By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES – If its walls could talk, they would provide a lifetime of stories about the Sutherland Farm house.
Built before Michigan was even a state, the acreage, located on Yankee Street, was purchased by President Andrew Jackson in 1827. In 1832, the property was given to Ezra Willard by Jackson on a land grant for fighting in the war of 1812. Willard then began construction on the house, featuring only a basement and a main floor.
"The farmhouse was built of bricks made in a kiln on the property," said Michael Sutherland, current owner of the 15-room house.
The home was the first built on the Detroit to Chicago Trail (known as the Sauk Trail during the fur trading days).
The date the house was originally built is turning a few heads as it may just be the oldest house still standing in Niles. According to research, some think a house located on the east side of town on Hickory Street is the oldest, as it was built in 1836. However, Willard was given the property four years earlier, and built the home a short time after. John Pattengill was the second owner of the house and property. He and his family moved into it in 1835, one year earlier than the house on Hickory was built.
"I've heard stories about that being the oldest house, but I really never followed up on it," Sutherland said.
The farm house stood as a one-story structure until around 1876, when then owner Katie Milburn made additions, including another level and more rooms. Some of the renovations were a mansard roof, which was added to avoid the taxation involved with the addition of a full second story.
In 1912, Milburn sold the house and property to William White for just $1 and other considerations. Before Milburn owned the house, it had seen four previous owners, including Pattengill.
"The Pattengill heirs, for one reason or another, took the White family to court to try to get the land back. Apparently, the land debt was never paid off. I'm not sure what happened with the case, but from the looks of the documents, they weren't able to get it back," Sutherland said.
During the White's residency, they made many additions to the home and and many other small structures on the property. They also built a barn to hold horses that were taken back and forth to Chicago. The White family owned the farm from June of 1912, until Michael's father, George, purchased it in March of 1945. George also made many additions to the house, and even remodeled it throughout the years.
One building, known as the wash room, is located a few feet from the house. This building once featured washboards, a wood stove and other accomodations needed for doing laundry.
"It helped keep the heat out of the house, so they would come out here to do their laundry," Sutherland said.
The wash room features a tunnel, which once connected to a water tower that sat in the back yard.
An additional house was built on the premises, which was once occupied by the farm superindendent. Michael and his wife, Debbie now occupy the home.
"People always ask us why we aren't moving in the bigger house. Why would we? This house is already big enough for the two of us and if we moved there, we would have more room than we would know what to do with," Debbie said
Debbie would like to see the farmhouse, which is currently for sale, turned into a bed and breakfast, as it has a number of different rooms, plenty of acreage and many of original items still intact.
"The fireplaces (four in total) are all original. One is even a coal fireplace. Obviously, there has been some work done to the outside of them," as a few feature marble around the opening. "I don't think they used marble back then," Michael said.
Another feature are the brass door knobs and hinges that still hold many of the doors in place.
"You don't see things like this anymore," he said.
Michael has many fond memories of growing up on the farm. He remembers some of his father's hard work on the home, including adding the wood walls in the library.
"The wood actually came from the old Studebaker Corporation," Michael said.
Another unique feature is the large windows in Michael's tool barn, which is where tractors and other farming items were once kept.
"The glass windows came from an old building in South Bend, Ind. It was really neat because they once surrounded the entire barn. You can imagine what it would be like walking in a barn where windows surrounded you. It was really neat. How my father came across some of these things is beyond me," Michael said.
Michael also remembers his days of hard work on the farm, which included helping with the family's cattle.
"We had a working dairy farm which included Brown Swiss cows. I would milk 60 to 65 of them twice a day," Sutherland said.
While no livestock currently graze the grounds, many features on the property leave to the imagination what was once a busy farm.
Built shortly after his parents took ownership of the home, Michael remembers a lot of fun nights in the family's summer room, located behind the house.
"My parents would hold small parties and play cards. I can remember a lot of fun times here," he said.
"When dad purchased the property, he acquired around 200 acres in total. The property is also zoned multiple purpose, so there are a lot of possibilities here," Michael said.
The house currently sits empty, but the Sutherland family hopes that one day someone will come along and bring the farmhouse and the property, back to the way it once was.