The Sears House Where President Gerald R. Ford Lived

1960 Prospect SE, Grand Rapids, MI. 

Sears No. 124.

An older, different view from Google Streetview. The house even has the rectangular cutout over the front porch that is shown on the catalog illustration.

Gerald R. Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr., on July 14, 1913 in Omaha. He would become the only president of the United States not elected by American voters.

Ford's mother, Dorothy Gardner, grew up in Harvard, Illinois and  attended Northwestern University. In September 1912, the 21-year-old Dorothy married Leslie Lynch King in Harvard. The couple then moved to Omaha.

Dorothy Gardner.

After the marriage, Lynch became abusive. A month after her son's birth, Dorothy fled Omaha with her mother and the baby. They moved to the Sears house in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where Dorothy's parents, Levi and Adele Gardner, lived.

Dorothy and little Leslie Lynch King, Jr. on his baptism day in 1914. Photo from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum. .

1974 photo from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum. The house was built about 1912, and was listed in the 1913 Grand Rapids city directory.

Toddler Leslie in front of the house. Photo from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum. 

Sears Roebuck in its Modern Homes catalog stated that a No. 124 was built in Grand Rapids. This is likely the house.

Photo from Realtor site.

Photo from Realtor site.

Photo from Realtor site.

Dorothy was granted a divorce in December 1913. In 1917, she married Grand Rapids businessman Gerald Rudolph Ford. She and Leslie moved out of her parents' Sears house. 

Almost immediately, they started calling Leslie the name Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.  In 1935, Leslie legally changed his name to that of his stepfather.

Ford served 25 years in Congress. From 1965 to 1973, he was House Minority Leader. 

Ford became vice president in October 1973 after President Richard Nixon named him to succeed Spiro T. Agnew. Agnew had pleaded no contest to a single felony charge of tax evasion and resigned from office. 

In August 1974, Vice President Ford became President after Nixon resigned. Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller to fill the Vice Presidential vacancy.

Ford served until January 20, 1977 as the 38th President of the United States. In 2006, President Ford died in California.