April 30, 2011

Sixth Street and Baker

I regret to say that I have no post to make this week. I'm waiting on documents from Wayne County for two separate projects I'm working on. Until then, I hope you enjoy this photo of the fire station that once stood on the southwest corner of Sixth Street and Baker (now Bagley).

fire1
Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library


The Detroit Fire Department's Engine Company No. 4 was erected in 1871. In 1918, it was replaced with an updated facility, seen in this 1976 photograph:

fire2


The building still stands today, but it no longer serves as a fire station. It has been converted into the law offices of Gregory J. Reed & Associates. This intersection is half a block from the Susan Buchanan House, profiled previously.

fire3

April 23, 2011

The Kingston House Part III: 1900-Present

Nancy Eliza Kingston lived with her father at 132 Baker Street as early as 1896. She had technically owned the residence since 1890 on the condition that her father be allowed to spend the rest of his life there. When he died in 1899, she was free to do with the house what she pleased.

Miss Kingston's birth date is unknown, but according to church records she was baptized in Mariners' Protestant Episcopal Church on May 7, 1854. After the death of her mother, she was raised by her maternal grandparents in Bertie Township, Ontario, just west of Buffalo, New York. Miss Kingston's name occasionally appeared in the "society pages" of the Detroit Free Press after she moved into the home on Baker Street. On November 30, 1902, it was noted:
Mrs. [sic] E. N. Kingston gave a dinner Thursday in honor of Miss Stokes, of Erie, Pa. The decorations were American Beauty roses and smilax.
She is also mentioned on November 16, 1902:
Mrs. E. N. Kingston, No. 132 Baker street, entertained at cards on Tuesday evening a number of guests from Delray.
Perhaps those guests included Delray resident Charles Elza Rhodes, her future husband. The couple married on December 24, 1903 by Reverend O. J. Blackford, Pastor of Tabernacle Methodist Episcopal Church.

tabernacle-me-church
Charles & Nancy Rhodes were probably married at Tabernacle M. E. Church.
The congregation left the 1874 building in 1915, which burned three years later.
Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library


Charles Elza Rhodes was born in Mercer County, Ohio in December of 1865 to farmers Isaac S. and Catherine (Barton) Rhodes. He was living in Ohio as late as 1900, then appeared in the 1903 directory as living in Delray, which was still an independent suburb at the time. After marrying Nancy Kingston, Rhodes moved into the Kingston house, where the couple spent the rest of their lives.

Rhodes was a carpenter by trade. He worked from a shop on his property, as indicated on the 1921 Sanborn map:
kingston-sanborn-1921

Also note the addition of the wraparound porch by this date.

As of January 1, 1921, following the reformation of Detroit's street address system, the Kingston house became 1560 Baker. The street's name changed in late 1930, giving the house the address it bears today--1560 Bagley.

kingston-1930
Detail from 1930 Census showing the residents of 1560 Baker.


Nancy Eliza Kingston Rhodes died on March 7, 1935 at the age of 81. Charles Rhodes remarried soon after. His new wife was a widow named Mary Amanda Lucker, whose maiden name was Sutter. She was born in Michigan in 1879. In 1902 she married a German immigrant named Gustave Adam Lucker, and the couple had four children. Gustave Lucker died in 1929. Charles Rhodes and Mary Lucker were married some time between 1935 and 1941. Charles Rhodes died on October 28, 1947, followed by his wife just two months later, on December 24.

rhodes-obituary


On June 9, 1948, Gerald Kent, executor of the estate of Mary Rhodes, sold the Kingston House to Mark and Betty Howard for $4,100. They in turn sold it for $8,000 on a ten-year land contract on September 1, 1949 to Ida Key Glover. Her last name changed to Jones by the time house was paid for. She evidently owned the house as a rental property. The city directories indicate that Freda McCreary lived in the house from 1949 to 1950. The only record of renters in the house--the city directories--are incomplete after this point.

corktown-1960s
Bagley Street between Trumbull and 10th Street in the 1960s.
Note the Kingston House on the left.
(Wayne State University)


James T. and Alma Slater were in the house by 1958 and rented it until at least 1973. It was vacant again by 1977. The house does not appear in the city directories again until the mid 1990s, and it was very likely vacant all that time.


The Kingston House at it appeared in 1976.
Courtesy of the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office


The house fell into tax foreclosure in the early 1980s. On December 12, 1984, Peter J. and Barbara Ann Benz purchased the property from the State of Michigan. Barbara Benz passed away in 2000. Mr. Benz still lives in Detroit, but did not reply to emails. Is it weird that I email complete strangers about investment property they haven't owned for over twenty years?

kingston-1985-front
The Joseph Kingston House as it appeared in 1985.
Photo courtesy of the Detroit Historical Commission, obtained by Scott Robichaud


kingston-1985-side
Photo courtesy of the Detroit Historical Commission, obtained by Scott Robichaud


Mr. and Mrs. Benz sold the home to Ann Rose Clowney on November 20, 1990 for $6,000. She in turn sold it on September 21, 2005 at the height of the housing bubble for $155,000. That buyer's mortgage with Countrywide Home Loans fell into foreclosure in April of 2006. By 2007, the home was boarded up and for sale once more.

kingston-2007
The Kingston house in 2007. Photo courtesy of Scott Robichaud.


The home's current owner, Scott Robichaud, found the home when looking to move to Detroit in early 2007. He put an offer on the house on February 21, 2007, but the purchase was not finalized until April 30. He has spent the last four years renovating the home and documenting the progress on his blog
Redemption in Corktown.

There had been some repairs to the home before Scott bought it, including the removal of the Insul-brick siding. However, many of the alterations were sub-standard--for example, five layers of shingles were piled on top of the roof. The house was in such a state that it was necessary to gut it completely.

kingston-gutted
Photo courtesy of Scott Robichaud


All changes to the exterior were made with the approval of the Detroit Historical Commission, including a major alteration to the rear of the second floor.

back
Photos courtesy of Scott Robichaud


Scott now lives in the Joseph Kingston house with his wife, Becky, whom he married in 2010. I could have posted dozens of photos of the renovation, but instead you should see the end result for yourself on the Corktown Historical Home & Garden Tour on Sunday, June 5th. Be sure to attend, and you too can walk in the very home in which Mrs. Kingston smashed a pitcher over her husbands head more than a century ago!

Corktown Historical
Home & Garden Tour

Sunday, June 5, 2011
Noon Until 5:00 pm

$12.00 advance purchase
$15.00 day of the tour
Please call (313) 961-9193 for details



kingston-4-12-11

April 16, 2011

The Kingston House Part II: 1861-1899 -- Joseph Kingston

I'd like to express my gratitude to Mary Lou Duncan of the Detroit Society for Genealogical Research, who provided me with valuable additional information about Joseph Kingston, including the name of the village where he was born, the exact church in which he was married, and the not-so-subtle fact that he had two different wives that I had negligently believed to be the same person!

* * * * *

Joseph Kingston was born November 12, 1817 in Crohane, County Cork, Ireland. He came to Corktown around the early 1850s, where his brothers Thomas and Samuel had already settled. Joseph Kingston was a drayman (one who drove a flatbed cart, called a dray, used to transport large items).

Joseph married Eliza Ann Rose in Detroit on October 14, 1852. The marriage record lists the officiant as "M. Hickey" (Manasseh Hickey), pastor of Lafayette Street Methodist Episcopal Church at the time, but the couple were in fact married at Mariners' Protestant Episcopal Church. The marriage produced two daughters: Nancy Eliza Kingston, baptized on May 7, 1854; and Fanny Catherine Kingston, born in April 23, 1855 and baptized July 8. Fanny died just six days after her baptism and was interred at Elmwood Cemetery July 17, 1855. Both girls were baptized at Mariners' Church.

mariners-church
Mariners' Protestant Episcopal Church as it appeared in the 1880s.
It still stands today, albeit 880 feet east of its original location.
Photo courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library
(Source)


Eliza Ann Kingston died some time in 1855. The couple's young daughter, Nancy, was sent to live with Eliza's parents Frederick and Nancy Rose in Bertie Township, Ontario. On June 10, 1856, Joseph Kingston married Ann McCulah, an Irish immigrant.

Joseph Kingston's name first appears in the city directories in 1853. In 1857 he is listed at 104 Baker, the location of the house that stands today. It is impossible to know who built the house and exactly when, since building permits were not required until 1880. For Kingston to be listed at 104 Baker in 1857 presents a bit of a mystery. William Woodbridge, the owner of the farm where the lot was situated, did not submit a plat plan to Wayne County until 1858, and Kingston did not actually own the land until 1861. Kingston's situation is not unique--Kingston's neighbor Thomas Sanford is also listed at an address on the Woodbridge Farm in 1857 (96 Baker), and he did not own that lot until January 1, 1861. Perhaps Woodbridge built rental houses on Baker Street, which he allowed his tenants to buy years later. A less likely scenario is that Woodbridge sold lots on land contracts before he was legally permitted to divide his property. However it happened, we know that the deed transferring ownership of Lot 9 of Block 77 of the Woodbridge Farm from William Woodbridge to Joseph Kingston is dated August 3, 1861.


Detail from the 1860 Census listing the residents of the Kingston household.

In 1869, some of the addresses in Kingston's neighborhood had to be adjusted to higher designations, presumably because poor planning resulted in more structures than there were available numbers. Kingston's address changed from 104 to 132 Baker.

The historical Detroit Free Press digital archives have been especially helpful in uncovering a few details about Joseph Kingston's life. He was mentioned in the following editions:
  • June 1, 1865 - A notice regarding city taxes indicated that $1.00 was collected from Kingston.
  • December 14, 1866 - He purchased the lot on the northwest corner of Trumbull and Abbott Streets from William Leverette Woodbridge--the son of the Woodbridge Farm's previous owner--for $800.
  • November 1, 1867 - He appeared in Recorder's Court on a charge of "abusive language", but was discharged (i.e., technically guilty but not fined or punished).
  • January 14, 1885 - $24.00 was paid to Kingston for jury duty in Recorder's Court.
  • February 18, 1890 - Reports from Wayne County Circuit Court include: "John Nagle vs. Joseph Kingston; jury trial concluded; plantiff submits to a non-suit."



Detail from the 1870 Census listing the residents of 132 Baker.


The two young girls shown living with Mr. and Mrs. Kingston in the 1870 census were daughters of Joseph's brother Thomas. The following events may have forced Thomas to send his daughters to a home safer than his own. The Detroit Free Press reported on July 11, 1864 that Thomas Kingston's wife was accidentally shot inside her home by their nineteen-year-old son, Henry, "who was tampering with a loaded revolver in the house." She died from her wound the following day. Just seven months later, George Kingston (another son of Thomas) shot and killed his brother Samuel on February 28, 1865. The boys were respectively seventeen and fourteen years old at the time of the incident. George apparently held a loaded revolver to his brother's temple to scare him when the firearm discharged. "His brains were scattered about the room," reported the Free Press in a story published March 2, 1865. "Here is another solemn warning to parents not to permit young boys to carry fire-arms."

The older of the two girls mentioned above was Sarah Ann Kingston, born October 25, 1860. She married Henry Hill Markley, a boilermaker employed by Buhl Steel, on February 10, 1880. Just three months later, Sarah would fall victim to gun violence at the hands of her newlywed husband.



On the evening of May 21, 1880, Markley was furious that his wife had spent most of the evening at her sister's house despite being asked to come home. He threatened to shoot her in the heart, but her clenched fist slowed the bullet enough to spare her life (Detroit Free Press, 23 May 1880, p. 6). The couple did not divorce, but in fact went on to have ten children, four of whom reached adulthood. Sarah Ann Kingston Markley passed away in Detroit on May 3, 1943 at the age of 82.

anna-kingston-markley
Sarah Ann Kingston Markley's headstone in Woodmere Cemetery.
Thanks as always to Gail Hershenzon for helping me locate markers in Woodmere.


The other daughter of Thomas Kingston who lived in the Joseph Kingston House was Sophronia Elizabeth Kingston, born January 21, 1863. She marred James Duncan Jones on December 23, 1879 at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Corktown. Mr. Jones was a railroad engineer born in Greenock, Scotland. In the early 1890s, the family moved to the depot town of Terrell, Texas. Sophronia Elizabeth Kingston Jones lived there until her death at age 68, on August 1, 1931.


Detail from the 1880 Census listing the occupants of 132 Baker.

The 1884 Sanborn map of Baker Street between Trumbull and Tenth Streets provides valuable information about the Kingston House at the time. It indicates that the front half of the house was two stories high, but that the rear additions were only one story. The house did not yet have a wraparound porch. The large "X" through the structure in the back denotes that it was a stable.


The vicinity of 132 Baker in 1884. Click here to see a recent aerial image of the same area.


At some point before the 1897 Sanborn maps were drawn, some changes were made to 132 Baker:



Was 1/3 of the house gone? Or was one of the maps poorly executed? The Burton Historical Collection keeps an index of building permits from 1880 to 1908, and no permit for an addition or repairs (such as after a fire) have been found.

According to Mary Lou Duncan, Ann Kingston filed for divorce on December 2, 1885, and filed a petition for alimony October 15 of the following year. The husband and wife were already in their seventies by this point. An article about the case appeared in the Detroit Free Press on October 31, 1886.

  The divorce suit of Ann against Joseph Kingston in the Wayne Circuit Court was ended at noon Saturday and submitted to Judge Jennison, who reserved his decision until Monday. While the aged defendant was on the stand he was asked to relate a certain attempt on the complainant's life, which she charges him with having made.
  "Began," said he, "we were settin' at the dinner table with the stove poipe betwixt us. We always were so sittewated, because there'd be an anoimated scrimmage betwixt us if we hadn't the sthove or something of loike carrackthur a separatin' of us. The ould wooman schoved me over a cup o tea, an' I says to her, says I, 'What the divil kind o' tea d'ye call this?'
  "'What's the matthur wid the tea?' said she.
  "'It's schlop,' says I.
  "'I'll schlop ye,' says she, an' 'round the sthove did she come at me an' basted me over the head with a pitcher. The pitcher was broke into smithereens and the divil that she is picked up a sthove poker and kim for me wid blood in her eye. I thin grasped the table knife in me right hand and looked at her. She looked at me for a moment and drapped the poker and I drapped the knife. She said that I was worse than a heathen and I said she was worse than the divil, and we had it backwards and forwards. When the hoshtilities had abated she said her short prayers and wished me dead in the next ten minutes, but I didn't doie, bejabbers."
  The Judge appeared to be very much impressed by the very entertaining testimony of the 70-years old man, and a number of times had to hold his mouth to keep from laughing at the antics of the old gentleman.
  At the conclusion of the case the Judge said it did not appear to him that the complainant had been treated worse by the defendant than the defendant had by her. Without deciding the cae he said that as family quarrels between the aged couple had not terminated fatally in the long period which they have lived together he thought there was no particular danger in the future.
  "They eat at the same table while this case is pending," said the Judge, "with nothing but a stovepipe between them, and I guess they will not hurt each other."
  Mr. Pound, attorney for the complainant, briefly reviewed the case. He did not strongly urge the Judge for a separation, but insisted on the right of his client to receive more money for the purpose of buying her clothing.
  Lawyer Craig said that the defendant had given his wife all the clothes she needs and decree for very heavy alimony would drive both parties to the poorhouse.
  Judge Jennison said that he required some time to consider the facts and reserved his decision until Monday.

Despite her prayers, Ann McCulah Kingston passed away before her husband, on August 3, 1890. Several weeks later, on October 27, Joseph Kingston signed over his house to his daughter, Nancy Eliza Kingston, on the condition that he would "have a lease of said lot during the term of his natural life". The document was notarized by real estate investor and philanthropist William H. Maybury (not to be confused with former Mayor William C. Maybury).

27oct1890deed
The October 27, 1890 deed conveying the property
from Joseph Kingston to his daughter Nancy.


The city directories indicate that Nancy Eliza Kingston was living with her father as early as 1896. Her occupation was listed as "housekeeper". Joseph Kingston did indeed live out the rest of his life in the house, where he died on November 13, 1899.

kingston-obit



Joseph Kingston's death certificate. (Seeking Michigan)



Joseph and Ann Kingston's marker in Woodmere Cemetery. Although it gives Mrs. Kingston's birth year as 1810, other records indicate it was more likely 1820.



Next Week: The Kingston House Part III: 1900-Present

April 9, 2011

The Kingston House Part I: 1747-1861 -- The Navarre Farm

kingston200
The Joseph Kingston House, 1560 Bagley, Detroit


The Kingston House's current owner, Scott Robichaud, purchased the home in 2007 and has kept the blog Redemption in Corktown to document its extensive renovation. Fortunately for me, he already did some of the research on the house and posted plenty of photos on his blog, both of which he has permitted me to use. But first, the land:

* * * * *

Robert Navarre

This statue of Robert Navarre stands above the Michigan Avenue entrance of the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel in Detroit. Photo by Marshall Davies Lloyd, a descendant of Navarre.


Robert Navarre was born in 1709 in Villeroy, France. It is not known when he came to Canada, but he was sent to Detroit as early as 1728 to serve as sub-intendant of the settlement. He was soon after instated as Royal Notary, making him "the record keeper, the lawyer, the general scrivener, the surveyor, tithe gatherer, tax collector, treasurer of the king's revenue, and perhaps the school teacher of the settlement" (Burton 703). Navarre married Marie Lootman dit Barrois at Detroit on February 10, 1734.

On May 1, 1747, the Canadian government granted Navarre a parcel of land measuring 3 by 40 arpents on the Detroit River (Farmer 20). This was the first land grant made west of the fort--until then, all concessions had been on the east.



Navarre executed his duties so faithfully that the British government kept him on after gaining control over the territory in 1760. He retired two years later and lived on his farm for the rest of his life.

After Navarre passed away on November 21, 1791, the land became the property of his son, Francois. By that time, he had already settled on land in Monroe County deeded to him by the Potawatomi Indians. Francois Navarre sold the inherited land to his cousin Joseph Beaubien on September 12, 1797.


Joseph Cuillerier dit Beaubien

Little is known about Joseph Beaubien outside of a few vital records. He was born in Detroit on March 20, 1752 and married Marie-Josephe Bondy on March 10, 1777. He was not the man for whom Beaubien Street was named--that was his younger brother, land owner Lambert Cullier dit Beaubien.

Joseph Beaubien owned the farm during the transfer of power between the British and American governments. The United States granted Beaubien a land patent for the farm, which designated Private Claim No. 22, on July 16, 1807.


Land patent for Private Claim No. 22 (Source)


Beaubien sold the farm three years later, on November 15, 1810, to an English merchant named James May. Beaubien died in March of 1821.


James May

Image courtesy of the Burton Historical
Collection, Detroit Public Library


Born in Birmingham, England in 1756, James May came to Canada in 1775 and settled in Detroit in 1778 at the age of 19. He served as associate Judge of Common Pleas in Detroit in 1788, and was appointed Chief Justice of that court in 1800. A year after Detroit was incorporated as a town in 1802, May was elected as one of five trustees.

James May owned the Navarre Farm when Detroit fell to the British during the War of 1812. Allegedly, May took possession of Fort Shelby's American flag and hid it until the British departed one year later, when he raised it once more (Ross 141). James May died in Detroit on January 19, 1829.


William Woodbridge

(Source)

William Woodbridge was born in Norwich, Connecticut on August 20, 1780. He came to Detroit in 1814 after accepting President James Madison's appointment as Secretary of the Territory of Michigan.

On October 1, 1819, Woodbridge purchased the former Navarre Farm from James May. He would live on the farm for nearly forty years. Woodbridge went on to serve as as the Michigan Territory's delegate to Congress (1819-1820), the second Governor of Michigan (1840-1841), and a United States Senator (1841-1847).

Soon after land patents were issued in Detroit, farmers were allowed to double the size of their property by claiming an additional tract of land behind their current one. The farm Woodbridge bought from James May now consisted of Private Claims Nos. 22 and 26. In addition to those, Woodbridge purchased the farm immediately to the east, Private Claim No. 248 (the Lasselle Farm), which was also extended to include Private Claim No. 27. The massive Woodbridge Farm was now approximately 1,100 feet wide and extended three miles inland.



By an act of the Michigan Legislature on February 12, 1857, the City of Detroit expanded its borders to include that portion of Springwells Township on which the Woodbridge Farm was situated (minus the few acres north of the railroad tracks in Private Claim No. 26). This forced Woodbridge's land to be subject to the laws, ordinances, and high taxes of the growing urban center. He fought what he perceived to be an infringement upon his rights (Lanman 67), but he was unsuccessful. On September 14, 1858, he submitted to the Wayne County Register a plan for the subdivision of his property which would be sold in lots.


Detail from 1910 copy of 1858 platting of the Woodbridge Farm. (Source)
The lot where the Kingston House stands is highlighted in red.


Woodbridge named the 100-foot-wide thoroughfare that would run through his former farm Trumbull Avenue after his father-in-law, John Trumbull. There was a wooded area northwest of Michigan and Trumbull Avenues that Woodbridge let open to the public as a picnic grounds that became known as "Woodbridge Grove". Apparently, that parcel of land would later become associated with baseball.

Despite Woodbridge's misgivings about Detroit's expansion, it had greatly increased his net worth. The 1860 Census indicated that the value of his real estate was $300,000--over $7 million today. William Woodbridge died on October 20, 1861.

Just a few months before he passed away, Woodbridge sold lot number 9 of block 77 of his former farm to an immigrant from County Cork, Ireland named Joseph Kingston. It appears that the house Kingston was living in on that lot had already been there for at least four years. But that's an issue to be covered next time...

Next week: The Kingston House Part II: 1861-1899 -- Joseph Kingston


--Bibliography--
Burton, Clarence. The City of Detroit Michigan 1701-1922. Volume II. Detroit: S. J. Clarke Publishing, 1922.
Farmer, Silas. The History of Detroit and Michigan: Or, The Metropolis Illustrated. Detroit: Silas Farmer & Co., 1884.
Lanman, Charles. The Life of William Woodbridge. Washington: Blanchard & Mohun, 1867.
Ross, Robert B. The Early Bench and Bar of Detroit from 1805 to the end of 1850. Detroit: Winn and Hammond, 1907.

April 2, 2011

The Buchanan House Part V: 2008-Present -- Renovation in Progress


The Buchanan house was purchased by my mother and brother on August 4, 2008. The plan was to be repaid by a third investor, who then literally fled the country. We decided to renovate and rent out the home. My mother quitclaimed her interest in the house to me on October 22, 2009. I've spent more than two years renovating the house with a *lot* of help from a *lot* of people, and we've been fortunate to have good renters tolerant of the ongoing repairs. The renovation is maybe 85% complete. The house has a new roof, all new plumbing, and was completely rewired. Both porches had to be completely replaced. The house was about half gutted, but if I could do it all over, I would gut the house completely. Here are some examples of what we've accomplished:

old-porch
This was actually taken after a lot of the porch had been torn down.

porch2
The new porch (not yet fully complete due to our lack of money) was constructed by
Donald St. Pierre, a carpenter raised in Corktown who now resides in Wyandotte.


parlor-window1
The parlor window was boarded up with doors when we first saw the house.

parlor-window2
Photo courtesy of Joseph C. Krause, who took sent me the photo at the
last minute when I realized I didn't have a shot of this perspective.

parlor-during1
It's a miracle the parlor fireplace was still intact.

parlor-red1


parlor-during2

parlor-red2
This photo is a little dated. More furniture has been added to the room.


familyroom-repairs
I believe I am reglazing a window in this photo. All of the original wood windows in the bedrooms have been preserved, with only storm windows added for energy efficiency.

familyroom-187


kitchen-doorway-gutted
This is looking from the dining room into the kitchen. The doorway was originally much smaller.

kitchen-doorway-finished


kitchen1

kitchen-gutted

kitchen-finished


powder1
This was the downstairs bathroom.

powder2
A closet was removed from the family room, allowing more space for the
bathroom. The doorway was also moved from the kitchen to the hallway.


bathroom0
The upstairs bathroom window was almost completely
covered by a very poorly placed wall.

bathroom-after
This view is actually 90 degrees to the right of the first photo. We
took over the closet space from a bedroom to make the bathroom larger.


northwest
The northwest bedroom.

northwest-after


southeast
The southeast bedroom.

southeast3


laundry500
We turned the bedroom whose closet we took away into an upstairs laundry room.
This photo is actually not that old--the room was just the last to be remodeled.

laundry600


up-halla1
The entire hallway used to be painted like a madhouse.

up-halla2
The stairway is now the biggest eyesore in the house. I plan
on stripping and refinishing the whole thing. (Some day.)

up-hallb1

up-hallb2


The Buchanan house was used as a filming location for a scene in episode 4 of season 1 of Detroit 1-8-7, entitled "Royal Bubbles/Needle Drop". The scene was filmed on August 26, 2010, and the episode aired October 12. The film crew paid myself and the renters locations fees as well as repainted the exterior of the house to be a much more calm shade of yellow than it had been previously.

187-diningroom
John Michael Hill as Detective Damon Washington in the
dining room of the Buchanan house. Photo courtesy of ABC.


I was able to track down some of the people associated with the house's past. I contacted Peter Buchanan, a descendant of Patrick Buchanan--a past owner of the land on which the house was built, and brother to the home's first owner, Susan Buchanan. He came to visit the house during the renovation.

peter-buchanan
Myself with Peter Buchanan.


I also found Paul and Tony Saliba, two brothers born in the home who gave me a great deal of the information that appeared in my last post.

Bagley and Marilyn pics 009
Paul Saliba, Anthony Saliba, and myself.


The renovations will continue throughout 2011. Now that it's getting warmer, the obviously needed exterior renovations will have to be completed. Expect to see more photos by next fall.

mildyellow