William Gilmour began building this house in the 1830s. With two hidden chambers and a strategic location on an Underground Railroad route between Farmington and Pontiac, it is believed to have provided shelter for runaway slaves. In the 1830s and 1840s Gilmour occasionally hosted township meetings here. It was owned by Seneca Randall in 1847 and Nathaniel Hearding from 1849 to 1863. Francis A. Emmendorfer came to America from Germany in 1852, moved to West Bloomfield Township in 1857, where he worked for Judge Joseph Copeland, and bought ninety acres on Orchard Lake in 1864. He and his family owned this property from 1864 to the 1950s. He specialized in growing fruits and grain, and in 1893 joined Edward M. Murphy and S. E. Beach in organizing the Pontiac Buggy Company, which was absorbed by the Oakland Motor Company in 1906. That firm, bought by General Motors, became Pontiac Motor Division in 1933.