John H. Suiter House

John H. Suiter was part of the second of three generations of his family to make his living on the river.^[2] Born in 1822, he was the son of Phillip Suiter. John moved with his parents to Le Claire in 1835. He worked as a river pilot from 1843 until 1875, and then managed his extensive agricultural and real estate holdings. He became locally famous in 1864 when he was the only Le Claire pilot willing to take a raft through the rapids during a period of extremely low water on the Mississippi.^[3]

The John H. Suiter House is a two-story, three-bay, frame structure built on a stone foundation. The house sits high on its foundation because the lot slopes downward from the back of the house on the west to the front of the house on the east.^[3] The main entrance is located in the center bay and the original wooden porch structure has been replaced with wrought iron. The windows are set in flat surrounds that feature narrow cornices. The house is capped with a shallow gable roof.