32 South Main St.
East side of street
The remodeled building on this site is on the foundation of a car dealership/garage which was rebuilt after a fire in 1944.
Historically there was a wooden structure on this site by 1856. The structure probably resembled the Greek Revival style building seen in a c.1877 photo of Frank Yeager's blacksmith shop. 1850 tax rolls listed Washington L. Clark for the property. (He also owned a house on the northeast corner of South Main Street and East Church Street.) This property in 1855 was listed as belonging to Perry and Clark, but the assessed value does not indicate a building on the Lot at the time. In 1856 Robert Perry was taxed for both pieces with an increased assessed value indicating a building on the site by then. The 1872 Map of the Village has a building footprint with J. M. Clark as the owner. James M. Clark was one of Clarkson's first blacksmith's. This building became the site of Yeager and Son, a blacksmith shop. Jedediah Yeager, also one of Clarkston's early blacksmiths, had shops previously on West Washington and North Main St. (Jedediah's son, Frank, lived at 8 E. Washington. There was a barn in the southeast corner of that property where he also did some of his work. That barn in the 1850s was shared by more than one craftsman.) Frank owned this 32 South Main Street property until about 1914. In 1919, the Seeterlin brothers, built a new building here to house their Chevrolet Sales & Service. The Seeterlins moved their business to the north side of East Church Street. Henry Buck & William Chase started a Ford dealership and Ward Robbins had a service station here also. Reuben Beattie bought the building in 1927 and the Beattie's took over the Buck & Chase dealership. E. A. Baker had a custom auto repair shop in the rear of Beattie's building for a time. In 1943 a fire burned the building of Beattie Motor Sales. The building was subsequently rebuilt. (The last location of the Beattie Ford dealership was on Dixie Highway at the intersection of Andersonville Road). The last car dealership on this South Main Street site, Bill Spence Rambler moved from here in 1961 to Dixie Highway. The building then became the Haupt Bump Shop, an extension of Haupt Motor Sales on M-15 north of the Village.
Official Property Description:
- The west 1/2 of the north 1/2 of Lot 2 Block 8 of Nelson W. Clark's Original Plat of the Village in the Southeast 1/4 of Section 20 in Independence Township.
- Lot 58 of the Assessor's Plat.
Significant Property History:
- 1831 United States to Butler Holcomb.
- 1833 Butler Holcomb & wife, Mary, To Roswell/Roosevelt Holcomb, the west 1/2 of the southeast 1/4 of Section 20.
- 1833 Butler Holcomb & wife, Mary, To Roswell/Roosevelt Holcomb, and wife, Elvine Holcomb, and Daniel B. Holcomb and wife, Alimira, to Jeremiah Clark III, the south part of the west 1/2 of the Southeast 1/4 of Section 20.
- 1839 Jeremiah Clark III to Nelson Washington Clark, the undivided 1/2 of the west 1/2 of the southeast 1/4 of Section 20 commencing.......
- 1842 Jeremiah Clark III & wife, Polly, to Nelson W. Clark, the south part of the west 1/2 of the Southeast 1/4 of Section 20. Also other land.
- 1842 Jeremiah Clark III & Nelson W. Clark to Village of Clarkston (Original plat of the Village).
- 1844 John Pratt, Lot 2 Block 8, assessed value $50.
- 1846 Nelson W. Clark, Lot 2 Block 8, assessed value $20.
- 1847 Nelson W. Clark, Lot 2 Block 8, assessed value $10.
- 1849 Nelson W. Clark, Lot 2 Block 8, assessd value $30.
- 1850 Washington L. Clark, Lot 2 Block 8, assessed value $75.
- 1856 Perry and Clark, the west 1/2 of Lot 2 Block 8, assessed value $7.
- 1857 Robert Perry, the west 1/2 of Lot 2 and the north 1/2 of Lot 3, assessed value $250.
- 1862 James M. Clark was the ownerof this site by now according to an abstract.
- 1867 J. M. Clark, the west 1/2 of Lot 8 except 8' from the south side, assessed value $400.
- 1872 Map of the Village has a building footprint, owner, J. M. Clark.
- 1884 Jedediah and Frank Yeager, the west 1/2 of Lot 2 Block 8, except 8' off the south side, assessed value $45.
- 1885 Yeager, as above, assessed value $400.
- 1891 Yeager & Son, the west 1/2 of Lot 2 Block 8, except 8' off the south side, assessed value $300.
- 1914 Frank Yeager, as above, assessed value $400.
- 1917 R. F. Townsend, beginning at the northwest corner of Lot 2 Block 8 then the east 83' of the south 57', assessed value $600.
- 1920 Seeterlin Brothers, as above, assessed value $5000.
- 1921 Seeterlin Brothers, as above, Dodge and Chevy Dealership.
- 1927 The Seeterlins sold to Reuben J. Beattie.
- 1933 R. J. Beattie Estate, beginning at the northwest corner of Lot 2 & the east 83' of the south 57', assessed value $4400.
- 1939 R. J. Beattie, Estate, the west 57' of the west 83' of Lot 2, assessed value $3700.
- 1943 The building, on the Lot then, burned.
- 1949 Lang and Poole, purchased the site & built a Chrysler/Plymouth dealership.
- 1954 Ford Motor Sales.
- 1956 Clarkston Motor Sales.
- 1979 Gans IV.
Architecture Style:
Historic District Commission Documents:
