STORY OF THE HUSBAND-HANCHETT-TIFFANY HOUSE

 

 

A letter dated February 27, 1975 and written by John P. Woodford, Director of the Department of State Highways stated, “You will be pleased to know that the State Highway Commission at its meeting yesterday, approved leaving the Tiffany House in place.”  The shortness of the letter was not symbolic of the long struggle to save this historic landmark--an effort which began in August, 1971.

 

Essential to the effort was help from the right people at the right time:  cooperation of the Georgetown Township Board; support from area schools,  residents and various historical groups, especially the Grandville Historical Commission; Willard Wichers of Holland, then a member of the State Historical Commission; various state legislators; the news media, especially Marian Stevens of the Grand Valley Advance.  Support came at the eleventh hour when our cause received a final boost from W.D. Frankforter of the Grand Rapids Public Museum and Jerry Roe on the state level.  Also involved were numerous State Highway Officials and the State Highway Commission, especially Highway Commission Chairman, Ellsworth V. Erickson, who made the final decision.

 

Members of the Jenison Historical Association are to be especially congratulated for the success of the three and one-half year effort.  It was their dedication, courage, persistence and perseverance that paid off in the end.

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EFFORT TO PRESERVE TIFFANY HOUSE ON ITS SITE:  

 

An  article appeared in the August 25, 1971 issue of the Grand Valley Shoppers’ Guide (now the Grand Valley Advance) asking the citizens of Georgetown Township to volunteer to serve on a committee to save the Tiffany House from demolition.  The house had been spared the fate of six others in the same block because it was used for a State Highway District Office.  The group of volunteers now known as the Jenison Historical Association, met monthly and more often as necessary, working to save the Tiffany House.  The effort ended successfully February 26, 1975.

 

Reasons given by the State Highway Department were safety factors, federal guideline of fifty feet from the edge of the on-ramp, drainage problems and aesthetic values (there would be a deep drainage ditch behind the house and a high on-ramp).

 

Previous to the October deadline the Michigan Historical Commission at a meeting on June 16, 1972 “passed a resolution approving the nomination of the Tiffany House as a historic home of local significance” and was given Registry Number 209.

 

In October of the same year, a meeting was held at the house with interested residents attending along with Willard Wichers of Holland, member of the State Historical Commission; Barbara Roelofs and Linda DeJong of the Kent County Council for Historical Preservation (KCCHP); Grandville City and Georgetown (Jenison) Township officials; members of the Grandville Historical Commission and Georgetown Friends of the Library.  The meeting was hosted by the Jenison Historical Association which grew out of the “Save the Tiffany House” committee.

 

Early in 1973, the Jenison Historical Association began selling artist sketches of the L & L Jenison Mill to raise money.  In February, representatives of the Jenison Historical Association met with then Congressman Gerald R. Ford and a representative from Congressman Guy Vander Jagt’s office.  In May, the Georgetown Township Board voted in favor of funding the moving and restoration of the Tiffany House.  As construction on the interchange progressed, residents and members of the Jenison Historical Association felt more strongly than ever that the house need not be moved.  In August of 1973, a last ditch effort began to try to save the house on its original site.  The result was that the State Highway Department remained adamant as far as moving the house was concerned, but agreed to pay the full cost of relocating the Tiffany House with the only other alternative being the wrecking ball.

 

Georgetown Township officials signed the contract with the State Highway Department for moving the house in March of 1974.  Work was to begin in April.  The State Highway Department’s District Office vacated the house that they had been using as a project office.

 

It  wasn’t until June, 1974, that we learned that S.D. Solomon & Sons, road building contractors for this segment of the new interstate, claimed in a letter to the state, the first of April, that their firm owned the Tiffany House and not the State Highway Department.  The dispute was settled in August of 1974 when the State Highway Department regained ownership of the house.  S.D. Solomon & Sons removed their trailer near the Tiffany House where it had been for two years.

 

Bids were opened for the second time in October, the lowest bid being for $49,000.  No one bid the first time around.  The Jenison Historical Association had gone ahead with ground-breaking ceremonies on September 5, 1974.  Because the bid of $49,000 was twice the estimated cost to move the house, Highway Director, John Woodford, appointed highway officials to evaluate the situation and make some concessions with the hopes that the third bids would come in lower.  As of November, 1974  the Jenison Historical Association had been involved with seventy people including sixteen various highway officials and had over fifty articles in newspapers, mostly the Grand Valley

 

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Shopper .   Bids were opened again in December and the State Highway Department decided that their recommendation

to the State Highway Commission would be to award the bid of $36.675 to a St. Joseph firm.  Open ceremonies were held on December 11, 1974 for the Gerald Ford Freeway (I-196).

 

Another last-ditch effort gained momentum when some State Highway officials stated that they felt the house could stay where it is and had obtained federal approval.   Again,  letters were written to the State Highway Commission by many of the persons mentioned previously in this article.  Then on Wednesday, February 26, 1975 the State Highway Commission voted to allow the house to remain on its site.

 

The Georgetown Township Board, who included $8,000 for renovating the landmark, will retain ownership with the restoration process and furnishings left up to the Jenison Historical Association.  The State Highway Department enclosed their ditch behind the house and landscaped along the on-ramp to I-196.  Presently outside can be seen the sixty-foot-long beam from the L & L Jenison Mill, the pine stump fence (the Jenisons made their fortune in lumbering), the State Historical Marker, the relocated grape arbor and the garden on the south side put in by the Riverbend Gardeners.

 

Thousands of Jenison third-grade school children and others have toured the house which still contains the semblance of the elegance of earlier days.  The Tiffany House is a lovely old landmark of the days of the early part of the twentieth century and the craftsmanship of the inside and outside of the house is a visible remembrance and reminder of days gone by.

 

ABOUT THE HOUSE

 

Tiffany House, a name that evolved around the last owners, Clarence and Zoe Tiffany, was built by Mrs. Levi (Margaret Morrison) Husband on land and with money willed to her and her daughter, Mrs. Benjamin (Bessie Husband) Hanchett, Jr. after the deaths of twins Lucius and Luman Jenison who both died in 1899.  Mrs. Husband told friends that she wanted to build the best house she could in memory of the Jenison twins.  It cost $13,000 to build at the turn of the century.  Completed in 1902, it was called the “Homestead.”

 

Now named the Jenison Museum, in the Husband-Hanchett-Tiffany House, it is situated on Lot #32 of Jenisonville plat, 28 Port Sheldon Road which at different times in our history was called Beech Street, Maple Lane, Holland Road and Old M21.  Main Street was relocated in connection with the interchange on land that once was the southern part of Lot #32. The house stands on the northeast corner of relocated Main Street and Port Sheldon Road, one block east of the Kent-Ottawa County Line on the edge of the southwest quadrant of the M-21/I-196 (Gerald R. Ford Freeway) interchange between Grandville and Jenison, Michigan.

 

The modified Queen Anne-style house has a foundation of fieldstone matched and cut to fit together perfectly.    The house was a showcase in the area because of the curved glass windows in the turret, stained and leaded glass windows, two fire places and five porches.  The interior of the mansion is finished with fine oak paneling and woodwork.  Maple tree saplings were planted in a row on the north side of the house and in front and grew into huge trees.  Because these trees were singed and burned when the Burt and Virginia Timmer house was burned by the State Highway Department they eventually died and had to be cut down.  Behind the house was a grape arbor under which was a naturally flowing well.  The grape arbor was relocated just outside the State Highway chain-link fence near the southeast corner of the house.

 

The basement reveals the massive stone foundation and what is called the “wine cellar” with a vault-type door.  Receipts from the interurban were kept there.  It is thought to have been added at a later date--possible by Ben and Bessie Hanchett after the death of Margaret Husband in 1913.

 

At each side of the front door are mullioned window panels which are hand-blown glass.  Just inside is the entry from which may be seen the leaded and beveled inner door to the reception room.  Separating the reception room from the dining room is a coat closet and another large sliding door with beautiful leaded and beveled glass.  On the stair landing is a large stained glass window.

 

The dining room is wood-paneled with a plate rail, a bay window, beamed ceiling, and a floor button that was used to call the maid at mealtime.  (All that remains is a small hole in the floor as the button is missing).  On each side of the bay window are built-in, glass-door cabinets and drawers.  Behind one wood panel is a secret compartment.  A swinging door leads to the pantry and kitchen.  Another door leads to what we call the back parlor, but may have been a library or music room.  The Tiffanys used this room as a bedroom..  Off the kitchen are two stairways--one to the basement and the other a back stairs used by the maid to her room on the second floor, a porch, a complete bathroom which had been modernized by the Tiffanys, but has been restored, and a summer kitchen used for cooking during hot weather on a kerosene stove.

 

 

 

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Separating the reception room from the front parlor and its bay window are two grand pillars similar to those in the picture behind the settee in the front parlor.  A large closet separates the back parlor with its window seat from the restored main-floor bathroom which can also be entered from the kitchen.

 

Upstairs we find five bedrooms, each having a large closet, some with built-ins, a second full bath and linen closet with built-in shelves and drawers.  Doors at each end of the hallway lead to large porches at the front and rear of the house.

 

Four of the upstairs rooms are large.  One used as a guest room is furnished in the Victorian era complete with turret and fireplace.  It is located at the top of the front stairway on the right.  Directly across the hall is the bedroom that Margaret Husband used.  At the top of the back stairway is the second bath next to the furnished maids room, the smallest of the five bedrooms.

 

From the hall, a stairway leads to the third floor attic which provides the house with a large area for storage and displays.  In the attic you can see the hand construction that went into the dome of the turret.  The first “Moody” gas pump can be seen along with tools and much more.  Missing are the two water tanks that used to be in the attic.  Electric was available from the interurban power house which was located where the Aldi store is presently.  An electric pump pumped water from the flowing artesian well to fill the one tank.  From there it was a gravity flow to the rooms below.  The other tank was filled with rain water which was caught with eave troughs.

 

The power house also furnished electric for lighting.  The hired girl, however, still cooked on an old wood-burning cook stove and ironed with heavy irons that had to be heated on the same stove.  In those early days, small appliances were not readily available.

 

The hired girl, who received from $3-$3.50 per week, plus room and board, did the laundry, ironing, cleaning, cooking, baking,. canning, churning butter and fed the pigs.  Every Saturday, she had to bake a cake because Mrs. Husband’s daughter and son-in-law, Ben and Bessie Hanchett of East Grand Rapids, would come for the weekend because they, along with Mrs. Husband, had business interests to look after. 

 

Their business interests included the L & L Mill and Store, the six-hundred-acre Blissveldt Farm, Jenison Park in Holland and properties in Kent County.   The Hanchetts would occupy the guest room with the fireplace and turret windows.  Before they had a car, the Hanchetts would take their private streetcar “Honolulu” to the Jenison interurban depot and walk to the house.

 

In the winter, ice was cut from nearby ponds and packed in sawdust in an icehouse somewhere behind the house.  Mrs. Husband used the ice to make ice-cream which was served to neighborhood children at parties given by her.

 

PEOPLE OF THE HUSBAND-HANCHETT-TIFFANY HOUSE:

 

Levi Husband died in 1889, the same year that Hiram Jenison, elder brother of Lucius and Luman, died.  Levi was employed by the Jenisons as bookkeeper for the Jenison enterprises.  After his death, his duties were taken over by his wife, Margaret, who was also named Jenison Post-mistress in 1904.  Daughter, Bessie, helped in the office after graduating from Grandville High School.  After her marriage in 1896 to Benjamin Hanchett, Jr., they made their home in East Grand Rapids on Fisk Lake in a house they called “Lakewood,” now known as the “Bissell House.”

 

Ben Hanchett was a Jenison descendant, his mother being Betsey Jenison, the youngest child in Lemuel and Sarah Jenison’s family.  Later, around 1920, they made their home at 125 College Avenue, Grand Rapids next door to the well-known Voigt House. Two children were born to the Hanchetts:  Gerald Jenison who was born in 1899 and passed away January 15, 1971.  Elizabeth Jeanette was born in 1901 and died April 18, 1983.  Although Elizabeth was married twice, her death marked the end of that Hanchett-Jenison line as neither Gerald or Elizabeth had children.

 

After Margaret Husband’s death in 1913, Bessie Husband Hanchett became sole owner of the house and other Jenison properties, some of which were mentioned before.  Her husband, Benjamin S. Hanchett, passed away in 1933, leaving Bessie with the responsibilities of their various business holdings.  Ben Hanchett had promoted and built the Grand Rapids, Holland and Chicago Interurban  Line which was the first double track.  It ran from Grand Rapids through Jenison and on to Jenison Park in Holland.  From Holland, riders could board a ship to Chicago.  He was President of the Grand Rapids Street Railway Company and helped develop Ramona Park, was Director of Old Kent Bank, a Regent of the University of Michigan for 22 years and President of the Village of East Grand Rapids.  He was a direct descendant of the Jenison family.

 

Elsie Morrison Martin (Mrs. Robert), sister of Margaret Morrison Husband (Mrs. Levi), became a widow in 1899 and came to live with Margaret and also helped in the L & L Jenison Company office located in the Jenison Store.  After Margaret’s death, Elsie Martin continued working for the Jenison business 30 years and lived in the house until her death in 1945 at the age of 85.  Bessie Hanchett stayed

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at the house occasionally when duty called.  In 1928, the Hanchetts had hired John J. Piers, father of Virginia Piers Timmer, as bookkeeper and manager of their extensive holdings.  Mr. Piers remained in the employ of Bessie Hanchett until her death on November 14, 1960 at the age of 91.

 

After 1945, the house was rented because housing was scarce due to the return of servicemen after World War II.  Plans to turn the house into a rest home never materialized.  Mr. and Mrs. Clarence (Zoe) Tiffany moved into the house in 1951 as renters.  They purchased the house and contents in 1961 after Bessie Hanchett’s death.  They also purchased the L & L Jenison Mill, built in 1864 and turned it into the Jenison Mill Antique Shop which ran for seven years.  The mill was torn down in 1963 and a Union Bank built on the site which has now been taken over by Curious World at the northeast corner of Chicago Drive and relocated Main Street.

 

The Tiffanys had spent much time and money restoring the house, even while renting.  Then they learned, in 1965, that the house and six others in the same block were in the path of the Chicago Drive-I-196 interchange and doomed to the wrecking ball.  Mr. Tiffany passed away suddenly in 1968.

 

Some of the restoration included landscaping.  Lush green grass replaced a well worn and neglected lawn.  Evergreen and other shrubs were planted along with strawberry plants and raspberry bushes.  A variety of fruits, vegetables, spring, summer and fall flowers were planted on the acreage.  The entire site was enclosed with cyclone fencing.  A wood fence was erected along the driveway on the north side from boards out of the razed Jenison Mill.  They painted the house, had the stone foundation sandblasted, painted, put on a new roof, bought aluminum storms and screens for the entire house, had the house insulated (side walls and attic floor), had all new eaves put on the house and installed a new gas furnace with new runs.  The original registers were left in place.  The curved windows in the turret were repaired and an entirely new septic system was constructed.  The original characteristics of the house were preserved.  After purchase of the house by the State Highway Department, Mrs. Tiffany, on July 4, 1969, relocated to a  house in Grand Rapids and was forced to sell most of the original furnishings and historical material stored in the attic which they had purchased along with the house.

 

The Tiffanys donated pictures and other items of local interest to the Union Bank who desired to preserve the history of the site.  These items along with a doll house replica of the L & L Jenison Mill made by Ysbrandt Groendyke, were displayed there.  When the Union Bank left Jenison, all of these items were turned over to the Jenison Museum.  Mrs. Tiffany passed away June 26, 1978 at the age of 90.

 

 

 

 

 

Research and written by Virginia Piers Timmer (Mrs. Burton D.) in 1975.

Revised in July, 1997; June, 1999; and August, 2001