The Harborcreek Historical Society would like to thank the Blanchfield family for the generous gift of their home to Harborcreek Township for use as the headquarters for the Society, and Harborcreek Township Supervisors Dean Pepicello, Tim May and Joe Peck for their support and commitment to preserving and sharing Harborcreek history. The Blanchfield House, built in 1836, is a physical reminder of the township’s early settlers and agricultural heritage. It will provide the Society a permanent home in which they can fulfill their mission.
While the house is being prepared for the Society, the HHS Board would like to invite residents, businesses, schools and organizations to collaborate with them so that the Blanchfield House can be a community asset for all. In the near future they will be setting up meetings to discuss community needs and how the Harborcreek Historical Society can meet those needs in their new home.
A Short Blanchfield House History
Gershom and Lucy Gifford purchased 120 acres of Irvine’s Reserve to build their home and farm in the 1830s. In 1881, the Gifford’s house was moved to its current location on the south side of Buffalo Road when the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company and the New York, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad tracks were laid.
In the 1930s, Covington and Dorothy Gifford Russell Blanchfield, fifth-generation descendants of Gershom and Lucy, purchased the original homestead and 50 acres. They raised a variety of fruits and vegetables and sold them from a small fruit stand. Covington and Dorothy’s son Gerald, and his wife Bette, later took over the farm and roadside stand. Rick Blanchfield, a seventh-generation descendant of Gershom and Lucy Gifford, lived in the house until his recent passing.
The building is located east of the Harborcreek Township Municipal Building on Route 20 (and just west of the Harborcreek Walmart).