Look for a two-story house with round-topped windows peeking out from a dark mansard roof above golden walls made of small, smooth stones, with classic white columns framing the porch-just ahead, shaded by a huge tree.
Alright, you’ve made it to the one and only Gifford-Davidson House, or as I like to call it, the “Stone Cottage with Big Dreams!” Don’t let its quiet charm fool you-this place is a superstar of Elgin history. Picture the year 1850: a chilly wind rattles the branches as carts clatter over bumpy roads and builders carefully place each rounded cobblestone-brought together by a transplanted New Yorker, James Gifford. The house sits here like something out of a city on the East Coast, with its unmistakable cobblestone walls and that stylish mansard roof, complete with decorative windows that would make any Parisian jealous. Once, the front door faced west, but after a transformation in 1903 the entrance turned north, waving politely at Prairie Street.
Now, imagine the story packed into these stones. Gifford was a man on the move-he’d already founded Dundee, New York, chased fortune westward, built a whole town for steamboat wood in Wisconsin (sounds exhausting, doesn’t it?), and then returned with enough wealth to build this beauty. As for the mystery-nobody’s sure exactly when the snazzy Second Empire roof was plopped on top, but historians guess it was before 1871.
The building’s limestone corners and thick window sills keep it standing proud-a bit grumpy in winter, perhaps, but still elegant. Since 1980, it’s been protected as a National Register of Historic Places superstar, and by 1983 it gained backup as part of the Elgin Historic District. All thanks to the man who preferred his cottages made of cobbles, and always kept an eye on the next horizon!
