Caton, Jesse H., House

The Greek Revival house built in Corvallis by, or for Levi C. Phillips sometime between 1855 and 1859 is significant to Corvallis and Benton County as the only landmark associated with Jesse H. Caton, Oregon Trail pioneer of 1843 and one of the first settlers in the county. Caton acquired the house in 1859 and resided in it until his death in 1863, after which time his heirs continued to occupy the property for fifty years. Next to the Robert Biddle House (1856-1857), it is perhaps the oldest house still standing on its original site in Corvallis. Moreover, it is one of only a half dozen Greek Revival houses now standing in all of Benton County. While it has been enlarged by additions and single-story extensions over the years, its main block, with its intact classical boxed cornice with returns at gable ends, would meet the test of "recognizability" by original occupants. The distinctive feature of the house is the longitudinal plan of the original two-story block in which the main entrance is in the gable end. This type of plan was unusual among early Oregon houses. A gable-end entry was more characteristic of churches and public buildings such as the first state capitol building--a Classic Revival structure of the same period as the Caton House. The former was located a few blocks away from the latter and was used by the Oregon Legislature when Corvallis was the seat of state government briefly in 1855.

This house is commonly known in the Corvallis area as the Dixon-Caton House, a misnomer attributing the building's construction to William F. Dixon, one of two original land grant donors to the city first known as Marysville.

This house is on the first of the lots registered in the Benton County Tax Assessor's rolls for the City of Corvallis. It is among the two or three oldest houses in town still on the original site. Levi C. Phillips bought Blocks 16 and 17 of Dixon's Second Addition plus 23 1/2 acres adjoining on the north from W. F. Dixon, the original land grant holder. He paid one thousand dollars. September 5, 1859, Jesse H. Caton, an 1843 pioneer from the Bell-Fountain area, bought Blocks 16 and 17 Dixon's Second Addition plus 12 acres adjoining on the north. He paid Angenette and Levi C. Phillips ($3,000) three thousand dollars. It is felt that this increase of two thousand dollars over four years represents the addition of a farmhouse to the property.

Jesse H. Caton was, in the fall of 1846, the first occupant of the area later known as the Belknap Settlement (founded in 1847). He arrived in Oregon via the overland trail in the company of the Applegates, Dr. Marcus Whitman and Col. James Nesmith in 1843, helping to bring the first wagon down from the Blue Mountains. According to the legal abstract, in 1859 Jesse Caton bought a residence in Corvallis from Levi Phillips and moved his family there.

Jesse H. Caton, described as "a gentleman of leisure" in the 1860 census, died suddenly in 1863 on a trip to Eastern Oregon. He was sixty-four years of age at his death. He left to his widow, Precious Starr Caton, two boys, and two girls, the farm in Belknap Settlement and the house and property of Blocks 16 and 17 Dixon's Second Addition to Corvallis. Precious Starr Caton soon married Silas L. Shedd, whose brother was president of Marshall Fields in Chicago. Shedd had arrived in Corvallis in 1862 as a teacher and part-time farmer. Precious Starr Shedd died November 2, 1908. The property was then inherited by Ida M. Fortson and Jesse L. Caton, trustee Silas L. Shedd.

On March 29, 1913, Ida M. Fortson and J.L. Caton sold the property.