Little more than four weeks after the sinking of the battleship Maine, volunteers in Company A of the Michigan National Guard posed on the courthouse steps on April 26, 1898, before leaving to fight in the Spanish-American War.
. . . — — Map (db m166773) HM
Fred Sipley (circled) was the police marshal before he became the first full-time fire chief in 1889. His successor as chief, Charles Edwards, stands left of the horses in this 1906 photograph. Fires from oil lamps and wood-burning stoves were a . . . — — Map (db m181731) HM
Streets surrounding Courthouse Square were the site of most of Ann Arbor's largest hotels from the 1830s until 1990. Cook's Hotel was the first of five that have occupied the site before you. It was followed in 1871 by the larger "Cook House," a . . . — — Map (db m157643) HM
When this photo was taken in 1893, "Lost in New York" was playing at Hill's Opera House at the southwest corner of Main and Ann streets. Down the block, Charles J. Shetterly, barber, offered billiards and hot and cold baths, and students and . . . — — Map (db m171570) HM
On this site, in 1836, delegates from all parts of Michigan met in Washtenaw County's first courthouse to consider a proposal by Congress for settling the boundary dispute between Michigan and Ohio. Both claimed a narrow strip of land, including . . . — — Map (db m156703) HM
The 1963 City Hall, designed by architect Alden Dow, became an instant magnet for demonstrations. Even before landscaping was completed, picketers began protesting to end discrimination in rental housing based on race, creed, color, or national . . . — — Map (db m181732) HM
The Ann Arbor Guard and the Ypsilanti Light Guard formed a procession to honor former President Grover Cleveland before he delivered the annual Washington's Birthday Address at University Hall, February 22, 1892.
This speech marked the . . . — — Map (db m166583) HM
Advertising signs and cards display the wide variety of goods offered in the 1870s by the businesses pictured above. The plank sidewalk, gas lanterns, and dirt road have long since been replaced by concrete, bright lights, and blacktop. All the . . . — — Map (db m171569) HM
When A. V. Robinson & Son's Livery and Hack Stable advertised "Best Carriages in the City for Funerals" in 1872, the building that had housed the Goodrich House Hotel still stood just down the street. The YMCA was built on the hotel site in 1904. . . . — — Map (db m171479) HM
Completed in 1907, Ann Arbor's first City Hall provided first-floor office space for expanding public services and a council chamber above. The eight man Police Department had a separate entrance on Fifth Avenue. The Fire Department was already . . . — — Map (db m181733) HM
For over one hundred years the streets surrounding Courthouse Square were a focus for busy Ann Arbor life. Most structures that housed the many businesses and activities around the square are gone. No photo exists of Miss Monroe's primary . . . — — Map (db m171501) HM
Originally built by William's son, Fred J. Parker, to produce cider and vinegar. After the cider press was sold, the building was used for storage and to house a grain cleaner. — — Map (db m104732) HM
What is it like to live in balance with nature? Every action impacts the environment in some way. Thoughtful design choices can help reduce negative human influences on the landscape. In planning this trail, choices were made to incorporate local, . . . — — Map (db m236115) HM
Michigan pioneer Elnathan Botsford settled this site in 1825. Harry Boyd Earhart of Detroit, president of the White Star Refining Corporation, purchased the farm in 1917 and named it "The Meadows." The Olmsted Brothers, nationally known . . . — — Map (db m101826) HM
Can you imagine your whole family living in this cabin? The simple interior of this one room log cabin included a ladder to a loft area and a small coal stove. William Parker built the cabin in 1878 for relatives who planned to emigrate from . . . — — Map (db m104795) HM
A two stone grist mill was built by William Q. Parker for purpose of grinding feed and corn meal. Operated as a commercial flour mill from 1910-1956, it was restored in 1984. — — Map (db m104733) HM
University of Michigan Graduate, Naturalist & Gardener
Hoyt Garrod Post loved to walk the banks of the Huron River. A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School in 1907, Hoyt spent many enjoyable hours hiking this area, . . . — — Map (db m104840) HM
Imagine standing in this very spot 100 years ago. Do you hear gears churning in the mill behind you? In front of you is a large pond that supplies water to power the mill. In the distance cattle are grazing in a field. Over the last 180 years, . . . — — Map (db m236117) WM
Originally located on the north side of Geddes Road, this cabin was built in 1878 to house a visiting relative from England, but later used for storage and to house farm help. — — Map (db m104796) HM
In September 1899 Michigan mayors--led by William Baum Sr., of Saginaw, and George Perry of Grand Rapids--formed the Michigan Municipal League in Grand Rapids, to help local governments deal with increased demands from population growth and new . . . — — Map (db m182894) HM
Centuries ago, Indian trails crossed the landscape of Washtenaw County. These paths connected Indian villages to fertile hunting and fishing grounds throughout Michigan. When settlers arrived in the County during the 19th century, these same . . . — — Map (db m104642) HM
This mill -- the type designed by American inventor Oliver Evans -- represents a milestone in the automation of American industry. The machinery inside automatically ground, sifted, and bagged grain, carrying it through a system of chutes and . . . — — Map (db m104744) HM
William Q. Parker and his new bride, Mary, came to Washtenaw County in 1861 from England. After two years in Lodi Township, Mary purchased 61 acres between Geddes Road and the Huron River. Here, in 1873, on the ruins of the old Fleming sawmill, . . . — — Map (db m104814) HM
What is Hydropower?
Hydropower uses the energy of falling water to do work, either to move machinery or generate electricity. Originally, a metal turbine underneath the gristmill harnessed the power of Fleming Creek. Water from . . . — — Map (db m104765) HM
Starting a New Life
William Q. Parker and his bride Mary came from England in 1861 to begin a new life. They purchased land in Washtenaw County and by 1872 were well-established farmers. Here, on the ruins of the old Fleming . . . — — Map (db m104677) HM
The land for this cemetery was deeded to the First German Evangelical Society of Scio Township in 1833. The first burial was held in 1834. Bethlehem Cemetery is considered to be the one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in Washtenaw County. It . . . — — Map (db m176550) HM
Michigan’s Anti-Slavery Society was born in Ann Arbor in 1836. Starting in 1841, its weekly newspaper, The Signal of Liberty, was published in the Huron Block on Broadway by Rev. Guy Beckley and his co-editor Theodore Foster in an office . . . — — Map (db m181964) HM
Lower Town founder Anson Brown erected the first mill on Broadway in 1832 where Sinclair's mill was later located (labeled above). As shown in this 1870s photo of Lower Town and the Huron River from the hill above Plank Road (North Main Street . . . — — Map (db m181979) HM
New York native Anson Brown erected his Exchange Block on Broadway in 1831-32 (see map). He was determined to make this side of the river, Lower Town, the center of Ann Arbor. Where the Potawatomi Trail crossed the Huron River, a wooden bridge . . . — — Map (db m181982) HM
In 1832 Anson Brown, his brother-in-law Edward L. Fuller, and Dwight Kellogg were partners in presenting their ambitious plans to incorporate and develop the area north of the Huron River as the first addition to the Village of Ann Arbor. Streets . . . — — Map (db m181983) HM
David T. McCollum was thirty-three years old when he arrived in Ann Arbor from New York State in 1832 with a wife and five children.. The following spring he became the bookkeeper for Anson Brown & Co. McCollum was a leader in the Methodist . . . — — Map (db m181980) HM
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 . . . — — Map (db m181981) HM
Native Americans came from the northeast down the Pontiac Trail from the east down the Broadway hill following a trail that went through what later became Plymouth, and from the southeast up the Huron River along the Potawatomi Trail from what . . . — — Map (db m181976) HM
Manufacturing shaped the life of Lower Town after the Civil War. In 1866 Lewis Moore and his son Eli began building an agricultural implement factory on the north bank of the river on the site of the old Chapin Paper Mill. By 1896 the Ann arbor . . . — — Map (db m182444) HM
Early Settlers in Lower Town had large families.
Good schools were a part of their New England
expectations. Both private and public schools were maintained at several temporary Lower Town locations.
In the 1830s the Misses Azuba and . . . — — Map (db m183697) HM
In 1832 a small group of Baptist worshipers were meeting in a room above Anson Brown's new store in the Exchange Block on Broadway. Anson's 27-year-old brother Daniel and Daniel's wife, Ann Vickery Brown, were baptized that year. Daniel was . . . — — Map (db m181966) HM
Standing here in the 1930s, you would have seen
the gas works in front of you (1) with its large.
storage tanks, as well as Edison's power station (2)
at the end of the bridge. The railroad station (3) was
behind you.
Early settlers and . . . — — Map (db m184111) HM
While neighbors in Ann Arbor were divided over abolition, many residents of Lower Town were active in the Underground Railroad and in the anti-slavery and abolitionist movements and parties. According to the 1881 History of Washtenaw County, . . . — — Map (db m181968) HM
Jonathan H. Lund brought his bride, Sarah Almy Richmond, to Ann Arbor in 1838, and they lived for seven years in a small house on Pontiac Trail. Lund first ran a dry goods store on Broadway selling everything from shoes to medicines with names . . . — — Map (db m181978) HM
No ballroom dancing here! These two photos were taken on the same day in 1922, a year after the Washtenaw House building was condemned. From Wall Street and Broadway (above left), the photo shows the Ingalls Block and billboards to the left of . . . — — Map (db m181969) HM
Anson Brown and Edward Fuller built the Washtenaw House on Broadway in 1832. Only steps away from Brown's Exchange Block, and across the street from future Huron Block stores, it seemed ideally located to welcome travelers and guests to what . . . — — Map (db m181972) HM
The founding meeting of the Michigan Antislavery Society was held in the First Presbyterian Church, located on this site, on November 10, 1836. Delegates from six counties elected officers and adopted fourteen resolutions denouncing slavery. This . . . — — Map (db m181689) HM
Ann Arbor's Carnegie Library (above), serving both the high school and the general public, opened in 1907. It was the only library donated by Andrew Carnegie that was attached to another building.
Earlier, in 1866, thirty-five women had put . . . — — Map (db m177618) HM
This plaque is issued by the
Historical Society of Michigan
in recognition of
FUMC's BSA Troop 4
founded in 1917
for more than 100 years of
continuous operation in service
to the people of Michigan
and for contributing . . . — — Map (db m177771) HM
Harris Hall was built in 1886 as a student center to "establish Christian teaching in the midst of a great secular university." Funds were raised from all over the country by Michigan Episcopal Bishop Samuel Harris. As a parish house for St. . . . — — Map (db m101026) HM
Built in 1886, and conceived by Frederick Spier, the design of this granite block building was influenced by the Romanesque style of the great American architect Henry Hobson Richardson. The massive arch and two-foot thick walls are balanced by . . . — — Map (db m51751) HM
Ann Arbor public school, begun in the 1830s, were inadequately funded and poorly organized. This changed in 1856 when the Union School opened (building on right); it was the grandest building in Ann Arbor. Its assembly room, seating 700, was . . . — — Map (db m177726) HM
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church had been organized by the spring of 1828. It incorporated under an act of the Territory of Michigan in 1833. One year later the congregation bought land on this site from newspaper editor George Corselius for $105. The . . . — — Map (db m181730) HM
In 1831 Father Patrick O'Kelly came from Detroit to minister to the Irish Catholics in the Washtenaw area. He offered his first mass in Ann Arbor on July 12, 1835, in a home located on land bounded by Detroit, Kingsley and Fifth Streets. St. Thomas . . . — — Map (db m51695) HM
As laid out by village founders John Allen and Elisha Rumsey in 1824, the county courthouse block was to be a spacious town square surrounded by commercial blocks. Until the 1950s, Courthouse Square hummed with the activities that made Ann Arbor the . . . — — Map (db m236144) HM
Residents living on the west side in the 1870s drove their buggies or walked across the bridge over Allen Creek, climbing the Liberty Street hill to join the celebration of German American Day. In the distance you can see the rooftops of their . . . — — Map (db m236145) HM
In 1908 you could hop on an open-air trolley, ride to the fairgrounds (later Burns Park), and, for 10 cents, see a baseball game. Electric streetcars ran in Ann Arbor from 1890 to 1925. From Main Street, cars followed Detroit Street down to the . . . — — Map (db m155528) HM
Ann Arbor's Art Moderne-style bus depot, touted as one of the most up-to-date in the country, was officially opened in September 1940. A large crowd of dignitaries and admirers assembled as the mayor cut a maize and blue satin ribbon stretched . . . — — Map (db m156631) HM
Four years after Ann Arbor's First National Bank was established in 1863 under strong new federal banking laws, dry goods merchant Philip Bach and foundry owner Volney Chapin joined other local investors to build a brick business block to house . . . — — Map (db m236142) HM
Dry goods were sold on this corner for over 120 years. In 1867 Philip Bach moved his store to this new business block selling fabric, cloaks, blankets, linens, and notions. Ann Arbor once supported as many as fifteen stores selling dry goods. . . . — — Map (db m181813) HM
When the Sugar Bowl opened in 1911, it featured homemade ice cream and hand-dipped chocolates made in the Preketes family apartment upstairs. After Michigan went “dry” in 1918, lunch counters and small restaurants like this, many owned by Greek . . . — — Map (db m181812) HM
Circuses unloaded near the Michigan Central depot and paraded up Main Streeet to perform at the fairgrounds or on a farm at Packard and Stadium. Exotic animals passed by in fancy wagons, bands played, the calliope blared, and children screamed . . . — — Map (db m155603) HM
By 1925, when Theophil Aprill joined with Albert Larmee to found Ann Arbor Exide Battery Service, this neighborhood was already a center for automobile sales, garages, parts, and service—much of it owned and staffed by German Americans. It . . . — — Map (db m156551) HM
In 1929 long-distance buses replaced the electric interurban for travel between Ann Arbor and other cities. The first interurban in the state had linked Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti in 1891. Junius Beal, UM Regent and one of the main stockholders, . . . — — Map (db m156609) HM
David Allmendinger founded the Ann Arbor Organ Works in 1872 in his home (building on right) on the northwest corner of Washington and First Streets. Allmendinger's reed organs and pianos were sold all over the country until displaced by . . . — — Map (db m236147) HM
Fred Wagner's blacksmith shop was one of many German-owned west-side businesses providing services for horse-drawn vehicles. Wagner repaired carriages and wagons and shoed horses. Nearby livery stables rented out horses and carriages. Around the . . . — — Map (db m156535) HM
As Ann Arbor grew, stores that once offered a variety of general merchandise began to specialize in groceries, dry goods, or hardware. In 1878 Christian Eberbach took over Widenmann and Schuh’s store and turned it into the largest of downtown’s . . . — — Map (db m181815) HM
In 1925 King-Seeley, inventor and manufacturer of the first dash-mounted gas gauges for autos, moved into the old Krause tannery building with its tall smokestacks on Second Street (right rear). By 1940 the factory had expanded east to First Street . . . — — Map (db m156468) HM
Detroit Edison sold electric home appliances from 1915 to 1983 in its showroom across the street. The earliest Ann Arbor homes were lit by fireplace flames and lard lamps. Oil, along with gas manufactured after 1858 from the burning of coal, lit . . . — — Map (db m155484) HM
The Toledo & Ann Arbor Railroad reached Ann Arbor in 1878 amid festive celebrations. "Big Jim" Ashley, former lawyer, abolitionist, and Ohio congressman, was the driving force behind its construction. Always one to seize opportunities, Ashley . . . — — Map (db m156473) HM
Founded in 1860, Mack & Company grew to be Ann Arbor’s largest department store. In 1870 it advertised dress goods, household goods, flannels, shawls and cloakings, “selling everything cheap.” By 1900 it had become Main Street’s premier shopping . . . — — Map (db m94375) HM
In 1885 Michael Staebler, a successful farmer from a pioneer German family west of town, constructed this building as the Germania Hotel. Balls, lectures, musical programs, and meetings of the Germania Society were held on the third floor. . . . — — Map (db m156512) HM
Wilhelm Metzger and Christian Kuhn had been in the U.S. for only a few years when they and Wilhelm's wife Marie rented the German American Restaurant from the Flautz family in 1928. The Metzgers, their two children, and Kuhn, a bachelor, lived on . . . — — Map (db m156553) HM
Sutherland-Wilson Farmstead Historic District Built Between 1830-1865 The LeClair Barn is named in honor of Donald and Betty LeClair founding members and long-time leaders of the Pittsfield Charter Township Historical Society and guiding force . . . — — Map (db m236085) HM
Until the 1950s, the house was heated by a wood-burning furnace. All wood for the furnace was stored in the Wood Shed, from which it would have been carried down the outside basement steps (immediately behind you). In the basement, a supply of wood . . . — — Map (db m236080) HM
[lat N42 11.950 lon W083 44.425]
It consisted of four sub-units. The main front portion housed the carriages, harness, and tools. Horses could pull a carriage directly into the Carriage House. Then the horses would be unhitched and led through . . . — — Map (db m236087) HM
[lat N42 11.938 lon W083 44.420]
This structure contained a number of small pens, each just large enough for housing a sow (mother hog) and her piglets. Once the baby pigs had grown to such size and strength that they needed more space and . . . — — Map (db m103137) HM
[lat N42 11.957 lon W083 44.436]
While this was used as the ice house for many years, this structure may have been one of the first buildings built on the farm. At one time it had a lean-to addition attached to the west side. According to . . . — — Map (db m236086) HM
[lat N42 11.929 lon W083 44.436]
Here cattle would have been gathered for shelter from the severe winter cold. Later, when the farm established a small dairy enterprise, Jersey cows would have been brought here from the pasture to await their . . . — — Map (db m103040) HM
[lat N42 11.965 lon W083 44.435]
The Pump House is the small, square, one-story structure. The two-story garage and apartment was attached to the Pump House when the garage and apartment were constructed in the 1950s. The well under the Pump . . . — — Map (db m236078) HM
Side 1
In the 1850s, Langford (1802-1865) and Lydia (1806-1892) Sutherland replaced their small log cabin with this Greek Revival house. Farm buildings from that era were built from locally harvested hand-hewn timber and hand-cut stones . . . — — Map (db m103026) HM
1820 General Land Office at Detroit granted west half of Section Eight, Twp. E, South of Range Six East to Ralph Updike
c. 1830-1849 House and farm buildings constructed
1856-1935 Farm owned by the Wilsey and Sperry families
1935 Land . . . — — Map (db m176535) HM
[lat N42 11.937 lon W083 44.442]
The front ramp leads to the portion of the barn that related to the Farm Yard; the lower section is part of the Barn Yard. The upper portion was used to store straw and hay, to thresh oats and/or wheat, and to . . . — — Map (db m103138) HM
[lat N42 11.965 lon W083 44.435]. The Pump House is the small, square, one-story structure. The two-story garage and apartment was attached to the Pump House when the garage and apartment were constructed in the 1950s. The well under the Pump . . . — — Map (db m236079) HM
In its earliest years, the Village of Dixboro was served by "circuit-riding” preachers. The infrequency of these visits and the "occurrence of carousing in the local taverns” led many of the village residents to voice the need for a . . . — — Map (db m171239) HM
The Village of Dixboro was primarily a farming community, revolving around the mills located on Fleming Creek. It remained that way until 1925 when Plymouth Road was constructed. The Oak Grove Cemetery Company of Dixboro was organized on February . . . — — Map (db m171241) HM
The Village of Dixboro was founded by Captain John Dix in 1824. He was born in Massachusetts, went to sea at sixteen, achieved the title of captain, and served on a privateer in the War of 1812. The site selected for the village by Dix lay among an . . . — — Map (db m171237) HM
Following the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865) a movement began to create a war memorial to University of Michigan persons who had served in any of the nation's wars. A committee of the Alumni Association sought to raise funds for a suitable memorial, and . . . — — Map (db m242043) HM
Delhi Mills was founded in 1831 by Jacob Dorms, who built a sawmill at the rapids. By the mid to late 1800s, this area was a thriving village with two flour mills, a woolen mill, a saw mill and a plaster mill. Remains of mill foundations are still . . . — — Map (db m239393) HM
Chelsea celebrated the 200th birthday of the United States of America. On this site July 4th, 1976, a time capsule was buried below this marker, not to be opened until July 4, 2026. — — Map (db m228205) HM
(side 1)
Chelsea
In the 1830s the Congdon brothers, Elisha and James, settled the land where Chelsea is located. In 1848 they offered the Michigan Central Railroad a free site on which to build a station. The first and succeeding . . . — — Map (db m54136) HM
A continuous line of grocery houses once occupied the corner of Main and Park streets for more than 120 years. The property at 125 S. Main Street was the southern border of Chelsea in the 1850s. The border once had a deep ravine running through . . . — — Map (db m208075) HM
Vermont Congregationalists organized a church in Sylvan Township in 1849. In 1852 the built the first church in the village, here on land donated by Chelsea founder Elisha Congdon. When that building burned in 1894, John Foster of Chelsea built the . . . — — Map (db m54156) HM
The stately Victorian home of Edith & Harmon Holmes and accompanying double-story carriage house (seen in photos) was built on E. Middle Street in 1886. It housed the Holmes family, which founded Chelsea Milling Company and Jiffy Mixes, until . . . — — Map (db m228911) HM
John K. Bingham dammed Mill Creek near this site and built a sawmill in 1831-32. His dam provided power for 99 years. The mill was expanded to include grist milling in 1860 and cider pressing before 1900. Since its founding the hamlet has been . . . — — Map (db m176476) HM
On the northwest corner of Main Street and the railroad corridor was a distinctive 50 x 70 foot cut fieldstone structure to house the short-lived offices of the Glazier Stove Co. which went bankrupt in 1907. Frank P. Glazier was the main owner of . . . — — Map (db m208246) HM
Did you know? Letts Creek is a tributary of Mill Creek, the largest tributary in the entire Huron River system, draining 144 square miles of land. Mill Creek joins the Haron River in Dexter, 13 river miles downstream of Vets Park. Chelsea . . . — — Map (db m228908) HM
Historically the building located on the northeast corner of Main and Middle was known as the McKune Block. The block was called McKune after its owner and builder Timothy McKune built this late Commercial Italianate building in the late 1870s. . . . — — Map (db m207742) HM
1. 1894 & 1906: Vogel's Blacksmith Shop Total loss in 1894/Minor damage in 1906 2. 1902: Michigan Central Railroad Fires Multiple structures lost including the Water Tower, Beam from water tower salvaged and used in home at 154 E. Middle in 1903. . . . — — Map (db m228913) HM
(North Face): Erected under the auspices of Woman's Relief Corps No. 210, assisted by R.P. Carpenter Post No. 41, and Patriotic Citizens 1861 to 1865
(West Face):R.P. Carpenter Post No 41 To the memory of our noble dead who freely . . . — — Map (db m26732) HM
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