In 1841, Timothy Warner purchased 80 acres of land at this site. The land was undeveloped at the time. He constructed a log cabin and several barns. The current building was built in 1855 by Timothy and Lucretia Warner.
"The Warner house was built in 1855 in the Greek Revival style by early pioneers Timothy and Lucretia Warner. The house is located on property purchased by Timothy in 1841. Timothy married Lucretia Jones around 1847 and the couple moved to this site shortly afterwards, apparently in a log home. Four of their six children were born in the cabin. Family stories indicate that the cabin burned down forcing them to live temporarily in a barn while the frame house was built to replace it. At one point reaching nearly 600 acres, the farm raised livestock, grew crops, boarded/trained horses, as well as sold honey and fruit. A number of outbuildings were erected including two barns as well as a chicken coop, milk house, wood/coal shed, machine shop, gambrel barn, pig shed, and rabbit pens. Now only a 40 x 48 steel panel post frame building stands on the property along with the relocated Hicks one room schoolhouse. Eight generations of the family have participated in activities on the now twelve acre farm and it is owned by a sixth generation descendant. Having lived in Brighton Township for over 180 years, multiple generations of the family were well known in the area and served in various civic, governmental, and entrepreneurial capacities over the decades beginning by helping to name the township when it was first organized. The house is largely unaltered having only asphalt shingles and replacement windows as the most obvious modifications. The farm was granted Centennial Farm status in 1955 and Sesquicentennial Farm status in 2009, the first to receive the one hundred fifty year distinction in the township. Fifteen seasons of excavation and research on one of the few archaeological projects conducted in Livingston County have shed light on 19th century life beginning in the frontier period in Michigan.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in September 2011 as a largely intact mid-nineteenth century example of the upright-and-wing house form in Greek Revival style characteristic of southern Michigan. The popularity of Greek Revival design and Northeastern U. S. house forms in southern Michigan was a direct result of a broad pattern of early settlement by pioneers largely from New England and upstate New York, who brought their architectural preferences with them. The upright-and-wing house form, along with side-gable forms such as the hall-and-parlor and “New England Large” house common in the Northeast became highly popular domestic structural forms in southern Michigan during the 1830s-50s. The Warners were part of this important 1820s-50s trend in Michigan’s settlement history in that they arrived in Brighton Township from Livingston County, New York, in 1837, during the peak of the Michigan land rush. A farmer by occupation, Timothy Warner started from scratch and carved a successful farm out of the wilderness, becoming a prominent citizen and successful entrepreneur who held a number of leadership roles from the time when the township was organized. The experiences of the family, nine generations over 180 years in the township, are representative of those by other pioneers who arrived in Michigan during the first half of the 19th century.
The Warner homestead is a classic example of Greek Revival architecture built in Michigan during the mid 19th century and exhibits a number of stylistic elements, both common and unusual, found in this form. The upright and wing design, with recessed porch and protruding lateral wing front room, is characteristic in southern Michigan, and is a reflection of house form preferences brought by Yankee settlers, primarily from western New York. The home can also be considered an outward display of successful transition not only for the occupants but members of the larger community from the frontier era to an established settlement that became part of a larger regional and national economy.
Although mills provided sawn lumber as early as 1833, frame houses in the 1830s were the exception instead of the rule. Col. Solomon Peterson of Putnam Township built what is considered the earliest frame house in Livingston County around 1828. Lewis Fonda’s 1834 frame home in Brighton Township was regarded as the earliest one built there. The house, “at the time … regarded as a dwelling of considerable pretension,” was built in section 32 from timber drawn from Ann Arbor, eighteen miles distant (Ellis 1880:222). Another early frame house was built in 1837 by Maynard Maltby in section 31 in what would become the town of Brighton. This house was removed for the construction of the Canopy Hotel in 1926.
As sawn lumber became more readily available and as families prospered, frame houses were erected to replace the “temporary” log cabins initially erected on their farms. By the early 1840s frame houses became more common. Ellis writes in his 1880 History of Livingston County that “Most of these settlers built for themselves comfortable frame houses the same year of their arrival” (Ellis 1880:224). Nevertheless, Timothy Warner built a log cabin on the homestead farm likely shortly after he purchased the property in October 1841. This supposition is supported by diagnostic artifacts from that time period. One family story suggests that the family resided in the “temporary” log cabin for several years until it was destroyed by fire forcing the family to live in one of the barns while the Greek Revival house was being constructed in 1855.
The construction date for the house comes from personal communication between George W. Warner (1848-1933) and his granddaughter Florence W. Warner-Chase (1911-2001), a former school teacher and family historian. George, who was born in the log cabin, recalled that he was seven years old when tasked with carrying nails for the carpenters building the house. This anecdote was handwritten by Florence in preparation for a family reunion circa 1997 and is currently the most reliable information available. Timothy was known to be skilled as a carpenter, but exactly what was his involvement in the construction of the house is unknown.
Archaeological evidence also suggests a mid 1850s construction date. When the indoor bathroom was installed in the mid 1960s, former resident Elroy Warner discovered a brown, handleless transferware cup that has been identified as “Sydenham” by Joseph Clementson in the crawl space below the house. Although the pattern was not registered with the British Designs Registry Office, it likely dates to circa 1852 based on similar registered patterns that date to that year. This pattern in blue is the most commonly recovered ceramic pattern found in the living space area of the back yard. Other decorated ceramics such as sprigware, blue edgeware, and red transferware in the “Bologna” pattern by William Adams dating to the 1840s–1850s were also found along the east side of the boulder foundation of the house from excavated units.
Access to timbers during restoration work allowed for several samples to be taken for dendrochronological research to positively determine the construction date of the house and its construction sequence. While dendrochronology is fairly common in the Southwest and Southeast, it is relatively rare in the Midwest and particularly in Michigan. The samples were sent to the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and analyzed under the direction of Dr. Henri Grissino-Mayer. Ten samples were sent and six qualified to generate a chronology. The analysis indicated that family stories regarding the 1855 construction date were correct and that the house was erected during a single construction event. This date aids in understanding not only the history of the family but also augments archaeological research conducted at the site. Results of this research have been published in an internationally peer reviewed journal, Dendrochronologia, in 2016.?
The house was built in a style that swept through a number of countries including the U.S during the first quarter of the 19th century. Though the Greek Revival architectural resurgence began in northern Europe, it became so widespread in America that it became known as the “National Style.” The adaptable style spanned the range of size, use, and cost including modest homes for farming families, businesses, and schools, as well as formal state and national structures. Its popularity is commonly attributed to an affinity for the birthplace of democracy, especially after the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s, and as a departure from English styles after the War of 1812. The style flourished throughout the U.S. between 1820 and 1860, manifesting itself in a variety of ways but typically included piers supporting frieze and cornice trim and other molding to form a triangular pediment mimicking a Greek temple. Other important changes included a focus from the eave side based on the English style to the gable end and a reduced emphasis on chimneys. The Greek Revival movement was especially prominent in New England and upstate New York, and became especially popular in southern Michigan and other upper Midwest areas such as northern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois and southern Wisconsin where early settlers were predominantly Yankee. Built in 1855, the Warner home falls toward the end of Greek Revival popularity. The upright and wing house form, whose early popularity coincides with the Greek Revival style, continued to be a characteristic house form built across Michigan through most of the nineteenth century."
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