About

This stately home of the Clinton County Historical Museum at 106 Maple Street holds the distinction of being the oldest brick residence in the city of St. Johns.

In 1858 John W. Paine, a native of New York State, came to St. Johns from Rochester Colony where he had been a merchant in partnership with Charles Kipp since 1852. Kipp moved to St. Johns in 1856 and opened a hardware store. Paine followed in 1858, opening a general store the same year.

On Oct. 6, 1858, Paine bought Lots 3 and 4 of Block 13 facing Maple Street. On this site in 1860 Paine built his imposing brick home. The same year he also built the first brick store in St. Johns.

At the time this house was built facing the Courthouse Square, it would have been quite a different setting. The courthouse was not to be built for 10 more years and all that stood on the “Square” in 1860 was a small county office building.

Considering its surroundings, Paine’s Italianate style house would have been considered an impressive structure in the six-year-old village, when only two years earlier it is recorded that a wild bear was shot across the street on the “Square”.

On Sept. 26, 1870, John W. Paine died at an early age of 49. His widow, Harriet, and six children remained in the house until 1875.

In 1876, ownership of the house passed to Edward and Ella (Conn) Brown. They sold it four years later to Charles and Palmyra Wickes. The Gillams purchased the house three years later.

Dr. Samuel E. Gillam, a graduate of the University of Michigan, and his wife, Rose, came to St. Johns in 1879 after practicing in Elsie for 10 years. They purchased the house in 1883 and were the owners until 1909. It was during the 1890s that the house was extensively remodeled into the Victorian style. Sometime before 1885, Dr. Gillam built his small office building just north of his home.

In 1904 Dr. Gillam was joined in practice by Dr. Walter A. Scott. Early in the following year, Rose Gillam died. Dr. Gillam passed away in 1908 and in 1911 Dr. Scott acquired the house and office which he maintained until his death in 1934. His wife, Malinda Braidy Scott, remained in the home until her death in 1953.

The practice of Dr. Scott was assumed by Dr. Sherwood R. Russell who arrived in St. Johns in 1934. Dr. Russell and his wife, Edith (Hunter), lived in Mrs. Scott’s upstairs apartment and occupied the doctor’s office for two years before moving to other quarters.

In 1955 a dentist, Dr. Herbert Oatley, purchased the property and the two-family dwelling was rented. The buildings and property were divided in the 1960s; Clinton County purchased the house and Dr. Oatley retained the doctor’s office. The house became offices for the County Superintendent of Schools and the County Health Department.

At the completion of a new Health Department facility in 1978, the County Board of Commissioners was asked by the Clinton County Historical Society to operate the building as a House Museum.

In September 1978, the county leased the house to the Clinton County Historical Society. It was restored and has been operated as the Paine-Gillam-Scott Museum since that time. It has been listed in the State Register of Historic Sites since 1980.

In 1986, the house and doctor’s office, once again, became one entity. The Congregational Church purchased the adjacent property on the north and donated the office building to the Historical Society for removing it. It was moved to the rear of the House Museum, turned to face South, and restored as the Doctor’s Annex.

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