Homes of Early Lower Town Settlers

Homes of Early Lower Town Settlers. . Lower Town has the largest number of early houses still standing in Ann Arbor. Most of the ten houses shown above were built by 1837, the year Michigan became a state. Two of them have been moved to other Ann Arbor sites and one to Henry Ford's Greenfield Village., Anson Brown's Exchange Block on Broadway is the oldest commercial building in town. Although Brown didn't live to see Lower Town achieve his speculative goal of becoming the bustling center of Ann Arbor, Lower Town continued to grow and to thrive for decades after his death in 1834. His wife Desire, along with her new husband Caleb Ormsby and her brother Edward L. Fuller, who had been Brown's partner, sold the lots on which some of the homes above were built. Absalom Traver and Eliza Partridge each platted new additions and joined in the rush to build the nucleus of a residential neighborhood, much of which has lasted until today., Many of the houses were built in the architectural styles then popular in New York State and New England, where most of the early settlers had lived. A majority of these homes were modest, standing one-and-a-half stories tall. They were built for neighborhood laborers, artisans, and merchants, who walked to nearby jobs and stores on Broadway or to the mills. Some worked out of their homes making shoes, weaving baskets or carpets, or building cabinets. Other homes on Pontiac, Traver, and Broadway were built as farmhouses, where owners grew fruit and raised sheep.