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| Austin-Sill
House:
The following material is from the 1973 Initial Inventory of Historic Sites and Buildings in Kalamazoo and was made available for use here by the Historic Preservation Coordinator of the City of Kalamazoo. See Introduction to an Initial Inventory... for details about how the survey was conducted. 225
West Lovell R-36
Benjamin
Austin was fourteen when he settled with his family in Portage in
1833. At sixteen he moved to Kalamazoo to learn tin smithing and
watch making. As he grew older, he turned to the dry goods business
and then to making spring wagons in 1852. By 1860, he was one of
Kalamazoo's wealthiest residents (listed in the 1860 Census with
$30,000 real and $30,000 personal property). In 1846, Austin owned a
village lot on the corner of Rose and Lovell. Sometime that year or
early the next, he built a home for himself which he occupied until
he moved to a farm on West Michigan Avenue (then called the
"Territorial Road") in the 1850's. During the Civil War,
Dr. Joseph Sill bought the property. He is said to have moved the
Austin House in order to put up the "Sill Terrace" luxury
apartments on the corner lot [now the Prange Building]. There is
some reason to believe that Sill had the Austin house moved to the
present site, 226 Lovell, but this has not been adequately
documented.
Joseph
Sill was 24 when he opened Kalamazoo's first dental parlor in
1845-45. He soon saved enough to finish his medical training at the
University of New York in 1847. He practiced elsewhere until 1851
when he began a 40-year practice as a "Homeopathist." He
lived on in Kalamazoo until his death in 1907. Along the way, Sill
speculated in Pennsylvania oil in the 1860's, and in real estate and
mining stock. He also served as a temperance lecturer and as a
trustee of what became Kalamazoo College. While
the exact date of this building is not established, the building
stands as a fine example of the Greek Revival Style. The entryway,
in particular, shows the decided influence of architectural plates
in popular "builder's handbooks" of the period. The fluted
Ionic columns and paneled entry are particularly well executed.
Maps: 1853
- B. Austin lot Kalamazoo
County Tax Rolls:
Kalamazoo
City Directory:
U.
S. Population Census Rolls: 1860
Benjamin M. Austin, 41, Wagon Manuf., 30,000 real, 30,000 personal,
b. Conn.; Angeline B. Austin, 48, b. NY; Amelia, 14; William, 12;
Sarah, 74 Portrait
and Biographical Record, 1892 J. Sill (d. April 23, 1905, at 83) Kalamazoo Gazette: September 3, 1944 This report was converted from a typewritten document to a digital text document in September 2004. Other than punctuation and spelling corrections, and the addition of BOLD type site address and names, no changes were made. Minor formatting changes were made for use on this website, but the text was not altered. Original survey dated 1973.
Page launched September 2006.
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