Nixon House

Nixon House. . , Born in 1850, William J. Nixon was raised in southern Michigan. In the 1870s, he moved to Antrim County and partnered in a grocery store with his brother, Allen, becoming sole owner when Allen moved away. He married Emma Richardi in 1883. She was the daughter of the founder of the Bellaire Woodenware Company, the premier business in Bellaire. William and Emma raised six children here and built a playhouse for them. Emma, a locally renowned gardener, supplied most of the produce in her husband's prosperous store from her large garden on these grounds. Gardening sheds alongside the playhouse supported Mrs. Nixon's lifelong passion for growing things. William Nixon died in 1932, and his wife closed the business two years later, continuing to sell vegetables and flowering plants out of her home. She passed away in 1955 in Detroit, at the age of 96, in the home of her oldest daughter. Her grandson, Frank Turner, bought this house in 1953. It remained a family home, through three ownership changes, until 1989. In that year, it became a Bed and Breakfast, a role it still serves for visitors to Bellaire., For more history of Bellaire, visit the Bellaire Area Historical Museum: 202 N. Bridge Street