Knowlton née Ketcham built this house for them and their two daughters, Carrie and Helen. The Knowltons lived in the house with their family and two or three servants . Knowlton was brought to Saginaw by lumberbaron Mr. Wright to keep the books in his business. Wright, so impressed by Knowlton’s work, made him partner in his firm shortly thereafter. Knowlton had taken up residence with his daughte
r Carrie and her husband along Pasadena California’s W. Orange Grove Blvd, home to some of America’s most rich and famous. Knowlton left 1017 N. Michigan to the care of his daughter Helen who was then Mrs. Amasa Rust, of the famous Rust family of Saginaw. Rust sold the home to the John Golls who eventually passed the home to their daughter Kendrick then Mrs. Kendrick Mills. The Mills sold the house to Mr. Steve Spess in the 1960s who cared for the home along with his wife and children until he sold it in the 1990s to the Ted Rappsons. The Rappsons operated the house as a group home. 1019 N. Michigan changed hands twice more, and was almost threatened by destruction by vinyl if it had not been for the diligent work of Mayor Greg Branch and others who zoned the area as historic in 2004. The Knowlton house has suffered a bit in condition but still stands as an iconic example of the style of residential High Victorian Gothic done on a Queen Anne plan and a testament to the industry which built Saginaw.
