Andrew Jackson Stevens House

Greek Revival Home for Oakwood Pioneer

The Andrew Jackson Stevens House is located along the treelined portion of Oakland Drive part of the Oakwood Neighborhood. Stevens, named for the former president, came to Kalamazoo County with his parents when he was six. Like so many pioneers who descended upon Kalamazoo in the early years, the Stevens family came from upstate New York, specifically Oneida County. In 1834, Stevens’ father Isaac, a farmer and blacksmith, bought a 80-acre tract of land at the corner of what would become Oakland Drive and Parkview Avenue. This particular area of the township was known as Lakeview, a geographical reference to nearby Woods Lake. As a child, Andrew attended the Toad Hollow School and lived in a log cabin “with puncheon (short pieces of wood) floors, greased paper windows and a rude mud chimney.” Over the years, Andrew cleared and cultivated the land south of his father’s farm. He and his father eventually purchased land owned by Allen Love in 1852. Andrew’s Greek Revival-style farmhouse is of the “L” shaped form. Its construction is dated around 1854, a time period prior to the trend toward Victorian design styles of Italianate and Queen Anne.

In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, Stevens enlisted, but his company was never activated. He married Martha Ray, a native of Pennsylvania, in 1855. Stevens was known as a skilled game hunter, always providing a surplus of meat for his family. He also practiced the trade of “thrashing” when not farming or hunting. Andrew died in 1909, and is buried along with Martha at the Genesee Prairie Cemetery.

Description of House

“Utilizing the classic L-shaped layout, the wooden house is composed of a symmetrical 2 1/2 story main block with a 1 1/2 story wing. Classical features include the simply-styled raking cornice with small cornice returns, the plain six-over-six windows, and the pillared side porch on the wing.”

–from the NRHP Nomination form

Written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, June 2024