National Register of Historic Places

Wisner House

Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan
Listed
July 7, 1970
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
70000284

About this property

The Wisner House, also known as Pine Grove, is a single-family house located at 405 Cesar Chavez Avenue in Pontiac, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. It is now a public museum, the Governor Moses Wisner House, operated by the Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society as part of the Pine Grove Historical Museum. Moses Wisner was born in New York State in 1815, and moved to Michigan in 1837. He began farming, but soon abandoned it to read law in his brother's law office in Pontiac. By 1844, Wisner had settled permanently in Pontiac, and in 1845 he contracted the building of this house. He was married three years later. As he began practicing law, Wisner became active in politics, and took part in the first Republican convention in 1854. In 1858, he ran for governor and was elected to a two-year term. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he raised a regiment; however, he died of typhoid fever in early 1863. Wisner's widow Angeolina Wisner kept the house as it had been during his life. She resided there until her death in 1905. Afterward the house was owned and maintained by Wisner's daughter Jessie Wisner Clark, and then granddaughter Florence Clark Wallace. In 1945, Florence Clark Wallace sold the house to the Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society as a house museum. The Wisner House is a two-story red brick Greek Revival structure with a single story hip-roofed wing fronted with a colonnade of fluted Doric columns. The main entrance is covered by a flat-roofed portico. Windows are six over six units with sliding sashes, stone sills and stone lintels. The house still contains many objects which belonged to Moses Wisner and his immediate family. National Register of Historic Places listings in Oakland County, Michigan

Location

405 Oakland Ave.
Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan
42.64832, -83.30476

Categories

POLITICS/GOVERNMENTARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Howard, Horatio N., House
Industrial
0.5 mi
Fairgrove Avenue Historic District
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0.7 mi
Eastern Michigan Asylum Historic District
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0.7 mi
Myrick-Palmer House
Industrial
0.8 mi
Franklin Boulevard Historic District
Listed
0.9 mi

Questions about this property

When was Wisner House listed on the National Register?

Wisner House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 7, 1970.

What type of historic resource is Wisner House?

Wisner House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Wisner House?

The period of significance for Wisner House is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Wisner House?

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