Originally built as a farmhouse in a sparsely populated section of Adrian, the Buskirk-Kapnick House at 159 North Scott Street, with its numerous updates stands today as a historic showpiece in one of the city’s most attractive neighborhoods.
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The Buskirk-Kapnick House at 159 North Scott Street displays the story of changing architectural trends from the 1850s until the current day. Built as a Greek Revival farmhouse in the late 1850s, enlarged and remodeled into a chic suburban home in the 1940s, and enlarged again in the early 2000s, the home’s successful journey from modest farmstead to fashionable, state-of-the art home encapsulates the story of development on Adrian’s west side.
Though precise dates in its early history are vague, the Buskirk-Kapnick House was likely built in 1857 by Benjamin F. Strong. In 1859, Strong was running a clothing store on West Maumee Street next to Chaloner’s cigar store, in one of Adrian’s earliest large brick blocks. At that time, North Scott Street looked far different than it does today. With most of Adrian’s 19th-century development centered east of the River Raisin, much of the west side of the city remained undeveloped. For most of the 1800s and well into the 1900s, the landscape of North Scott consisted of a handful of widely spaced homes on large farm lots. Only four homes existed on North Scott Street in 1866, a number that had risen to only six by 1892. |
The Greek Revival farmhouse in the late 1850s on North Scott Street from the "Aerial View Map of Adrian, Michigan," drawn and published by Albert Ruger, Battle Creek, Michigan, 1866
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Unfortunately, Strong died in 1860 at just 39 years of age, and in 1863 his wife Charlotte sold the house and three acres of land to Thomas Faxon, an Adrian Township farmer and carpenter. Faxon, who worked as a storekeeper in Adrian, was noted for his large library in his Scott Street home, where he lived until his death in 1875. His house and its accompanying three acres were then sold to Joseph Goodsell, a local stockholder and investor with ties to Adrian’s Goodsell Manufacturing Company, makers of doors and window sashes. Joseph and Eliza Goodsell occupied the Buskirk-Kapnick House until his death in 1901.
Over the next forty years, a succession of residents occupied the Buskirk-Kapnick House. Francis and Nancy Erskine, formerly farmers in Franklin Township, moved in around 1915. Their widowed daughter Emily Hampton continued to live there until her death in 1934. She shared the house with her daughter and son-in-law, Ethel and Arthur Babcock. A musical family, the Babcocks offered cello and piano lessons from their North Scott Street home. The family occupied the home until 1938. None of these residents, however, made as large of an impact on the house as did Elmore and Anne Buskirk, who bought 159 North Scott Street in 1945. |
"Jos. D. Goodsell" property as drawn on the “North West Part of the City Map of Adrian, Lenawee Co. Mich., Compiled from original data personal examinations and actual surveys, prepared expressly for the Lenawee County Atlas, published by Geo. B. Cadwell & Co.1892,” from the Combined Atlases of Lenawee County, Michigan: 1874, 1893, 1916, p 260.
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Thanks to their involvement in several local businesses and organizations, the Buskirks moved in the highest echelons of Adrian society. Dr. Elmore Buskirk, a longtime Adrian dentist, expanded his horizons in 1939 by co-founding the AGET Manufacturing Company, makers of dust-collecting equipment used in dental offices, with Harry Gilmore. The company name “AGET” was likely created using the first names of the founders and their wives: Anne, Gilmore, Elmore and Tilly. Elmore held a long list of high-ranking positions in Adrian, serving as AGET’s president for twenty years and on the board of Bixby Hospital for twelve years in addition to his heavy involvement with the Lenawee Country Club. Like many of the well-to-do property owners along North Scott Street, Anne Buskirk was heavily involved in the Adrian Garden Club and served as group president in 1942, hosting the annual “Tulip Tea” of the organization at her home. She also participated in the Adrian Mothers Club, in various sorority groups, and in the Fairfield Order of the Eastern Star.
North Scott Street had undergone a transformation by the time the Buskirks purchased 159 North Scott in 1945. No longer was the neighborhood merely remote farmland on Adrian’s west side. The popularity of the automobile alleviated the need for Adrian’s businessmen to live within walking distance of the downtown district, and as a result many wealthy entrepreneurs began to move to the lightly developed west side of Adrian. Development in the 1920s through the 1940s centered first on Maumee Court, then on Scott Street and adjoining Scott Court, transforming North Scott Street into one of Adrian’s most fashionable neighborhoods. Tycoons such as Edd Oliver of the Oliver Instrument Company and Harold Raymond of the Raymond car dealership had set the stage by constructing large Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival homes across from each other in the late 1930s, raising the bar for excellent architecture along the street.
The Buskirks thus had a name and a neighborhood to live up to when they purchased the house at 159 North Scott. Thus, it is not surprising that before moving in, the couple undertook a comprehensive remodel of their new home, transforming it from a 19th-century farmhouse to an elegant Colonial home on par with the other lavish mansions along North Scott Street. In its original form, the house appears to have been a simple “Michigan Farmhouse”-style home, with a one-and a half-story, front-gabled main section flanked on the south by a single-story wing. According to the Buskirks’ daughter Sandra, the family changed this, adding a second floor on the south wing to house two bedrooms linked by a large linen closet. A back stairway was constructed to access these new rooms. The Buskirks also added a laundry room and an office at the rear of the house.
In addition to enlarging the house, the Buskirks transformed the home from its original Greek Revival roots to the sophisticated Colonial Revival architecture of today. They built the new second floor of the south wing in a Garrison Colonial design, allowing the second floor to overhang the first in the style’s trademark feature. The front-facing “broken” gable, along with the semicircular fanlight, echoes earlier Greek Revival and Federal styles. However, the shallowness of the frieze board and the large six-over-six windows, as well as the overall size and scale of the house, classify the building as Colonial Revival in style. Notable Colonial features also include the columned front porch with its Doric columns and front door framed by sidelights on either side and a transom light above.
Elmore and Anne Buskirk moved into 159 North Scott Street in 1946 after completing their extensive renovations. The couple occupied the home for nearly a quarter of a century. Following Dr. Buskirk’s retirement in 1966, he and Anne used the house as their summer home while wintering in Florida. In 1970, the Buskirks moved permanently to the Sunshine State, where Dr. Buskirk died in 1985 and Anne Buskirk in 1996. Later owners of their Scott Street home included William Jenkins, manager of the well-known Sky Drive-In theater.
Current owners Douglas and Mary Kapnick moved into the house at 159 North Scott around 1987. In their community and business involvement, the Kapnicks have continued the legacy of the Buskirks. In 1964, Douglas Kapnick became heavily involved in Kapnick Insurance, one of Adrian’s premier businesses founded by his father Elmer Kapnick. Like Anne Buskirk, Doug Kapnick’s wife Mary has participated in the Adrian Garden Club, hosting the organization’s annual “Tulip Tea” multiple times at the Buskirk-Kapnick House—an appropriate location on a property still noted for its elegant box hedges and landscaping.
The Kapnicks put their own stamp on the property in 2002, hiring Gregory Richard of Remington Architecture to update the house once again. The project entailed the construction of a large, cross-shaped Greek Revival wing on the back of the house. To link the new addition to the older sections of the house both physically and aesthetically, Richard designed matching classically themed porches on either side of the connecting hallway, complete with Doric columns and roof balustrades. Archways and square pillars on the interior completed the highly attractive design. Richard also added a secondary porch on the north side of the house, with Doric columns matching those on the front porch. The location of this porch opposite the south wing allows the house to retain a balanced appearance despite its asymmetry.
North Scott Street had undergone a transformation by the time the Buskirks purchased 159 North Scott in 1945. No longer was the neighborhood merely remote farmland on Adrian’s west side. The popularity of the automobile alleviated the need for Adrian’s businessmen to live within walking distance of the downtown district, and as a result many wealthy entrepreneurs began to move to the lightly developed west side of Adrian. Development in the 1920s through the 1940s centered first on Maumee Court, then on Scott Street and adjoining Scott Court, transforming North Scott Street into one of Adrian’s most fashionable neighborhoods. Tycoons such as Edd Oliver of the Oliver Instrument Company and Harold Raymond of the Raymond car dealership had set the stage by constructing large Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival homes across from each other in the late 1930s, raising the bar for excellent architecture along the street.
The Buskirks thus had a name and a neighborhood to live up to when they purchased the house at 159 North Scott. Thus, it is not surprising that before moving in, the couple undertook a comprehensive remodel of their new home, transforming it from a 19th-century farmhouse to an elegant Colonial home on par with the other lavish mansions along North Scott Street. In its original form, the house appears to have been a simple “Michigan Farmhouse”-style home, with a one-and a half-story, front-gabled main section flanked on the south by a single-story wing. According to the Buskirks’ daughter Sandra, the family changed this, adding a second floor on the south wing to house two bedrooms linked by a large linen closet. A back stairway was constructed to access these new rooms. The Buskirks also added a laundry room and an office at the rear of the house.
In addition to enlarging the house, the Buskirks transformed the home from its original Greek Revival roots to the sophisticated Colonial Revival architecture of today. They built the new second floor of the south wing in a Garrison Colonial design, allowing the second floor to overhang the first in the style’s trademark feature. The front-facing “broken” gable, along with the semicircular fanlight, echoes earlier Greek Revival and Federal styles. However, the shallowness of the frieze board and the large six-over-six windows, as well as the overall size and scale of the house, classify the building as Colonial Revival in style. Notable Colonial features also include the columned front porch with its Doric columns and front door framed by sidelights on either side and a transom light above.
Elmore and Anne Buskirk moved into 159 North Scott Street in 1946 after completing their extensive renovations. The couple occupied the home for nearly a quarter of a century. Following Dr. Buskirk’s retirement in 1966, he and Anne used the house as their summer home while wintering in Florida. In 1970, the Buskirks moved permanently to the Sunshine State, where Dr. Buskirk died in 1985 and Anne Buskirk in 1996. Later owners of their Scott Street home included William Jenkins, manager of the well-known Sky Drive-In theater.
Current owners Douglas and Mary Kapnick moved into the house at 159 North Scott around 1987. In their community and business involvement, the Kapnicks have continued the legacy of the Buskirks. In 1964, Douglas Kapnick became heavily involved in Kapnick Insurance, one of Adrian’s premier businesses founded by his father Elmer Kapnick. Like Anne Buskirk, Doug Kapnick’s wife Mary has participated in the Adrian Garden Club, hosting the organization’s annual “Tulip Tea” multiple times at the Buskirk-Kapnick House—an appropriate location on a property still noted for its elegant box hedges and landscaping.
The Kapnicks put their own stamp on the property in 2002, hiring Gregory Richard of Remington Architecture to update the house once again. The project entailed the construction of a large, cross-shaped Greek Revival wing on the back of the house. To link the new addition to the older sections of the house both physically and aesthetically, Richard designed matching classically themed porches on either side of the connecting hallway, complete with Doric columns and roof balustrades. Archways and square pillars on the interior completed the highly attractive design. Richard also added a secondary porch on the north side of the house, with Doric columns matching those on the front porch. The location of this porch opposite the south wing allows the house to retain a balanced appearance despite its asymmetry.
Originally built as a farmhouse in a sparsely populated section of Adrian, the Buskirk-Kapnick House with its numerous updates stands today as a historic showpiece in one of the city’s most attractive neighborhoods.
Sources
© 2026 Paul Plassman
Sources
- “Thomas J. Faxon” in John I. Knapp and Richard I. Bonner, Illustrated History and Biographical Record of Lenawee County, Michigan, 1903, p94.
- “Joseph D. Goodsell: Death of One of Adrian’s Oldest and Best Known Citizens,” Adrian Daily Telegram, February 1, 1901, p3.
- “Mrs. Buskirk Will Head Garden Club,” Adrian Daily Telegram, November 19, 1942, p6.
- Untitled News Articles, Adrian Daily Telegram, March 16, 1905, p1; July 20, 1932, p6; February 6, 1934, p6; July 30, 1945, p2; December 30, 1946, p6; June 26, 1985, p2; February 23, 1996, p2.
- Adrian Daily Telegram
- Lenawee Historical Society archives
- Gregory M. Richard of Remington Architecture
- Sandy Renner, correspondence with the author
- Find a Grave memorials for Benjamin Strong, Thomas Jefferson Faxon, Sr., Joseph D. Goodsell, and Emily J. Erskine Hampton
© 2026 Paul Plassman