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Homes of Chesaning III: The Frederick Miller House

Someone was asking for more information on the home that once stood on the south side of Broad Street, just across from the library, so I thought we’d take a closer look at the history of this particular section of the village.

312 East Broad Street

312_East_Broad_Street

The original survey map of the village identifies this location as Lot 2, Block 18, and it was presumably part of the extensive real estate holdings of business partners Rufus Mason (1813-1888) and Oliver Chapman (1811-1877).

The year 1845 saw the organization of the first local school district and the construction of the first official schoolhouse in Chesaning, which also served as a meeting place for the village council.

It’s original location was on lot 2, at the top of the hill, near the intersection of Broad Street and Commercial Street.  This spot was chosen because the building that had served as the first, ad-hoc schoolhouse had to be abandoned after it was damaged due to flooding during a heavy rainstorm.

In 1848, the lot was purchased by local pioneer John Griswold (1809-1886), who was moving his family here from Owosso.  The schoolhouse was then moved to the opposite side of Commercial Street, and later became a tailor shop.

John Griswold built his new home on Lot 3, while Lot 2 may have remained vacant until it became the site of a wagon shop owned by C. D. Prindle (1822-1895), who appears to have arrived in Chesaning sometime around 1876-1877.

1900
1910

The first Sanborn fire insurance map of the village, published in 1893, shows that the wagon shop had been torn down sometime prior to the map’s creation, although the home of John Griswold remained standing.

The next map produced by the Sandborn Map Company dates from 1903, and shows that a new structure had been constructed on Lot 3 at some point during the prior decade.

It was a two story frame home, with twin porches in the front. Off to the side is what appears to be a two room storage shed of some kind, part concrete and part wooden frame.

1925
1935

The house appears unchanged on the 1925 fire insurance map, although the storage shed is now missing. This is clearly an error as the same structure shows up once again on the 1935 fire insurance map.

1944

By the time of the 1944 insurance map, a small one story garage has been added behind the storage shed. I presume the driveway ran behind the house and exited onto Commercial Street.

The original owner of the home is unknown, but the person most associated with this location is a man named Frederick Miller (1860-1941).

Frederick Miller was born on November, 9, 1860, in Prussia, but came to the United States with his parents in 1863-1864.

The family soon settled on a farm in St. Charles Township, and Fred became a farmer himself after reaching adulthood.

In 1882 he was married to Maude Hudson (1865-1929), the daughter of another local farmer.  The couple had four children together:  Iva (1884-1971), Guy (1886-1913), and twins Macey (1889-1954) and Mattie (1889-1961).

Fred Miller eventually retired from farming and started working as a foreman in the road construction business. It’s possible that this is reason why the family left the farm and moved to their new home in Chesaning, arriving here sometime around 1907.

Maude died of pneumonia on December 8, 1929, although Fred was not left alone for very long. In 1930 he married Cora Rolfe (1864-1951), the widow of George Volkmer (1861-1916).

Cora Rolfe Miller
Cora Miller

Cora was the daughter of the infamous Mary Jane Smith, who had murdered Cora’s stepfather Charles Smith back in 1876.

They seem to have enjoyed a quiet life together, although Fred spent the last years of his life in poor health after developing stomach cancer.

Violet Hafner Balamucki shares the following memory of her great-grandfather:

I visited him many times as a child. I remember his wife Cora always had to read the entire paper to him everyday because he never learned to read. He may have never attended school. My mother Eva Eisenhower lived with them when she attended high school in town.

Fred Miller finally died on November 4, 1941, just a few days before his 81st birthday. Cora continued living in the home until her own passing on August 7, 1951.

The home was sold at auction after Cora’s death, although I have not been able to determine the identity of the new owners.

It was later acquired by Donald Nietling (1929-1994).  Don had left home to enlist in the Marine Corps at the age of seventeen, but returned to Chesaning after mustering out in the early 1950s.

Mary & Donald Nietling

Don was married to Mary Wallin (1926-2016), a native of St. Charles, in April, 1953.

He spent time working in the auto industry, alongside his younger brother Art Nietling (1931-2009), and in 1954 they partnered together to purchase the grocery store belonging to Joe Sandborn (1890-1964), which was formerly located at 414 East Broad Street.

Don would eventually acquire full ownership of the store, which was renamed to East Side Grocery.

The couple’s first home together appears to have been at 230 Line Street, where they were still living at the time that their third child was born in April, 1956.

Records show, however, that by the next year the family had moved into the home at 312 East Broad Street.

East Side Grocery was sold to Paul Weber (1912-1974) in 1965.

Donald Nietling remained in Chesaning for several more years after selling the store, and it is presumed the family continued living at 312 East Broad Street during this time.

Donald retired and moved up to Lake City sometime around 1970, and it’s not known who acquired the property after he left town.

The home’s final residents appear to have been newlyweds George and Gail Mader, who moved here after their marriage in August, 1978.

Their stay could not have been very long, however, as the property the home occupied had already drawn the interest of Sunshine Food Stores, a Flint-based company which had recently made plans to expand their chain of convenience stores into Chesaning.

Despite protests from a coalition of local citizens who were opposed to the new store, the company was able to complete its purchase of the land, and construction began in January of 1979, bringing an end to the history of the Frederick Miller house.

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