Henry Gilbert was born in Rushville, New York in 1810. He began a career as a printer in New York, and in 1835 moved to Kalamazoo. He soon became publisher and editor of the Kalamazoo Gazette. Gilbert held a number of local political offices, and in 1856 was elected village president of Kalamazoo. He later left the newspaper business for a series of commercial ventures, including a furniture manufacturing business that made him the wealthiest man in Kalamazoo by 1870. However, Gilbert lost a fair amount of his fortune, and in 1888 retired to this newly built home. Gilbert lived here with his second wife until 1898, when both of them died on the same day.[2]
The house was later owned by industrialist Dimmen denBleyker, son of Dutch pioneer Paulus denBleyker. William Shakespeare Jr., a local civic and business leader, also lived here. Shakespeare founded the Shakespeare Company, a manufacturer of fishing equipment. Shakespeare served on the first city commission and was elected mayor of the city in 1933.[2]
