PRATT-SPENCER-CLARK
400 East Scott Street

1894 Queen Anne
Home Tour 2000

This house is located on Lot 4 Block 42 of Grand Ledge.  This part of town was part of the original village of Grand Ledge as it was laid out and platted in 1850's.
 
Rev. Byron Shakespeare Pratt was a Methodist minister and businessman in Grand Ledge.  He built the house at 118 West Lincoln Street; this house is now the Grand Ledge Museum.  He owned a great deal of property along Scott Street, and the family home still stands near the corner of Scott Street and Jackson Street.  In 1894 he and his wife Eliza sold lot #4 to one of their sons, George B. Pratt.  In April of that year, the editor of the newspaper speculated about this: (Indy 4/13/1894 p5c1): City Clerk (George) Pratt has stone on the ground for something.  But what does George want of a house when he boards at home? the editor wondered, tongue in cheek.  It soon became clear.  In the July 13, 1894 issue of the paper, the marriage of George Pratt and Carrie L. Lapham was announced.  She was from Evart, Michigan, and the couple was married at her home there.  The groom is one of our youngest businessmen, and at the same time one of the best and most enterprising.  Mr. and Mrs. Pratt will return to their home in Grand Ledge on Tuesday next and will be given a reception at the home of the groom's parents, Rev. and Mrs. B.S. Pratt that evening.  George's hosts of friends in Grand Ledge wish him and his a full complement of the joys and successes of married life. The exterior of the house has changed so little that George and Carrie would still recognize the home that George built for his bride at a cost of $1000. 

Besides his work with the church, Rev. Pratt was a businessman.  In October 1884, Rev. Pratt and his son bought out the stock of stationery, books, school supplies, and the like from J.S. Holmes.  They continued to operate the store in Mr. Holmes' location in the Post Office building.  The Pratt family business continued successfully for a number of years, and was featured in the Grand Ledge Independent's business section in November 1895, during its eleventh year of business.  The newspaper article gave some of the particulars of the business: the store carried jewelry, silverware, crockery, glassware, books, stationery, and wallpaper.  Lovers of things beautiful will witness one of the finest sights in Grand Ledge by looking over the mammoth holiday stock of Pratt & Son.  Such a line of holiday goods was never seen here before.  The large store is a complete panorama of Santa Claus' kingdom and empire of things useful, ornamental, tasteful and appropriate for presents...An imposing display of parlor and banquet lamps greet the eye on entering the store.In wallpaper, the sales of the past year have been over five tons which speaks well for the large and varied lines they carry...

George Pratt had a specialty of his own:  .Mr. George B. Pratt, the junior member of the firm, is a graduate of the Detroit Optical Institute, one of the best of its kind in the United States.  He has made the eye a special study, and is eminently fitted to examine and attend to the defects of this most delicate of human organs. 

The Pratt family relocated to the West Coast around the turn of the century.  George Pratt continued to practice as an optician in Portland Oregon for many years, and died there in 1939.

It is not clear when George and his wife left Grand Ledge and moved to the West Coast, but we do know that by 1900 they were no longer living in their home on Scott Street.  The Independent carried this note on April 6, 1900:  The wife and daughter of Mr. F.L. Elsie, the new tailor, arrived from Pinconning last week.  The family is located in the George Pratt house on East Scott Street.  The following year another notice appeared about the house:  (March 15, 1901) The house on Scott occupied by Frank L. Elsie and owned by George Pratt sold to James H. Spencer.  James Spencer was a local businessman who lived on Scott Street and owned a great deal of property in the neighborhood.  He used the house as a rental property. 

In 1908 James Spencer sold the property to his brother, Eugene W. Spencer and his wife, Abbie R. Spencer.  Eugene Spencer was born in New York state on May 28, 1849, the son of Waterman Spencer.  His wife, Abbie Post, was born April 4, 1853, in Batavia NY.  They were married September 10, 1872 and came to Grand Ledge in 1881. Eugene worked at various stores in town.  He worked for the Lambie, Clark & Hulse clothing store at 210 South Bridge Street around 1895, and the Grand Ledge Independent, in a profile of local businesses, praised Mr. Spencer's abilities:  (GLI Nov. 15, 1895) .Mr. Eugene Spencer is the obliging clerk.  He is a very popular young man, and a prominent member of the I.O.O.F., and to him is due a share of the credit for the large business established. Eugene and Abbie raised two children.  A son, Frank, was born in 1876 while the family was still living in New York.  He grew up in Grand Ledge and worked at the Townsend Cigar factory for some years before he moved to Howell.  He was married in 1898, but he died several years later in 1907 at the age of thirty-seven.  He had no children.  His funeral was held at his parents' home on Scott Street.  Eugene and Abbie had another child, a daughter, named Vena.  She was born in October 1874 in New York.  She was married to Lewis Lett in 1899.  He was a switchman with the railroad.  They had no children. 

In 1916 Eugene and Abbie moved to Lansing to pursue business interests there, and they sold their home to Joseph and Rosina Falsetta.  Joseph's parents, John and Sarafina Falsetta, also owned an interest in the house and they lived there together for several years between 1916 and 1920.  The family came to this country from Italy.  Joe Falsetta attended night school in Lansing to learn English and opened a fruit stand in Grand Ledge in 1911.  He and his wife had a family of eight children.  The business did well, and in 1926 he built a large new store at 314 South Bridge Street.  Joe Falsetta became ill in 1932 and his condition deteriorated quickly until he died in December 1932.  Rosina tried to carry on the business alone but the Depression made things difficult.  Her cousin, Pasquale Patsy Fortino, bought the business, and his son Peter continued the family business until 1969.

The Falsetta family lived in the Scott Street home only several years.  They sold it in March 1920 to Shirley and Florence Lepard for $3300.  Mr. Shirley Lepard was the son of Daniel Lepard of Lake Odessa.  He was born there in 1875.  His wife, Florence, was also from Lake Odessa.  She was born there in 1874, the daughter of Frank and Anna (Tupper) Clark.  Shirley worked at the Willis Men's Furnishing Store while they lived here in Grand Ledge.  Their daughter, Maurine, was a clerk at Mac's Pharmacy and graduated from Grand Ledge High School in the class of 1929.  The family owned the house on Scott St. until 1928 when they moved to 410 Taylor Street.  They lived there until after Florence died of cerebral hemorrhage in 1938, after which Shirley returned to Lake Odessa. 

In an interesting turnabout, the Lepard family sold their home to Eugene and Abbie Spencer, the earlier owners, in October 1928. The Spencers were delighted to be returning home to Grand Ledge.  The newspaper reported .Mrs. Spencer was particularly happy to find that the very house she had lived in before going to Lansing could be bought and as she often expressed it, it seemed like a real homecoming..  Their daughter, Vena, and her husband, Lewis Lett, also lived in the house with them.  Abbie Spencer did not have long to enjoy her new/old home; she died about a year and a half later, on February 21, 1930, of cancer.  She was seventy-six years old.  Her obituary said .Her's was a sweet retiring nature, always greeting her family and friends with a smile, and she was a true neighbor. Lewis Lett died of heart problems shortly after his mother-in-law, on July 9, 1930.  The widowed father and daughter, Eugene and Vena, remained in the house. 

Eugene Spencer died of heart trouble May 19, 1934 at the age of eighty-four.  His obituary gave some insight to his character:  .had he lived a few days longer (he) would have passed the four score mark by five years, although he looked and acted much younger.Several years ago he purchased the old homestead on East Scott Street that he and his wife might pass their declining years among old friends and associates.He was a close student of the scriptures and advanced years did not affect his mental or physical outlook on life.  He kept abreast of the times and was well informed on the issues of the day.

Vena Lett received the house from her father's estate and she stayed in the house until 1952 when she sold it to Raymond and Betty Clark.  Former School Superintendent Jonas Sawdon was their real estate agent and he really felt that this was the home for the young couple.  Vena Lett was an interesting person in her own right.  She lived her whole adult life in Grand Ledge.  She was well known locally for her paintings, which she continued to do up until a week before her death in February 1966.  Betty Clark remembers that they found one of Vena's easels in the garage after she moved.  She was ninety-one years old at the time of her death.  She was a charter member of the Rebekah lodge.  She was buried with the rest of her family in Oakwood Cemetery in Grand Ledge.

The graceful Queen Anne home remained virtually the same on the exterior since it was built.  However, by the time the Clarks moved in, the house was showing its age and needed work and updating to make it a comfortable place for Betty and Ray to raise their two young sons.  They made a number of changes inside the house.  The Clarks felt that moving the stairway from the living room to the dining room would give them more room for their living room furniture.  At the same time they also closed off a door that opened between the living room and the downstairs bedroom.  Mrs. Clark remembers the lovely pocket doors in the parlor and the dining room.  The Clarks remodeled the downstairs bathroom.  When they moved in, the bathroom was divided into two smaller rooms, one for the toilet and the other for the tub and sink.  They combined it into one room.  They remodeled the second floor to make it a more practical modern home.  They added a bathroom upstairs by partitioning off part of the upstairs hallway which their sons had used the as a play area. There was an improvised bathroom on the upstairs landing, and they took that out. In the upstairs bedroom on the front of the house they built in the closet and a formica topped desk.  The Clarks used the two upstairs bedrooms for their sons; the downstairs bedroom was the master bedroom during the time they lived in the house.  They converted a porch on the back of the house to a laundry room, and completely remodeled and updated the kitchen.  When they moved in, the kitchen still had the old wooden cupboards that extended up to the ceiling.  Ray Clark worked at refinishing the woodwork. 

Mrs. Clark has fond memories of the family's forty years in that house. The big bay window was always the perfect spot for their Christmas tree.  She especially remembers how much they enjoyed the distinctive porch, as a play area for their sons, and as a comfortable place to just relax and watch the world go by.  The beautiful ivy on the side of the house was already well established when they moved in, and they always enjoyed watching it change colors in the fall.

Jerry and Linda Keller bought the home from the Clarks in June 1994.  They too have redecorated and remodeled the house to their own needs and style.  They remodeled and updated the kitchen. Jim Therrian and his workers did much of the work. They took the ceiling tiles down and replastered.  They finishedoff what had been an open attic area.  They removed the dark paneling from the walls.  In the basement, they found some of the original woodwork and trim, with its distinctive wheat pattern in the corner pieces, and pieced it together in the family room.  Also in the basement, they found two brass light fixtures, original to the house, which they have installed.  They put up a tin ceiling in the downstairs bathroom.  They converted the laundry room on the back of the house into a breakfast room. 

The Kellers have filled their home with comfortable furnishings—some family pieces and others purchased over the years--and collections, such as Jerry's woodworking and painting, and Linda's gnome and Santa collection.  This home has been lovingly cared for by its owners, both past and present, and while it retains the graceful design and beautifully crafted woodwork from years past, it has been renovated and appropriately updated to be a comfortable home for a modern family.