History
Construction on the Ephraim Smith House began sometime shortly after Ephraim Smith's 1844 arrival in Sugar Grove Township, Kane County, Illinois. Smith, a millwright by trade for over 25 years, built the home himself. Smith, from Pawlet in Rutland County, Vermont, purchased 52 acres from Lyman Isbell and promptly returned to Vermont for his family. The family occupied a small cabin while the house was being built. Smith's youngest child, Julia, was born in the cabin in 1845. The original house was composed of locally cut timber using the post and beam method of construction. The house is believed to be the last small frame, Greek Revival, rural house in Kane County that remains in a largely unaltered form.
The Ephraim Smith House had to be moved to avoid demolition during the late 1970s.When the house was nominated for inclusion on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1979, the move was ongoing. At the new site, a concrete foundation was poured. The above grade portion of the new foundation was faced with the original foundation's limestone. The limestone foundation and basement stones were moved from the old to the new site to be used for this purpose.
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