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Montgomery A. Reynolds & Stevenson Family Home
West Main Street

Reynolds & Stevenson Home

This home is located two houses down from the William Turner home. It was built for Montgomery Reynolds, son-in-law of Nelson Turner. The actual date it was built has not been determined but it was sometime after 1875 and before 1880. As he married the former Emma L. Turner on October 5, 1875 most likely the house was built shortly after that time period.

Montgomery Reynolds first came to Stanton as a young man of 19 at the invitation of his aunt, Sarah Morse. He was living in eastern New York and working in a stone quarry as a cutter. His aunt, on a visit to New York from Stanton, invited Montgomery and a cousin to accompany her home for the winter, assuring them that employment could be found in Stanton to earn enough money for the trip. As the quarry did not operate in the winter and there was nothing else to do, in a spirit of adventure and much against their parents wishes, they agreed. So it was that on November 11, 1869, about 8 o'clock at night, he first saw Stanton by lamp light as they turned on Main Street from the top of Camburn Hill. He soon secured a job at $25.00 a month and worked at various jobs over the next few years. He ventured into the grocery business with E.W. Hawley for several years. In 1876 he sold out his interest in that business and during that time invested his savings in three lots, one vacant and two with "rather inferior human inhabitations" which he rented for enough to pay taxes and a fair interest on the investment. It was most likely after this time that he built the home pictured above. He then joined William F. Turner and the estate of his brother, Nelson, in building what he described as "what was thought by the town to be a long felt want, a flour and feed mill. The sequel proved that no crazier enterprise could have been undertaken by men of normal intelligence." After a few years the mill was failing and deeply in debt and was later sold and reorganized as the Stanton Milling Company. Emma Reynolds became sick and died suddenly on May 12, 1880 leaving him with 2 small daughters. He married 2 years later the former Carrie Bennett and she died in 1927. In 1891 Montgomery moved to Lansing and from there located to Chicago. He returned to his hometown in October 1929 when the town honored him for his gift to the city, the beautiful mortuary built in Forest Hill cemetery. That mausoleum still stands in the cemetery today. (See a lengthy article on Mr. Reynolds elsewhere in this library).

The Morris Stevenson family then occupied the home. Morris Stevenson was mayor of Stanton for 6 years. He had a dry goods store on the north side of Main Street at the NW corner of Main and Camburn streets. He was a native of Michigan, reared in Ionia, and came to Stanton with his brother, Hampton, in 1892. He married Della Morris and they had one son, George. George was president of the school board. Morris, with Delos Towle and Elliot Bellows, was instrumental in constructing ten and one half miles of public and state roads. He never received any monetary compensation for this. He was also director of the State Savings Bank and the President of the Stanton Hotel Association. The home is now used as a rental and is sadly in need of repair.



Reynolds & Stevenson Home



Researched and compiled by Stanton area resident Judy Hardy


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