Click above images to enlarge Blanchard, John C., House 253 East Main Street, Ionia - Ionia County Other Names Ionia County Historical Society Museum Property Type museum stone house Historic Use DOMESTIC Current Use RECREATION AND CULTURE/museum Style Italianate Narrative Description The John C. Blanchard House is a massive L-shaped Italianate building with walls of variegated pink Ionia sandstone ornamented by quoins and featuring full height polygonal bays. The truncated hipped-roof with paired brackets is topped by an iron balustrade. A rectangular porch with dentil molding and pierced wood supports fronts the entrance facade. The interior of the house contains many original features but has been significantly remodeled. Statement of Significance The Blanchard House is significant for its architecture, which prominently features local materials. John C. Blanchard, Ionia's prosecuting attorney and owner of the Ionia Stone Quarry had this house built in 1879-1881 using the pink sandstone from his quarry to display the fine product his business produced. The house is one of the largest and finest examples of Italianate architecture in the county. The Blanchard House is currently a historical museum owned by the Ionia County Historical Society. Marker Name John C. Blanchard/John and Harriet Blanchard House Marker Text JOHN C. BLANCHARD John Celsus Blanchard (1822-1905) epitomizes the American "self-made man." He left his home in Cayuga County, New York, at age fourteen, bound for the western frontier. Blanchard worked as a laborer in Detroit, Livingston and Shiawassee Counties before walking sixty miles to the U.S. Land Office at Ionia. Using $50 of the $53 he had saved, he purchased forty acres of land in 1837. Two years later he began "reading the law" as a student in the law offices of Roof and Bell in Lyons. His appointment as Ionia County prosecuting attorney in 1850 began a distinguished public career. That year Blanchard and his wife, Harriet, moved to Ionia where they devoted themselves to civic affairs and became generous benefactors to churches and schools, including Albion College. JOHN AND HARRIET BLANCHARD HOUSE The brick walls of this substantial Italianate house are veneered with variegated sandstone selected by John Blanchard from the Ionia Sandstone Quarry, which he co-owned. The house stands where the Blanchards' first Ionia home was located. In 1880 they moved that house to the back of the lot and began constructing this elegant residence, completed in 1881. The house looks much as it did when the Blanchards lived here and retains many original interior features, such as brass chandeliers, faux marble fireplaces and walnut shutters. In 1974 the Ionia County Historical Society purchased the house. The Blanchard House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Period of Significance 1866-1900 Significant Date(s) 1879 Registry Type(s) 11/06/2001 Marker erected 07/24/1974 National Register listed 05/17/1973 State Register listed Site ID# P23451