.  He probably built the house soon after buying the land in 1868.  The 1873 map of Grand Ledge shows a house on this lot, and the 1881 birds-eye view sketch map also shows the house, with its distinctive tall, square shape.  In 1872, Mr. Bull drew up his will.  He also acquired several smaller pieces of land adjoining his house lot and had those deeds recorded.  He died sometime shortly after making his will; no death record exists at Eaton County, but his will is filed with the deeds to the property and indicates the estate was settled in 1874.  His will made a very specific reference to the house:  “…To my beloved wife Cordelia A., my homestead, being the SW ½ of lots 8 and 9, and all of lot 10, Block 45 in Grand Ledge.”   He also left $800 to Cordelia and his household goods, and “the use and possession of Ida Babcock’s share for the full term of two years after my death.”  He left his daughter Lydia Bull $1000 and his melodeon.  He directed that anything left after the payment of his debts was to be divided between his wife, Cordelia, and daughters Lydia Bull and Ida H. Babcock.  One thing of note is that Cordelia A. Bull is also known as Alice C. Bull, and seemed to use both names; it is not clear which was actually her legal name.    

In November 1874 Cordelia Bull married a neighbor, Aaron J. Reed. She was 44; he was 50.  Mr. Reed was a widower.  His wife, Mary, died in 1870.  He and Mary had two daughters, but both girls died at young ages.  Aaron Reed was one of the Reed Brothers, who came to this area in the 1860s and operated a foundry.  The foundry later was owned by the above-mentioned Moses Beach, and still later by Joseph Streeter.  Like many other local businessmen, Aaron Reed also owned farm property in Oneida Township and the family sometimes lived there.  Cordelia Bull had two daughters at the time she was widowed: Lydia was the younger daughter. Ida, the older daughter, was referred to as “Mrs. Ida Babcock” in her father’s will, but she lived with her parents according to Census records, so apparently she was widowed or divorced.  The 1880 Census presents a puzzle— Aaron and Cordelia Reed lived on Franklin Street (there are only 8 homes listed for Franklin Street that year), and with them is a daughter, Irene, age 11.  This seems to be George and Cordelia’s daughter, Lydia, who would have been the same age as “Irene”.  Apparently she too changed her name, like her mother! Irene Reed was apparently musically gifted—there is a wonderful picture labeled “Irene Reed’s music class” on the island in front of the old hotel around the turn of the century. 

Alice C. Reed (a.k.a. Cordelia Bull Reed) sold the house at 327 Franklin Street to Alonzo Baker in May 1883.  The sale included the SW ½ of lots 8 and 9, where this house stands, plus lot 10, plus all of Block 44 except for a lease given to the Grange Hall Building Association for part of Block 44.  The price was $1350.  Alonzo W. Baker sold the house and land to John and Ruth Simpson in August 1890, along with all of block 44.  The price was $800.

 John Simpson was born in New York in 1845. He had an impressive record of service in the Civil War.  He was a prisoner at Andersonville and left an amazing account of his survival, which was published at the turn of the century in a book about the Seventh Michigan Cavalry.  He married Ruth Harpster on November 30, 1867. Ruth and John had two sons, Lester and George, and a daughter who died in infancy.  The Simpsons were farmers in Delta Township, and like many farmers, they owned property in town as well.  Besides the house at #327 Franklin, the Simpsons also owned the house next door at #319. In the fall of 1900, John and Ruth Simpson sold  #319 to their son, Lester, and his wife Myrtle, who lived there for many years.  Ruth Simpson died on January 17, 1901; John died on October 10, 1905 at his farm home. 

John F. Simpson sold the house at #327 Franklin to George and Eliza Smith in July 1905 for $1200, just a few months before his death.  George Smith was about 56 years old at the time, and he worked as a laborer.  George and Eliza lived in the house with their two daughters and a grandson, and for a time they had a boarder living with them.  Mr. Smith was an elderly widower living in Lansing when he sold the house to Marshall J. and Lora L. Campbell in May 1919. The house was used as a rental property during the late 19-teens.  In 1916 Herbert and Iva Kinney lived there with their two children.  The Pengelly family also lived there for a time.

The Campbells sold the property to Walter and Eva Flitton in 1922.  Walter Flitton was a partner in a men’s clothing store called Flitton and Allen.  Eva Flitton was the daughter of Lester and Myrtle Simpson, (who still lived next door at #319) and granddaughter of John and Ruth Simpson.  It was probably during the 1920’s, during the Flittons’ ownership, that the outside of the house was stuccoed.  Dwight “Dee” Barnes lived on Franklin Street and was a local cement contractor, and he probably did the work.  He had a good reputation and guaranteed that his stuccowork would not crack, and indeed, the stucco on the Flowerday house seems to have held up well! Even after she sold the home, Eva Flitton and her family would stay in the neighborhood. Eva's sister Ruth lived in an apartment just up the street on Scott Street. Eva and her second husband Lenard Lewis built a home one block over on Jackson Street in the 1940's. She would remian there until she passed away in her late 90's.

Walter and Eva Flitton sold the house along with lot 10 to Donald and Marion Welch in July 1929. In 1978 Mr. Welch sold off part of the property, Lot 10, to Renaldo Preston. The Welches raised their daughter Suzanne here, and she has many fond memories of growing up in this house and in this neighborhood.  Marion Welch’s mother, Lena Wilkinson, lived with them at times and also lived in a house around the corner on Scott Street.  During the Depression years, Donald, Marion and Suzanne lived with Lena and rented out their “big house”, as they called it, on Franklin Street.  The rental provided extra income for the family, and with Lena growing older it provided help for her.  She sold the “little house”, as it was called, to Marion in 1938.  When Lena died, the Welches sold the little house and moved back to the big house on Franklin.

The Welches improved and updated the house during their early years there.  Lee Waldo, a local carpenter, made much of the interior wood trim still in the house today.  Marion Welch was the one who decided to tear down a wall in the kitchen, making a breakfast nook out of what had been a porch.  In fact, she took sledgehammer in hand while her husband was away on a hunting trip and did the work herself!  They made a “sleeping porch” out of the 2nd floor of the garage, the room that is now a family room. The sleeping porch had windows on three sides, and on hot summer nights hopefully provided a cooler place to sleep than the other bedrooms. A local carpenter named Charlie Ewing finished this room off for the Welches.  He also built the storage area under the dining room window.  Donald, or “Dutch” as he was called, owned Welch’s Garage and Dodge Agency in Grand Ledge for many years.  He came to Grand Ledge in 1920 and went to work for J.B. Rickerd who had a tire shop on the north side of town.  In 1922 Dutch started a battery service business in the A.J. Bills garage, and the next year, he and C. Harold Holt started their own garage.  That partnership lasted until 1927 when Mr. Holt started a different business and the garage became Welch’s Garage.  Dutch Welch had a Reo agency for a time, then a Dodge and Plymouth dealership.  The 1936 Independent gave the history of local businesses: “…He furnishes a complete garage service to the public including bumping, painting, washing, greasing, oil and Mobile Gas.  Also complete motor maintenance.”  Mrs. Welch was the former Marion Wilkinson.  She was a local girl.  They married in 1927. Her parents were Andrew and Lena Wilkinson, who were relatives of the Simpson family next door.  Marion died at the age of 50, in 1952.  During Marion’s illness, Donald’s mother Mattie Welch moved into the house to take care of her.  After Marion died, Dutch spent more time at his cabin up north where he loved to hunt and fish.  His mother continued to live in the house on Franklin Street.  Dutch retired in the mid-1960s.  When his mother died, he began to spend all of his time up north.  The house remained empty for long periods of time, and Mr. Welch sold it to Doug and Karen Waldo about 1974.

 The old house was showing the wear and tear of the years by now and needed a great deal of repair and updating.  The Waldos took on the task and the excellent condition of the house today owes much to their care and hard work.  They repaired the foundation in the basement and replaced some of the support beams.  They replaced the roof and the old wooden eaves, which were rotted.  They replaced windows, repaired the stucco, updated electrical service and plumbing, and put on a new front porch.  They repaired and repainted walls and removed the old carpet, which had been in the house since the 1930s.  The ½ bath was added, and they opened up the doorway from the dining room into the sleeping porch over the old garage, making it more a part of the house.  They added the cathedral ceiling in there.  They built the garage.  They completely remodelled the kitchen. 

The Waldos sold the house to Greg and Kristina Gray 1996, who sold it to the present owners, Brian and Catherine Flowerday, in March 1998.  The Flowerdays have added their own improvements to the house to adapt it to the needs and tastes of their family.  Brian built the screened porch, which adds extra living space for the summer months.  They have redecorated the upstairs room over the old garage to make a family room.  The result is a warm, comfortable family home, updated and modernized for hopefully another century of family life.