Cherry Hill Historic District

The Cherry Hill Historic District is significant under Criterion A for its association with the broad patterns of history as a rural crossroad hamlet that served as a central place for the surrounding agricultural community. It is also significant under Criterion C for its collection of buildings that embody the distinctive characteristics of various architectural styles and methods of construction, including Gothic Revival, Italianate, and the unique interpretations of classical design by Henry Ford.

The district's significance is further enhanced by its association with Henry Ford, who played a pivotal role in the development of the area through his Village Industries program. Ford's influence is evident in the architectural modifications he made to existing structures, as well as in the construction of new buildings that reflect his personal style and vision.

The Cherry Hill Historic District's period of significance spans from 1831, with the first burial in the cemetery, to 1944, when the Ford factory was built. This period reflects the district's evolution from a rural settlement to a community influenced by industrial development. The district's buildings and landscape features collectively illustrate the historical development of the area and its role as a community center for over a century.

The district's architecture, including the Gothic Revival church, Italianate inn and school, and the Ford factory, represents a range of styles and construction methods that were prevalent during its period of significance. These buildings, along with the cemetery and other landscape features, contribute to the district's historical integrity and its ability to convey its significance as a rural hamlet and industrial site.

Located at the intersection of Ridge and Cherry Hill Roads in Canton Township, Michigan, the Cherry Hill Historic District incorporates those buildings and features that formed the core of Cherry Hill, a rural crossroad hamlet. Cherry Hill served as a central place filling the educational, social, religious, and some commercial needs of residents living within its boundaries and on nearby farmsteads until the 1960s. Approaching from the south, Ridge Road intersects Cherry Hill Road in the center of the hamlet and then jogs slightly east running concomitantly with Cherry Hill Road a short distance before continuing on a roughly northeasterly line. The district is linear in nature with all properties facing on either Ridge or Cherry Hill Roads. Included in the district along the western side of S. Ridge Road are buildings associated with one of Henry Ford's Village Industry projects and a nineteenth-century farmhouse with its accompanying wooded space. Located along the eastern side of S. Ridge Road are a Gothic Revival style church and a settlement era cemetery, both dating to the nineteenth century.

Located adjacent to and north of the cemetery is a nineteenth-century, two-story, Italianate inn. Across from the inn on the north side of Cherry Hill Road is a nineteenth-century school also in the Italianate style. Located to the west along the north side of Cherry Hill Road is an early twentieth-century house. Mature trees, wooded areas, and remnants of farm outbuildings within the boundaries all lead to the impression of the hamlet as a rural central place that served as a community focus for over a century.

Situated upon high ground, Cherry Hill was originally known as "The Ridge" due to its location along an extensive geological formation running on a diagonal through Canton Township's western sections. The ridge is part of a 400-mile long former shoreline of Lake Whittlesey, a lake formed by meltwater from a retreating glacier around 13,000 years ago. The high land of this ridge, in places fifteen feet above the surrounding area, stays dry even when surrounding land is wet and muddy, making it an ideal place for settlement. The land in the area is rich glacial till, excellent for farming.

Dates of resources in the district range from the first burial in the cemetery in 1831 until the building of the Ford factory in 1944. This wide time span of building activity attests to the longevity of the hamlet as a central place.

The former Ford Village Industries factory, the newest of the buildings in the district, is located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Cherry Hill and S. Ridge Roads. Originally constructed as a cleanly modern, rectangular-shaped, concrete block building covered in stucco, it has seen several alterations but still exhibits characteristics that attest to its construction date. A nineteenth-century, wood construction, creamery building, moved directly south by Henry Ford, formerly stood on its site.

Henry Ford had an affinity for old buildings and often incorporated them in his building plans, modifying them to suit his needs and adding stylistic elements not found on the original building. Modified by Ford for use as a dormitory, the creamery building appears as a twentieth-century classical style building. This style, typical of many of Ford's buildings, represents his own interpretation of the classical design, a style immediately recognizable as unique to Henry Ford.

To the south of the Ford complex along the west side of S. Ridge Road, a wooded area separates the complex from the next resource, a nineteenth-century, wood frame, upright and wing dwelling. This undeveloped land between buildings lends a nineteenth-century feel to the hamlet.

Crossing to the east side of S. Ridge Road and across from this wooded area is an 1882 Gothic Revival church. This brick structure with impressive stained glass windows replaced an earlier, 1848, wood frame building. It is a well-maintained example of the Gothic Revival style as interpreted by local builders.

To the north of the church and stretching along the east side of S. Ridge Road is the Cherry Hill Cemetery. Enclosed by chain link fencing and entered through a gate surmounted by an ornate metal sign, the cemetery has graves dating to 1831. The grave of Hugh Clyde, one of the first landowners of the hamlet, is located here. In constant use, the cemetery's grounds have been enlarged over time, with the current layout of roadways reminiscent of the park-like cemeteries popular in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

To the north of the cemetery and located on the southeast corner of Cherry Hill and S. Ridge Roads is an Italianate style inn. Imposing in this small hamlet, it is probably the district's most outstanding building both because of its size and because of the intensive and varied use it has seen. Serving at various times as an inn, as a general store, a post office, a dance hall, a community center, an antiques store, and at one time divided into apartments, it is a simple, almost square building with symmetrical openings and a hipped roof.

Located across from the inn on the north side of Cherry Hill Road is a nineteenth-century Italianate school building. Originally brick, it was built in 1876 as a brick Italianate one-room building. The school was enlarged and its walls clad in stucco by Henry Ford when he incorporated it as part of a Village Industries project in 1943. The northern portion of Ridge Road runs along the eastern boundary of the school property. To the west of the school property, a pole barn sits back from Cherry Hill Road on a small parcel of land. It is of modern construction and is non-contributing to the district architecturally, but it is indicative of the mixed-use construction in these unplanned communities.

The final resource in the district is a brick dwelling constructed in 1924. It is of the type often called American Four-Square with Colonial Revival stylistic elements. On its grounds are several small non-contributing outbuildings and foundation remnants of larger buildings, indicating the existence of an active farmstead in the hamlet's heart well into the twentieth century. The varieties of building styles and the wide range in construction dates are testimony to the viability of this rural hamlet through over a century and a half of its existence.