The homes of Edmund Lampson

Edmund Lampson, our First Permanent Settler, was famous for having three homes over the years.

In the summer of 1847 Edmund Lampson arrived here with his family. As far as the eye could see was dense virgin timber. It is said that the trees grew so close together, that the fist branches could be sixty feet from the ground or more. Out of this dark forest, Edmund built his first home, a log cabin.

Long remembered in local tales, the cabin was called “the Siamese Twins” because it looked like two cabins joined together along their length. This First Lampson home was built in a little clearing located at what is today the corner of Pleasant and Maple Streets. On the lot occupied by 428 Pleasant today, the Lampson House, facing Maple Street, stood right up against the corner curb. I can image a cabin in the woods; gradually as children and pets ran to and fro, paths begin to develop alongside its walls, just feet from the building. In later years these paths would become streets. It can truly be said that Pleasant and Maple was the first intersection in Grand Ledge.

In the mid-1860s Lampson, now a widower, married for a second time. Soon thereafter he built his Second Home. This larger two-story house was located at 406 West Jefferson. This home would later be occupied by his daughter, Mary and her husband Ephraim Wallace and family. Around 1910 they added stucco to the house. In about 1922 the home was torn down and the current house was built for Jonas Sawdon, our beloved long-time school superintendant.

Edmund Lampson, like many of his fellow pioneers, continued to prosper in farming, real estate and business enterprises. He built a large steam-power saw mill overlooking the river in the 300 block of West Jefferson, just east of his home.

By the mid-1870s Edmund Lampson was in his 70s and enjoying the fruits of his long labors. He had become prosperous and was esteemed by his neighbors. He had served as the first President of the Village and as Justice of the Peace. During this time, he moved into his Third House he had built directly across the street. This home was located in a picturesque grove at the corner of Spring and West Jefferson. It was constructed just west of a natural spring-fed pond. It was this pond that gave Spring Street its name. The home even featured a walkout basement leading down to the water’s edge. At some later time, the pond was filled in and a more extensive yard created.

This grand gothic-style house at 405 West Jefferson was one of the largest homes in town when it was new. It occupied the same block as his original log cabin. In fact at the time his old log cabin was still in use. One can only imagine the sense of pride of being able to look out from your fine new home at the humble log cabin that had started it all 30 years before. Edmund lived there until his death in 1889.