John Palmer House

The Palmer House's most famous owner was Charles H. Palmer, a prominent educator and businessman. However, its first owner was probably Frederick C. Myrick. Myrick moved to Pontiac after 1851, and the house seems to have been built for him in the 1850s. He was involved in the lumber industry, and he died in 1860. Charles Palmer bought the completed house early in the 1860s. Born in New York State in 1814, Charles Palmer graduated from Union College, New York, in 1837. He subsequently served as principal of various schools in the East. In 1839 he married Betsy A. Cowles, a teacher. Arriving in Michigan in 1847, Palmer became principal at the Romeo Academy. He was appointed principal of the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind School in Flint in 1850. In 1851 he was elected Regent of the University of Michigan for a six-year term. Palmer was involved in mining in the Upper Peninsula in the 1850s and 1860s. In 1856 he was a promoter of the Portage Lake and River Improvement Company, which intended to connect Portage Lake by canal to Lake Superior. He was also an incorporator in the Pewabic mine, the Franklin mine, the Kearsage mine, and the Marquette, Houghton, and Ontonagon Railroad. Retiring to his home in Pontiac in 1875, Palmer continued to participate actively in educational and civic projects. He was instrumental in securing the Eastern Michigan Asylum for Pontiac. Charles Palmer died April 9, 1887, at his house in Pontiac. In Pontiac the Palmer House is one of the few remaining buildings from the mid-nineteenth century. Its excellent condition and spacious lot in the heart of the heavily industrialized city of Pontiac are indeed unusual.

The Palmer House is a timber-framed, two-story building of the Italian villa style. The front part of the building is c-shaped, while the back section is an L-shaped service wing. Flush siding is used on all exterior walls--an unusual feature in Michigan. Doubled brackets support the hip roof, and small ornate balconies decorate many of the second-story windows. In the mid-1930s, fire destroyed the large flat-roofed cupola which has not been rebuilt. A center entrance hall runs the length of the cube and opens on two small rooms and a large parlor on the first floor. Each of these rooms has a fireplace, and fireplaces are also in three bedrooms on the second story. The newel and banister of the front staircase are cherry. On the first floor several of the rooms have gilded plaster cornices, ornate ceiling medallions, and twelve-foot ceilings. Wooden interior shutters fold into recesses in the window frames. Many gas lighting fixtures are still present. A copper-lined tank in the attic may be filled by either roof runoff or from a well pump in the basement. The tank formerly supplied water throughout the building. The basement is paved with brick, and the foundation is field stone, covered by a smooth layer of cement on the exterior. The Palmer House is furnished with a remarkable collection of European pieces purchased by the family in the 1890s. Very little change has been made in the interior decor, and the loss on the cupola is the only important alteration to the exterior. A semi-circular carriage drive once passed in front of the entrance but has been removed. Iron hitching posts are still present along a drive at the rear of the house. The Palmer House is situated on a heavily wooded four-acre lot two blocks from the center of Pontiac.