Jabez S. Fitch was a wealthy Marshall dry-goods dealer. In about 1840, he constructed this house, possibly using plans from New York architect
Richard Upjohn. Fitch died in 1843, and the house was sold to
Charles T. Gorham in 1851. Gorham was born in
Connecticut in 1812, and came to Marshall in 1836. He opened a bank in 1840 and was active in the community. He was one of the founders of the
Republican Party and served as a state senator and a delegate to the Republican national convention. He was appointed minister to the Hague by
Ulysses S. Grant and served there from 1870 to 1875, then served as Assistant Secretary of the Interior from 1876-1877. Gorham owned the house until his death in 1901. In 1921, prominent Midwest landscape architect
Jens Jensen designed the surrounding grounds. In the mid-1930s, preservationist Harold C. Brooks purchased the house from the Gorham family to use as his own home and furnished it with antiques. The house has been frequently noted in architectural histories as one of the best-known examples of
Greek Revival architecture in the Midwest. The house has undergone significant renovations over the past decade by current owners Kevin Koenig and Todd Hokanson in an effort to preserve its history as one of the nation's most notable examples of Greek Revival architecture. ==Description==