William R. Kirby Sr. House | |
Location | 3771 State Road Adams Township |
---|---|
Nearest city | Hillsdale, Michigan |
Coordinates | 41°55′36″N 84°34′41″W / 41.92667°N 84.57806°W |
Area | 3 acres (1.2 ha) |
Built | 1845 |
Architectural style | Greek Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 82002836 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | July 20, 1982 |
Designated MSHS | June 15, 1979 [2] |
The William R. Kirby Sr. House (also known as the Kirby–Keefer House) is a private house located at 377 State Road in Hillsdale, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1979 [2] and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. [1] It is one of the few early cobblestone houses extant in Michigan. [2]
William Kirby Sr. was born near Leeds, England in 1805. [3] He married Hannah Sykes, and the couple emigrated to the United States in 1827. [4] After living in New York and Ohio, in 1835 they moved to Hillsdale County to homestead, [3] one of the first families to settle in the area. [2] In the 1840s, William and Hannah constructed this house. [2] It took three years to gather the cobbles used in construction. [5] Hannah Kirby died in 1876 and William in 1888, by which time their homestead had grown to 240 acres. [4] The house was eventually passed on to William Kirby Jr. [3]
The house was later owned by Robert Keefer. [5]
The Kirby House is a two-story Greek Revival with a gable roof and single story additions on the side and rear. [2] The house is constructed of fieldstone faced with parallel rows of cobblestones, with cut sandstone quoins, lintels, and sills.