59 South Main St.

The house which presently stands on this site was built in 1903 for Dr. Clark Sutherland. He first lived in a house at the back of the Lot of 21 South Main before the Township Hall was constructed. At that time his office was on the second story of a wooden building on the east side of South Main St., now the site of the "Brick Block" (14, 16 and 18 S. Main historically). This new house at 59 South Main became Sutherland's home and office. An item in The Oakland Post, 6/18/1903 noted, "Workmen are putting a Peninsular Furnace in Dr. C. J. Sutherland's new residence in course of building. (A 4/10/1902 article noted that Dr. Sutherland had purchased a "fine Vose piano". Other newspaper items discussing programs in the "Opera Hall" cited Dr. Sutherland repeatedly for his solos.) Martha, "Auntie", Plumb, who lived next door at 69 S. Main, often accompanied the doctor on " birthing calls." Originally, the home was a Queen Anne style building with diamond-paned windows, multiple roof gables, shaped shingles and a wrap-around porch. According to an item in the 8/25/1904 issue of The Oakland Post, "Frank Beardsley (was) putting on a new porch on the front and side of Dr. Sutherland's residence on Main Street." The porch, seen in an old photo, left, was removed before a 1970's remodeling. After Dr. Sutherland's death the house was sold and converted to apartment use. The house was again remodeled, in 1975/76, to accommodate boutique businesses with a small restaurant in the basement. The building was later converted to house apartments again. Historically, property assessments seem to indicate that there were buildings on this site, probably at least as early as 1850. The 1872 Map of the Village has the footprint of a building on each lot (4,5, & 6) of this site. Lots 4 & 5 belonged to William Axford, one of Clarkston's early merchants. The building on Lot 5 may have been his residence. Nelson Abbey, a physician, owned lot 6, where he may have had his residence. Both men also owned other parcels in the area at the time.