Wilcox House Gate, Plymouth, MI
Posted by: 
Jagman714
N 42° 22.191 W 083° 28.072
17T E 296799 N 4693791
The Wilcox House and Gate are located at the corner of S Union St. and W Ann Arbor Trail.
Waymark Code: WM1E0Z
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 04/16/2007
Views: 187
Built in 1903 by William Markham, Inventor of the BB Gun and Co-founder of the Daisy air rifle.
Many people in the community know this Queen Anne Victorian residence as the Wilcox House, for the family that owned it from 1911 until 2000. However, most people don't know the illustrious history of this elaborate home that William Markham built in 1903 for his secretary and mistress, Blanche Shortman. The 2.5 acres that the house still occupies was once an elaborate formal garden with ponds, fountains, statuary and live deer. It was known far and wide as "Markham Park." Not all of Plymouth's residents were admirers of the house. At the turn of the last century, Plymouth was a very conservative, religious, small town and did not approve of Mr. Markham's affair with his secretary.