Charles Copeland Morse Residence

Both plaques here call Charles Copeland Morse a co-founder of the Ferry-Morse Seed Company, and he could not have been. He died in 1900; Ferry-Morse was formed in 1930, when his firm, C. C. Morse & Co., merged with D. M. Ferry of Detroit. Morse, a Maine-born house painter, had bought into a local seed business with A. L. Kellogg in 1877, and by the time he built this house his crops grew on land leased from the Murphy estate in Sunnyvale. The city's 1970 plaque, set in the lawn, also misspells San Juan Bautista.

What the plaque says

Point of Historical Interest No. 5 Morse Mansion 981 Fremont Street Victorian style house built in 1892 for Charles Copeland Morse, a house painter and co-founder of Ferry-Morse Seed Company, who occupied it a short time before moving to San Juan Baustista. Marker placed by order of Santa Clara City Council by Historical and Landmarks Commission 1970 Charles Copeland Morse Residence "The house that seeds built" was constructed in 1892 by Charles Copeland Morse, co-founder of one of the largest vegetable and flower seed companies in the world, the Ferry-Morse Seed Company. This outstanding Queen Anne residence is the most elaborate remaining Victorian structure in the City of Santa Clara. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 904 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the City of Santa Clara Historical Landmarks Commission and Chamber of Commerce, September 23, 1977.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Santa Clara Women's Club Adobe — 0.3 mi
• Mission Santa Clara — 0.3 mi
• Santa Clara Campaign Treaty Site — 0.5 mi
• Old Sites of Mission Santa Clara de Asis and Old Spanish Bridge — 1.0 mi