This week’s house came about because I was looking for a DIFFERENT address on Prospect Street – and this one caught my eye as well. 406 Prospect Street was built in 1854 for Thomas and Catharine Schoonhoven. According to an article in the Elgin Daily Courier, this home was built for $8,000. That was a lot of money in 1854!! Thomas was a farmer in nearby Hanover Township. He and his wife Catharine had 8 children – I guess that is why they needed such a large house. In 1869, Zabina Eastman and his wife Mary Jane bought this house and stayed until about 1880. An investor purchased it and then sold it to George and Mary Mathilda and their 3 kids. James Covey, a local builder, boarded with them. (You will hear more about the Covey’s in another post. 😉 ) Employees from George Congdon’s shoe and boot factory also boarded here.
FUN FACT (and something that made this a little challenging to research) This is on the corner of Cherry St and Prospect – it was first known as 274 Cherry Street, but today it is 406 Prospect Blvd.
Sources: There Used to Be – Vol III by Steve Stroud.
