321 Main Street: The Harry Putnam house
hen the old store then standing on the site of #330 was moved in 1857, the foundation was built on this lot to receive it. It was probably built before 1820 by James Grieve, but Henry Bradley literally put his name on it in 1823, and that was how the building was remembered. It was J. Ford Morris who moved the building here, and he is shown as the owner on the 1857 map of the village.
Soon afterward, Daniel Lanning sold the lot to the Episcopal congregation so its priests could use it as a rectory. In Cleveland's day William N. Wise owned the lot and his son John J. Wise lived there. Wise, who eventually bought the lots next door to the south after the Presbyterian church moved away to the south, owned this lot as well, until his death. His widow Sophia sold this lot to Anna B. Smith in 1894; she is shown as the owner on the 1896 map, though this was the year she sold the property to Thomas Pierce and his wife.
The building probably looked a great deal like the one that stands today on the old foundation, a simple rectangle with a narrow gabled front. The modern house was built in 1936 by Harry Putnam, in a style reminiscent of Greek Revival with token Italianate trim and a portico over the entrance.
The lot is still 50 feet across, the exact width of the original lot in the John VanPelt Jr. subdivision as it was sold to Samuel S. Ellsworth in 1834. There's no evidence of any building on the lot until the old Bradley store was moved there from across the street.
Plots
People related to this lot and structure:
Abraham Wagener
Related sites:
Related history:
Above right: 321 Main Street, built on a mid-19th century foundation in 1936 by Harry Putnam. The original building was a store converted into a dwelling. This house is the same shape, and probably rather closely resembles its predecessor in other ways.
