The White House on Park Street

Stephen Button recalls being 11 years old when he and his friends had a sleepover in the kitchen of his house at 56 Park Street. 

“I woke up the next morning and discovered the window had been broken out by some SLU students,” Stephen says. The previous night, some students had mistaken 56 Park Street as their house. When Button’s friends attempted to tell them they were at the wrong house, the students got frustrated and threw a block through the window.   

Stephen has lots of memories from his time living at 56 Park Street, the white house between the Outing Club and La Casa. He lives there with his wife, Melissa Button, their kids and their dog Baylor. The house’s proximity to St. Lawrence’s college campus created a unique environment for Stephen to grow up in and to now raise his kids.    

Stephen remembers when students would ski off the roof naked at the former Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house. “Growing up, I didn’t really understand it,” said Stephen about the antics of college students. However, Stephen Button understood more about college life after he went. “When I would come back from college, I made friends with people at the Outing Club and used to hang out with the kids who were there.”   

“It is easy to understand how someone could get confused about the location,” says Stephen. “But we have never encountered a situation where they were rude or hostile.” Stephen understands where SLU students are in their lives, as he was a college student once, too. “I got the degrees to show for it and the partying and fun times to show for it as well,” he adds.   

Nicholas Button, Stephen’s son, who is a first-year at William Hobart Smith, also has unique stories from growing up at 56 Park.  

“The past summer, I was playing on my Xbox in my room and heard a commotion downstairs even though no one else was home,” recalls Nicholas. Upon walking downstairs, Nicholas Button found a SLU student walking through their kitchen. “I was like hello, and they didn’t respond but looked at me and walked out the door to the OC.”   

Henry Baker ’25 lives in the Outing Club and feels like the members of his theme house have a good relationship with the Button family. “One of the adults who lives there is very well connected and enthusiastic about SLU culture,” said Baker. “They let us do our thing as long we’re not on their property disrupting anything.” While Baker and his housemates try not to disturb the Button’s daily life, they still always try to be friendly and say hello.   

“We don’t mind the OC; the only thing that makes them a little iffy is the streaking in the fall,” says Melissa Button. She has young daughters and does not want them to see the naked students. “We consider them to be harmless,” Stephen says, despite such activities.    

Outing Club members are conscious of their tendency to be loud, especially on weekends, and do their best to minimize volume for the Button family. “We just shut off our music at 2 a.m., and they never complain,” says OC resident Alden Timm ’25. Peter Gressler ’25, another student who lives at the OC, has had great conversations with Stephen in passing.  

“We get along super well with him,” notes Gressler. “He just asks if in the dance room we can put something over the window to block the noise.”   

“We really do enjoy the students, and we think that during the summer, it gets boring,” admits Melissa. “They make the place lively.” Having been college students themselves, the Button family finds SLU student antics funny.  

“We are used to being a busy house, so having a few other kids around is not a bother,” Melissa says.   

Living on the SLU campus has resulted in a funny and unexpected positive for the Buttons. For the past four years, the Button’s eldest children have been in school and regularly had bottle and can drives.  

“The folks next door were always good to hook us up [with cans],” said Stephen. The use of the Button’s hedgerows to stash drinks before the Ticker doesn’t go unnoticed either,  

“We’ll find beers and seltzers that have been hidden in the hedgerow,” said Stephen. The hedgerows are not only a place to stash cans on the way to the Ticker or Hoot Owl but also an impromptu restroom. “It’s not uncommon to find the people who think the hedge row is a great place to go to the bathroom,” says Stephen.  

“Tends to be a lot of girls.” “When I was younger, I used to go to the Hoot Owl,” said Stephen. From this experience, Stephen said he understood why students think they can make use of their hedges as a restroom.    

56 Park Street has not always been surrounded by the SLU campus. “This house was built in 1850,” said Stephen. “The campus wasn’t even built yet.” The house was originally a farmhouse and was removed from downtown Canton. As SLU has expanded, this has changed.  

“I believe we may be the only private residence within the outline of the campus,” says Stephen.