Constructed in 1886, the Michigan Central Railroad Depot in Ann Arbor served passengers for almost a century. With stained glass windows, a sprawling garden, and an exterior made of granite blocks, the depot impressed visitors who passed through the city. Today, visitors can still experience the beauty of the structure by visiting the current occupant of the building, a restaurant called Gandy Dancer in reference to the nickname given to many railroad workers. These workers performed many tasks, but the one that led to the nickname was the way they moved in coordination with each other down the tracks as they moved an iron bar commonly referred to as a "gandy" to keep the railroad tracks aligned with each other.
The Washtenaw County Historical Society was formed in 1857. The society acquired its first permanent home in 1990, with the donation of the Kellogg-Warden house. Built in the 1830s by pioneers from New York State, the Kellogg-Warden home still has many unique architectural features of the era, including roughly hewn accordion lathe, extra wide wooden floor boards, and bricks set into a wooden frame. The home was moved to its currently location from across the Huron River in Lower Town and converted into the Museum on Main Street. The museum hosts exhibits, programs, and events about Washtenaw County history.
Constructed circa 1861 for the family of Tomas and Mary Earl, this home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, a year after the home was converted into a small office property. Thomas Earl was a successful and wealthy retailer in Ann Arbor who maintained a store in the heart of the city from around 1850 to 1882. Thomas was born in Ireland in 1810, moved to Canada in 1829, and then to Michigan in 1833 and the city of Ann Arbor in 1849. Earl came to Michigan after establishing a successful business and gained substantial wealth before moving to Ann Arbor and establishing his store. After Mary Earl died in 1899, the Schmid family purchased the home and kept it in the family for much of the twentieth century, In 1991, the home was converted into a small office property, which remains its purpose in 2020.
Often regarded as Ann Arbor's most famous house and compared to the original Temple of the Wingless Victory at Athens, The 1834-built home was built by Judge Robert S. Wilson who lived there with his family until he departed for Chicago in 1850. The affluent Wells family held the house for several years and then, in 1892 the locally famous publisher George Wahr and his wife Emma purchased the home, although they decided to build and live in an adjacent mansion for twenty years before finally moving into the historic home. George and Emma's daughter -- Nathalie Wahr Sallade -- took possession of the house after her parents died; the combination of the Wahr and Sallade family remained in the house for nearly a century.
Home to a children's museum since 1982, Ann Arbor's Central Fire Station served as the city's first central fire station when it opened exactly one century earlier. The building marked a change in the city that had relied on a volunteer force with rudimentary tools and water supplies to one with water networks, permanent stations, and a professional firefighting force. In the late nineteenth century, cities needed structured fire departments to protect growing populations and show entrepreneurs and speculators that they were worthy of investment. Today, the building is part of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum (AAHOM), which has over 250 interactive exhibits on science, technology, engineering, art, and math geared towards schoolchildren, from pre-K through eighth grade.
The Weinmann Block derives its name from John M. Weinmann, a German immigrant who established a butcher shop in Ann Arbor. He, along with his partner John Gall, built the elaborate brick building to house a successful meat market. The eastern half of the commercial block building arose in 1885 and the western half in 1891. By the 1930s, Fischer Hardware, a business with history that also dates back to the nineteenth century, moved into the building and remained there until the 1980s.
Construction of Ann Arbor's First National Bank Building occurred in the last few years of the 1920s, coinciding with both a local and national period of economic expansion. The genesis of the bank dates back to the National Bank Act of 1863 when First National became Michigan's first (and the country's twenty-second) chartered "national" bank. The Terra Cotta exterior and ornate features signal the prosperity of the 1920s, notably for banks. But shortly after the building opened, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression followed. By 1936, the First National Bank merged with other institutions and vacated the building. Similar to other downtown banks, the building was repurposed as a space for retailers and offices, which remains its main function in the twenty-first century. The building continues to serve as a local landmark.
German immigrant, Jacob Hoffstetter, built the historic house in 1887 fifteen years after opening his successful grocery store and tavern Ann Arbor. His family arrived from Germany during the 1850s during a time of prolific German immigration into the city, most of whom lived on the west side. Hoffstetter's store served many of those Germans, and his home survives today as a reminder of that era.
Built in 1853, this Greek Revival home belonged to Reuben and Pauline Kempf from 1890 to 1953. The Kempfs were German-Americans who taught music out of the home and were actively involved with the local community. The home has been converted into a historic house museum that offers guided tours, a lecture series, and various annual events. The museums showcases some of the Kempfs' original belongings, including their original 1877 Steinway grand piano, the first in the city of Ann Arbor.
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Ann Arbor's Michigan Theater opened in 1928, a time when cities of this size aspired to have a grand theater that demonstrated their standing as a regional center of culture and prosperous growth. The theater continues to operate today and serves as a reminder of the work of urban preservationists and an era when atmospheric theaters and movie palaces allowed guests to see vaudeville acts, attend concerts, and watch films while also enjoying the elegance of the theater itself. Similar to the history of many other ornate downtown theaters, the late-twentieth-century proved a challenge as multiplexes and suburbanization led to declining patronage. Thanks to the efforts of preservationists, however, the building was preserved and repurposed in contrast to others that were demolished. Today, the theater is home to movie festivals, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, and various live performances.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This tour starts with the former depot of the Michigan Central Railroad and works its way to the heart of downtown Ann Arbor with stops at historic buildings and other landmarks on the way. Be sure to also use Clio to discover museums and landmarks on the University of Michigan campus and the Ford Presidential Library which are all within a mile of the end of this walking tour.
