SUMMERS-KELLY
520 East Jefferson Street

1875 Italianate
Home Tour 1975 & 1986 & 2003

On May 21, 1875, the Grand Ledge Independent made note of the construction of this handsome home on East Jefferson:  “Joseph Summers is building a new residence on East Jefferson.”  The new home was located on a substantial tract of property encompassing several city lots.  The home has the distinction of having been the home of two of Grand Ledge’s mayors.

Joseph Summers was born July 4, 1844 in Ashland County, Ohio, the son of Adam and Elizabeth (Stine) Summers.  He was nine years old when he came to Eaton County with his parents in 1853, and they were among the early pioneers of Eaton County where Joseph grew up on the family farm. He enlisted in the Thirteenth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, Company F, in February 1864, during the Civil War years.  He marched with General Sherman and took part in several engagements during the war before leaving the service in 1865.  J. D. Summers came to Grand Ledge in 1874 to lease the saw mill from Kent, Hixson & Co., in partnership with Hamilton Wareham.  The Summers and Wareham saw mill was located on the south bank of the river, near the bridge and below where the Opera House now stands; its chief lumber market was in the Detroit area. 

One year after moving to Grand Ledge, Joseph began construction of this substantial house on the fashionable East Jefferson Street.  Eleven years later, his partner, Hamilton Wareham, bought the newly renovated house at 302 East Jefferson, which also reflected the popular Italianate style of residential housing.  In fact, they are remarkably similar in outward appearance and room layout. 

J. D. Summers remained in the lumber business until 1891 when he became one of the founders of the Grand Ledge Sewer Pipe Company.  In 1900 he went back into the lumber business, this time forming a partnership with William Hall.  The Grand Ledge Independent had an article in the newspaper on April 21, 1905, which gave the business a glowing review: “Hall & Summers: Dealers in lumber and builders’ supplies.  This is one of the most important enterprises in Grand Ledge, and is a source of great convenience to the builder and contractor.  In this institution will be found a most complete line of builders’ supplies, including sash, doors, frames, mouldings, flooring, rough and dressed lumber of every description, also shingles, lath, and cedar fence posts.  Several thousand dollars worth of stock is always on hand and patrons can always depend on finding just what they want here.  The members of this firm, B. B. Hall and J. D. Summers, are well-established businessmen and well-known citizens.  Mr. Summers is at present our popular mayor.  Both members of this firm are closely connected with the progress and prosperity of our beautiful city and are highly regarded for their aggressive business methods and sterling worth.”

In addition, Mr. Summers served as President of the Grand Ledge Gas Company, an officer of the Baker Clay Company (forerunner of the Grand Ledge Face Brick Company), and a director of the Loan and Deposit Bank. 

 J. D. Summers served two terms as mayor of Grand Ledge.  His first term in office was before Grand Ledge was incorporated as a city, and his title was Village President.  His second term was after incorporation when he was called Mayor.  It was during his tenure that Grand Ledge became electrified with electric lights and the City Hall (which stands to this day as a vital part of downtown Grand Ledge as LedgeCraft Lane) was built.  A highly-respected leader of the community, Mr. Summers prized the gold-headed cane presented to him by the Village council in 1886.

Socially, he was a charter member of the Knights of Pythias (a male social organization that met in the house now serving as Peters and Murray Funeral Home) and was also active in the Oddfellows organization, as well as the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic).

Joseph Summers was married twice.  His first wife was Mary Delaney, who died on October 18, 1884 at the age of 48.  Her death was unexpected—the newspaper noted “The deceased had been ill but a few days, and was not considered seriously sick until a short time before she passed away.”  Mr. Summers was left to raise their two adopted daughters. Her obituary gives us an interesting glimpse of the funeral style of the day: “The funeral services were held on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. and were attended by a large concourse of sympathizing neighbors and citizens.  The deceased having been reared in the Catholic faith, the funeral services were conducted by Father Lewis VanDries of Lansing (note: Grand Ledge did not yet have a Catholic church building) The ceremony was very impressive, and the sermon replete with good thoughts.  The floral offerings were very beautiful, expressive and artistic consisting of the following pieces: Pillow, with the word “Mollie” in purple flowers/Mr. J. D. Summers; Gates Ajar/Mr. & Mrs. Frank Spaulding; Anchor on Standard/Mr. & Mrs. H. Wareham; Broken Column/Mr. & Mrs. J. M. Campbell; Cross on Standard/Mr. & Mrs. H. Rossman; Crescent/Mr. T. G. Riley; Garland of Roses/Mrs. E. T. Church; All of the above were designed by Mrs. Church of Charlotte.” 

 In September 1886 Joseph married again.  His bride’s name was Augusta Chadwick.  She lived down the street with her parents, Samuel and Abigail (Russell) Chadwick, in the beautiful Italianate style home that is now the Peters & Murray funeral home.  Her father was also a prominent businessman.  Augusta was born here in Grand Ledge on September 21, 1860.  Before her marriage she taught school and worked at the post office. The wedding was held at the Chadwick home, and the Independent sets the scene: “Only a few of the immediate relatives and friends of the contracting parties were present.  After the ceremony breakfast was served, then Mr. and Mrs. Summers took the 3:47 train for Chicago, accompanied by the best wishes of hosts of friends in Grand Ledge.  About Monday President and Mrs. Summers may be expected to be “at home” to their friends.”  The marriage produced three children: Florence, Walter, and Joseph D. Summers.  In 1910 the Summers added a large wrap-around porch to to the front of the house:  “J.D. Summers is putting a handsome porch on his E. Jefferson house.” (Grand Ledge Independent Aug. 8, 1910). Several prominent homes in 1910 added these fashionable wrap-around porches. Many of these were along Jefferson Street.

J. D. Summers died August 1, 1924 at the age of 80 from diabetes.  His funeral was held in the home according to the tradition of the day.  His widow, Augusta Summers, continued to live in the house with two of their three children, Florence and Joseph Jr.  Another son, Walter, had moved to Detroit.  Augusta Summers lived in her home on East Jefferson, down the street from her childhood home, for a remarkable fifty-one years.  She died on February 3, 1938 of a cerebral hemorrhage.  She is buried with her husband at Oakwood Cemetery.  After the death of her mother, Florence (or Flossie) Summers, a nurse, divided the house into two apartments.  One apartment was upstairs, another downstairs.  For a time, Florence lived in the upstairs apartment, and later moved to the downstairs one.

Dr. Medford and Doris Bell bought the house in 1950 as an income-producing property.  Dr. Bell was a local optometrist who served the community for forty-seven years.  Sometime during this period the downstairs was divided into two apartments with a shared bathroom.

In December 1951, Charles and Alice McKee bought the house as their residence.  It was at this time that the decaying wrap-around porch was removed and replaced with cement steps to the double front doors.  Charles, or “Chick” as he was known, served as Grand Ledge mayor for six years and was manager of American Vitrified plant for over twenty years.  In 1925, Chick, who had worked summers at American Vitrified, took full-time employment there.  In succeeding years he was sent to run plants in Uhricksville, Lisbon, Barberton, North Philadelphia, and East Liverpool Ohio.  From the 1940s through the 1960s, McKee managed the local Grand Ledge plant.  There were sixteen round kilns fired with gas.   Approximately ten truckloads of sewer pipe a day were taken from the local plant for distribution in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.  There were also smaller pickup trucks of the clay pipe, which varied from four to twenty-four inches.  In the late 1950s, Harold L. Stoughton, a pharmacist at Funtukis Pharmacy, bought the house for his residence. 

The Stoughtons sold the house to Royal and Marjorie McCall who in turn sold it to Ron and Rita Kelly in November 1969.  The Kellys returned the home to a one-family house again.  They removed most of the partitions, which had been added downstairs over the years to accommodate the two apartments.  They updated the back wing to modernize the kitchen area and provide a more modern flow of traffic.  Fireplaces were added in the family room and the master bedroom by closing off a downstairs entrance to the parlor and a second-storey door to a balcony area over the missing porch.  They also added aluminum siding on the outside in 1970. Rita Kelly worked with her brother, an interior designer in Grand Rapids, to decorate the home with period touches and warm tones. A special highlight was the annual placement of the Christmas Tree in the bay window by the fireplace. The Kellys took the home from apartments into a warm and inviting home and showplace.

Bob and Judy Hatch bought the house in early 1986 and redecorated it in a country Victorian motif. They opened their home to the community for the 1986 Holiday Home Tour.

Duane and Sandra Cory bought the home from the Hatches in 1993 and lived there until 2001.  They continued the restoration work on this delightful 19th century home.  They remodeled the first floor and the 2nd floor bathroom.  They added the tin ceiling in the dining room, which they purchased from an antique dealer; the ceiling came from the old Jury Rowe furniture store in Lansing and was removed when that building was demolished.  The Corys added the crown molding to the downstairs ceilings.  They stripped all of the woodwork on the first floor.  They did most of that work themselves, although they decided to contract the stripping of the arch in the bay window because of its complexity.  They had new woodwork milled to match the old in the areas where it needed to be replaced.  One of the big projects they took on was to strip the cupboards and stain them mahogany—they cupboards are old, but not original to the house.  They installed the tile in the kitchen, and the wooden floor in the kitchen and bathroom, and put in new carpet in the other areas.  Upstairs, they gutted the bathroom and completely remodeled it.  The Corys believe that underneath the siding are two more windows which were covered over during various restorations—they caught a glimpse of them when a piece of siding came off.  They are able to confirm that the house once had a cupola or widow's walk on the roof; the opening for it is still visible in the attic.   On the exterior, the Corys changed the color scheme slightly.  The house was gold with black shutters when they bought it.  They painted the house a lighter gold/yellow, painted the trim white, and the front door green. 

Ann Dontje bought the home from the Corys in October 2001.  The biggest project she has tackled in the ongoing restoration of the home is to refinish the front staircase.  She stripped paint and removed carpet, then replaced the pine stair treads with oak.  The spindles, railing and newel post remain original to the house.  One especially interesting touch is that Ann had the bench that graces the front porch made from some of the old wooden stair treads. She also added the French doors that close the parlor off from the rest of the house.

Although the home has seen many changes over its long history and has been updated to meet the needs of the modern families who have lived there, many of the original features remain, like the old “wavy” glass in many of the windows, some of the old horsehair plaster and lath walls, the transoms over the bedroom doors and much of the woodwork.  It has been wonderful to see the changes and restoration continuing in this, one of the jewels of East Jefferson Street, over the years.

The Summers-Kelly house is a fine example of the Italianate architecture, which found its greatest influence from the 1840s to the late 1880s.  Patterned after eighteenth-century rural homes in Tuscany, the Italianate villa style was characterized by its asymmetrical plan, shallow-hipped roof, and extended overhangs with elaborate bracket-supports or other entablature detailing.  Verandahs and bay windows were also integral features of Italianate villas.  A main feature of this Italianate style was often a square tower—usually off-center.  But when such towers were absent (as in this example of Italianate villa style), cupolas or belvederes were often present.  Tall, slender windows—some with rounded arches, brick and projected hoods, and pediments—emphasized the height of the structure.  The Italian style had such a broad architectural vocabulary that a local builder could create a unique house that was still Italianate because all the details were recognizably and distinctly from the Italian renaissance.  It was a style that encouraged diversity and self-expression even though there were a number of Italianate houses built on East Jefferson and elsewhere in Grand Ledge.

Inside, the house reflects the characteristic Victorian floor plan of other Italianate-style homes built during this period.  The etched glass, arched, double-door entrance opens to a vestibule with a gracious curved, open staircase.  The vestibule presumably led to the formal parlor dominated by the arched bay window area.  Today this room features a modern addition—an open-hearth fireplace, which opens into the extended kitchen/eating area to the rear of the house with a small pantry and bathroom.  To the right of the vestibule is a more formal living room that might have been the parlor or everyday sitting room in the original structure of the rooms.  Beyond it sits the formal dining room.  Much of this part of the house has undergone considerable change to accommodate apartment units and renovations. Of particular note is the fine Victorian attention to the window treatments in the paneled detailing between the running baseboard and lower sash. During this period of Victorian architecture, the interior woodwork around the doors, windows, entrances, baseboards, etc., was painted.  The winding open staircase leads to three bedrooms, small study area, and bathroom that radiate off of a central hall.  Of special interest upstairs are the window transoms above the bedroom doors, which offer additional light and ventilation to the high-ceilinged bedrooms.

The exterior of the Summers-Kelly house exemplifies Italianate architectural style with its rectangular—almost square—two-storey house plan, the very wide projecting eaves supported by large L-shaped brackets, the tall thin windows capped with decorative hood moldings, the low-pitched hip roof, and the double entrance doors with glass panels highlighted by a round arch.  The square plan with projected bay window was a favorite Italianate style in Grand Ledge.

As was advocated by Andrew Jackson Downing, a noted horticulturist and self-appointed architectural critic of the Victorian age, exterior white paint was discarded in favor of earth tones and two-tone paint combinations to further highlight and emphasize design. The Italianate style of architecture, as exemplified by the Summers-Kelly house, provides a stately dignity in its overall effect.