Caswell House

In 1823 young Solomon Caswell and his wife, Hulda, settled in Troy Township, Oakland County. The following May they purchased forty acres from John Valentine, Hulda's brother, and built a log house. Eventually Caswell had a sizeable farm, but he regularly supplemented his income working as a shoemaker. In the winters he commuted to Detroit, then nearby Bloomfield Center, and finally built a shop on his farm. Caswell probably built his fine two-story house in 1832. He made a one-and-a-half-story addition about 1850, and his heirs added a flat roof porch about 1920. Solomon died in 1880. Ownership of the house passed first to his son, then to his grandchildren. When the last Caswell died in the mid-1960s, the property was left to a friend who sold it to a local church as a site for a new church. At first it was assumed that the house would be torn down to make way for the church. But the furor created by the proposed demolition of the 'oldest house in Troy' resulted in the house's removal to a safe location behind the old city hall in 1968. Restoration is planned by the city historical commission. In its hundred and forty year history the Caswell House has been the home of just three generations of a pioneer family in Oakland County. It is the focal point of local enthusiasm for history and features a handsome front door and dentated cornice.

The Caswell House is a two-story frame residence with Greek Revival detailing and clapboard siding. The central mass has a gable roof and dimensions of 19 by 35 feet. The house boasts a dentated cornice plus a handsome front door with sidelights. The door is framed by panerers carrying a dentated entablature. Originally, a one-story shed ten feet wide ran the full length of the back of the house. Possibly the shed was used as Solomon Caswell's shoe making shop. When a large addition was made to the rear of the house, most of the shed was removed. A section of the shed 10 feet by 15 feet remains. A porch was added to the house around 1920. When the house had to be moved in 1968, financial limitations dictated the removal of only the original house--the central mass and the shed. The additions were demolished. The Caswell House was located at 3150 North Adams Road and was moved about four miles to another Troy location, 60 West Wattles Road. Other features of the house include a cherry railing on the main stairway, handsplit lath, seven-foot ceilings, and a crude four-foot long wooden bolt inside the front door as a precaution against intruders. The windows are 6 over 6 and 9 over 6; some contain old wavy glass. The new foundation is indented so that it can be covered by fieldstone. The house is painted white; its green shutters will be reinstalled when restoration takes place.