The Edward Loranger House is a private residence located at 7211 South Stoney Creek Road in Frenchtown Charter Township in

Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: * Monroe County, Alabama *Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida * Monroe County, Georgia *Monroe County, Illinois *Monroe County, Indian ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. It was listed as a Michigan Historic Site on October 2, 1980 and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on May 31, 1984. The house is significant as one of the oldest authentic structures in Michigan — having undergone very little modifications since it was first built.

History

Edward Loranger was born in

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of ...

, Canada in 1796. He moved to Michigan in 1816, and in 1822 purchased the land on which this house is now located. He became one of the most prominent landowners and architects in early Monroe County, and constructed many buildings in the area. This house was built in 1825. Loranger married Marianne Navarre In 1826, and the couple had five children. Loranger died in 1887. (note: large pdf file) The house fell into disrepair over the years but was restored in 1941. It was during this restoration that the dormers were added to the roof. The house remains privately owned.

Description

The Edward Loranger House is a 1½ story, red brick gabled farmhouse on the banks of Stoney Creek about five miles (8 km) north of Monroe and three miles (4.8 km) south of the village of Carleton. The house is a fairly simple and common French-Canadian-style house with no exterior decor. A single-story addition, constructed in 1861, is connected to the rear. The house is rectangular, and symmetrical in plan, with a center entrance with windows on each side; the windows are six-over-six double hing units, and have stone lintels and sills. A chimney is located at each gable end. It sits on a stone foundation. The house originally had two rooms and an attic inside. The wall separating the two rooms constructed of ''brique en poteaux'', meaning brick placed between vertical posts. This was an early French-Canadian construction technique. There are two more rooms in the 1861 addition. The property also includes five outbuildings - a brick smokehouse, a barn, a playhouse, and two storage buildings. Loranger also constructed a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

and

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

on his property. These have since been moved to

The Henry Ford The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum collection contains ...

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses in Monroe County, Michigan Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites in Monroe County Houses completed in 1825 National Register of Historic Places in Monroe County, Michigan