Lake Orion Historic District

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The Village of Lake Orion is located in the northeast corner of Oakland County. It was established in the 1820s on the banks of Paint Creek, the region's major waterway and the principal tributary to six nearby lakes. Thanks to its waterfront location, Orion achieved its greatest renown around the turn of the twentieth century as a seasonal destination for recreation, amusement, and spiritual refreshment. However, it was also the heart of a prosperous farming district, and the village center was a place for trade, business, and social interaction. The Lake Orion Historic District represents this latter aspect of community identity and is nominated for its local significance under Criteria A and C in the areas of settlement, development, commerce and architecture. The district boundary roughly encompasses the two earliest platted areas of the village but also includes adjoining parcels that are visually and historically associated with the central core district. The period of significance is defined as 1829 to 1956, from the time the first industry was established in Lake Orion to the standard defined fifty-year threshold for historic consideration.

Orion Township Settlement

Established in 1805, the Michigan Territory experienced little growth in the years prior to the War of 1812. Most of the territory was not yet surveyed, and settlers could not obtain legal title to land until Indian land titles were extinguished. Advance reports of the territory beyond Detroit's outer belt were also not complimentary. In Oakland County, government surveyors found extensive marches and swamps, interspersed with "a poor, barren, sandy land, on which scarcely any vegetation grows," and their report to the U.S. Surveyor General in 1816 concluded that "it is so bad there would not be more than one acre out of a hundred, if there would be one out of a thousand, that would in any case admit of cultivation." 1 Due to these negative reports, there was little initial interest in settlement in this area.

In 1818 the U.S. Congress authorized the first sale of public land in the Michigan Territory. Undaunted by earlier reports, a group of prominent Detroit businessmen and professionals was organized for the purpose of acquiring land beyond the city limits for settlement or speculation. Known as the Pontiac Company, they commissioned a scouting party to reevaluate present-day Oakland County, with much more favorable results than two years before. Territorial governor Lewis Cass also campaigned heavily to boost the state's image, and beginning in the 1820s "with the relinquishment of Indian claims in southern Michigan, the rapid progress of the surveys, the opening of land offices, and the improvement of transportation facilities," there began an influx of settlers in the lower third of Michigan's southern peninsula. 2

Oakland County was established in 1819, and was named for the large number of "oak openings" found within its borders. Pontiac was selected as the county seat in 1820 and Orion Township, in the northeast corner of the county, was organized in 1835. Moses Allen was the first to enter a land claim in the township in 1818, but he lost

1 R.A. Young, History of Northeast Oakland County (Oxford, Ml: The Oxford Leader, Inc., 1976), p.3. 2 Willis F. Dunbar and GeorgeS. May. Michigan: A Historv of the Wolverine State (Grand Rapids, Ml: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995), p. 162. the land soon thereafter for defaulting on payments. The following year, Judah Church and John Whetmore purchased land in a densely wooded area in the southwest quadrant of the township known as the Big Pinery. Samuel Munson settled on Trout Creek in 1825 and cleared some land, built a log house and sawmill, and planted the first orchard in Orion Township (which was then part of Oakland Township). Later that year, he was joined by Jesse Decker, Jacob Bigler, and John McAivey of New Jersey, and in 1826 by Josiah Dewey and Needham Hemingway of New York. The community created by these families on the east side of Orion Township came to be known as the Decker Settlement, in honor of its nominal leader. Within a decade this pioneer settlement grew to include a tavern, post office, general store, blacksmith shop, school, and cemetery, but when it was bypassed by the railroad and the post office was moved to New Canandaigua (Lake Orion's original name) in 1837, Decker's fortunes began to decline and Orion emerged as the more prominent community.

Early Industry on Paint Creek

In the early 1830s, Michigan experienced a great land boom that caused a spectacular growth in population, 3 especially in the Lower Peninsula. A steady stream of settlers came to Orion Township from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania between 1826 and 1834. The majority traveled by steamship across the Great Lakes, many of them by way of the Erie Canal, which opened in 1825. Philip Bigler was the first to settle on the current Orion village site in 1825. On his eighty-acre land claim he built a dam across Paint Creek in 1829 with Needham Hemingway and Jesse Decker. Paint Creek was the common outlet for a chain of small "marsh bordered and 4 odorous" lakes in Orion Township. By damming the creek, the water level was raised and the six small lakes to the west were united into a single body of water. The largest in the township, this mile-wide body of water was first known as Canandaigua Lake and later as Lake Orion. The outlet at Paint Creek provided an abundant energy source for several early industries, and it helped establish the settlement here as the region's primary trade center in the early nineteenth century.

Since mills provided the power to operate machinery, they were an important asset in pioneer days. Mills were frequently among the first businesses established in early settlements and they sprang up wherever there was sufficient power to drive their wheels. In 1820 there were already thirty-two mills in Oakland County, more than any 5 other county in the state. Munson's sawmill near the Decker settlement three miles south of Orion was the first one built in the township in 1825. The first sawmill within the village limits was built in 1829 by Needham Hemingway and Jesse Decker ori the north side of Paint Creek near the dam on Bigler's land (below the current spillway and immediately inside the southwest district boundaries). The mill was burned in 1832 and rebuilt later that year by Hemingway, who by that time had become the sole owner of the property. A log house for the sawyer was also built nearby.

In 1837 Hemingway built a grist mill below the sawmill at Lake Orion. To provide adequate power for the mill, the dam across Paint Creek was raised twelve feet. Following an especially strong storm the dam collapsed , causing so much damage along the valley downstream that an injunction was served restraining the owner from rebuilding 3 Young, p. 200. 4 Orion Weekly Review [Lake Orion, Ml], "Review Records Fifty Years of Progress," 18 December 1931 , p. 1. 5 A.P. Adler, Oakland County: Making it Work in Michigan (Chadsworth, CA: Windsor Publications, 1990), p. 16. it. In the meantime, however, the water in the mill pond and standing pools left from the flood became so stagnant 6 "there was great danger of miasmatic diseases decimating the country." As a result, the injunction was set aside and in one day the dam was rebuilt by local volunteers. Until the mid-1830s these three buildings near the Paint Creek dam were about all that comprised the settlement, but the success of the mills "ushered in a boom that gave 7 early Orion at least a permanent habitation and a name." The former mill site at 120 S. Broadway (Photo 29) represents the extreme southwest corner of the historic district. It is significant within the district for the information it may yield about the community's earliest settlement and industry.

Establishing and Incorporating the Village

As the mills flourished, more settlers were drawn to the area, and the boundaries of the present village began to become defined. The first plat in the vicinity of Lake Orion was made in 1836 by a traveling auctioneer and flimflammer named James Stilson. Stilson purchased forty acres of swampy land along the lake shore (southwest of the historic district boundaries) and parceled it into a paper city he named New Canandaigua. Upon inspection, many of Stilson's investors left in disgust - having been promised a fully developed waterfront community with graded streets, fine buildings, wharves, parks, and numerous other public amenities - but others were attracted by the area's natural attributes and were eager for the opportunities they presented. Although it was later replatted, a post office by the name of New Canandaigua served the community from 1838 until 1854, when it was renamed Orion.

Needham Hemingway filed the first plat for Orion in 1838. The plat was comprised of thirty-four blocks and it was laid in a rectilinear grid that fell less than five hundred feet north of Stilson's plat for New Canandaigua. The main north-south road in Hemingway's plat was what is now called Anderson Street. Two large lots straddling Paint Creek south of Front Street - the location of the dam and mill race - were reserved for water privileges. The State Road from Lapeer to Rochester passed diagonally across the plat from the northwest on Elizabeth Street to the southeast corner of the plat, where it turned due east at Flint Street (then called Main Street) through the Perrysburgh Addition. The entirety of Hemingway's plat falls within the district boundaries, and comprises most of its area.

Orion's second plat, the Perrysburgh Addition, was dedicated later in 1838 by John Perry. There were thirty-two lots in the plat, which covered four blocks and eventually became an extension of the village to the east. Perry's lots were more generously apportioned than Hemingway's, and his streets were oriented at an angle to follow the path of the State Road. As a result, the Hemingway and Perry plats did not directly align. It was said that "because of a grudge [the two plats were] purposely misjoined .. .causing, in consequence, the pleasantly abrupt right and left 8 turns eastward from Broadway" that are still part of the street grid. Although there are no records to substantiate this claim, the Hemingway and Perrysburgh plats nevertheless merged and, with Jesse Decker's addition south of

6 S.W. Durant, Historv of Oakland County, Michigan (Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co., 1877), p. 257. 7 J .Y. Clark, Clark Family Historv (privately published, 1922). From the collection of the Orion Historical Society, Lake Orion, MI. 8 J .Y. Clark, Orion Weekly Review [Lake Orion, Ml], "Lake Orion in the Making," n.d . 9 Paint Creek, were incorporated as the Village of brion in 1859. Half of the Perrysburgh Addition is included in the historic district, along the eastern boundary.

Early Transportation and Commerce

The early network of trails and roads in Oakland County was of singular importance to Orion's emergence as a trade center in the nineteenth century. Early roadways provided the critical market access that allowed commerce in Orion to grow. The original inhabitants of this region - the Nipissing tribe of the Ottawas - established several routes through Oakland County that were later incorporated into the nineteenth- and twentieth-century transportation systems. In 1832 the State Road from Detroit to Lapeer via Rochester was authorized by the territorial government along the former Nipissing Trail in northeast Oakland County. This became a major route for teamsters carrying lumber from the Thumb region to Pontiac and Detroit. The State Road was routed through the village from Elizabeth to E. Flint by way of local streets until 1938, when it was realigned as M-24 to bypass the central business district.

The road from Pontiac to Orion also followed an existing Indian trail as a branch of what later became the Saginaw Turnpike. By the 1840s the road was covered with heavy wooden planking, but when the plank road finally became impassable from the weight of wagon traffic, it was covered with gravel. Improvements were subsidized in part by tolls, which were collected at two locations on the route. A stage line provided transport between neighboring communities on the route, and also served as a feeder for existing rail lines before their arrival in Orion. The Pontiac road entered Orion from the south at Broadway (then called Market Street). The intersection of these two regional thoroughfares at Broadway and Flint streets became the center of Orion's commercial district, which it remains to this day.

With the improvement of land transportation and early development of milling capability, businesses were attracted to the settlement on the lake, and Orion's economy began to expand in the 1830s. Thomas Abernathy was licensed in 1836 to keep a tavern, which was first located in the log cabin next to Hemingway's sawmill. When the cabin outlived its usefulness, David Shadbolt constructed a larger building on the site called the Orion House, and Abernathy opened a hotel on the north side of town. A large factory was built on the south side of Paint Creek by E.R. Emmons in 1856, and when Hemingway's mill was again destroyed by fire, Emmons bought the site and gained full control of Orion's water power. Emmons equipped his factory with new equipment and in 1868 began operating a grist mill, which had a capacity of 75 barrels of flour per day. 10

The saloon and hotel businesses were also robust. Beginning around 1835, large numbers of teamsters from the Saginaw Valley traveled the State Road through Orion carrying loads of lumber to Pontiac and Detroit. As a stopping point on that trip, Orion (then New Canandaigua) was known to teamsters as Dogway and was "as rough a town as could be, and gambling and drunkenness held high carnival." Businesses catering to this clientele were highly transient, as "any Tom, Dick or Harry who could scrape up enough money to buy a cow would open a meat

9 Decker's addition, platted in 1858, encompassed thirteen blocks on the site of New Canandaigua. 10 Durant, p. 257. 11 market. Lots of money passed over the counter while the cow lasted and then business went to the wall." The business district had "no sidewalks, muddy streets, no lights, [and] poorly built frame buildings" that were regularly 12 leveled by fire. Regardless, there was steady economic growth throughout the rest of the 1840s and 50s.

One small commercial node was briefly established at the south end of the Perrysburgh plat near Paint Creek. Before 1840 it was the site of a cider mill, blacksmith shop, and cooper shop. According to local historians, it was also the site of the region's first brickyard. People came from all over the township to buy brick from Mathias Varhite at his brickyard in Perrysburgh. Despite its early start, however, the village center "whirled slowly westward 13 toward the lake and its present location" in Hemingway's plat. Most commercial activity occurred along Broadway (then Market Street) between Front and Shadbolt streets, which remains the heart of today's business district. Robert Jarvis and Paul Rice opened the first general store in 1838, and three blacksmith shops were opened around the same time. In September of 1839 a post office was opened in the general store under the name New 14 Canandaigua. Jarvis was the first postmaster, and the office received semi-weekly mail. A second store was opened in 1842 by Simeon Andrews. By 1857 the local tradesmen included one pastor; two attorneys; three merchants; three grocers; one cabinet maker; two physicians; one wagon maker; one harness maker; two boot and 15 'shoemakers; two hotel keepers; two blacksmiths; and six carpenters and j.oiners .

Education

Parallel with economic advancements, other institutional improvements served as the basis for long-term community growth. Education, for instance, was strongly supported by the settlers of this region, many of whom 16 came from the Eastern states, where "learning was equated with godliness, and ignorance with deviltry." Most teaching during the territorial period was done in private schools for students at the elementary level. Around 1830 the children of Orion Township went to school in the home of Samuel Eaton in Decker's Settlement. In 1834 a log schoolhouse was built closer to Orion on the land of Elijah Clark, which served for some years, but in 1841 Loren Treat successfully petitioned the state for a public school within the village boundaries. Built in 1844, it was "one of 17 the best schools in the county." The schoolhouse was "quite a pretentious frame house for those times" and was later converted to a private residence that still stands at 105 E. Church Street. 18

In 1868 the first of three schools was built on the hill at the top of Elizabeth and Lapeer streets, the highest point in the village and the extreme northwest corner of the historic district. It was replaced in 1893 with a larger two-story brick school, and again in 1927 with the current structure at 55 Elizabeth Street. Called the Elizabeth Street School (Photo 1), it was designed to hold five hundred students, although additions in 1934 and 1940 increased the

11 Clark, "Orion in the Making," p. 10. 12 Ibid. . 13 Clark, "Lake Orion in the Making," p. 10. 14 P.M. Scott, Orion Since 1818 (Lake Orion : Orion Township Library Board, 1976), 7. 15 F. Hess, Map of Oakland County. Michigan (Cincinnati: S. H. Burhans, 1857). 16 Dunbar, p. 191 . 17 Durant, p. 258. 18 T .D. Seeley, History of Oakland Countv. Michigan (Chicago and New York: Lewis Publishing Co., 1912), p. 441 . capacity of the school as student enrollment grew. The Elizabeth Street School housed kindergarten through twelfth grades until1950, when an elementary school was built on the east side of town (outside the historic district).

In 1952 all the schools in Orion Township were consolidated into the Lake Orion Community School District. Population increases required a continuing program of building. Financing that construction was one of the critical problems at that time. The junior and senior high school students continued at the Elizabeth Street School until 1957, when the high school on Scripps Road was built (outside the historic district). The old building was subsequently used for a variety of education and youth services, but the school district has since sold the school. It is now known as the Fred C. Ehman Center.

Religion

Traveling missionaries were the first to spread the gospel in remote locations, and services were traditionally held in the homes of prominent settlers as opportunity allowed. The great influx of settlers in the 1830s brought many 19 Methodists to the state, along with other Protestant groups. As early as 1825, the sparsely-settled areas of Orion Township were visited by Baptist and Methodist circuit riders. The first to preach on a regular basis was a Methodist by the name of Reverend Frazer in 1831-32. In 1833 a society of Congregationalists was formed in the area, and in 1844 a Presbyterian congregation was established.

In frontier settlements where population was dispersed, it was common for different denominations to combine resources and build a single church for all to share. Under this arrangement, they could separate from the union as the congregations grew and build their own house of worship. In 1854 the Congregationalists, Presbyterians and Methodists built a common church in Lake Orion, the first church in the township. The Union Church at 21 E. Church Street (Photo 4) was described as "a neat frame church .. .complete in all its arrangements."20 A session room and kitchen were added in 1877. Sunday mornin~ services were held by the Congregationalists, while Sunday afternoons were reserved for Methodist services.2 When the Methodists built their own church in 1873, the Union Church was renamed the Congregational Church. The Congregationalists disbanded in the early 1900s for lack of members, but in 1921 they deeded the property to the Baptists for one dollar. When the Baptists built a new church in 1972, the Village of Lake Orion purchased the building for use as council chambers, village offices, and a police station. The Apostolic Church occupied the building for several years, but it was sold in 1988 to Orion Township for use as a community and senior center, which it remains to this day. The church was listed in the Michigan State Register in 1979.

The United Methodist Church was built in Lake Orion in 1873. The church was described as "an imposing structure 22 [with] three rooms below and a handsomely finished audience-room above." It was originally located at the west end of Flint Street near the Detroit & Bay City Railroad line, which was completed the year before. The threat of fire from the sparks ignited by passing trains and the noise at the neighboring railroad station contributed to the 19 Dunbar, p. 193. 20 Durant, p. 258. 21 A.A. Hagman (editor), Oakland County Book of History, 1820-1970 (Oakland County, MI. 1970), p. 412. 22 Durant, p. 258. 23 decision to move the church. In 1901 the church was moved three blocks east to its present location at 140 E. Flint Street. Several additions were made in the 1980s. In 1972 the church was listed in the Michigan State Register of Historic Sites.

The Lake Orion branch of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was organized in 1916 with ten charter members. Meetings were held in the Grange Hall at 103 N. Broadway Avenue (Photo 13), which was purchased by the congregation in 1919 and owned until 1945, when they moved to another location and the building was adapted to commercial uses.

Government

Orion Township was first established as part of Oakland Township in 1820, and was made part of Pontiac Township in 1828. Finally, it was organized as a separate township and named Orion in 1835 by the Legislative Council of Michigan Territory. The first township meeting was held in April of that year in the home of Jesse Decker, who was elected Township Supervisor at the annual salary of two dollars. Township officials at that time were responsible for assessing property, collecting taxes, land surveys, road improvements, law enforcement, and school oversight. The original records of township government prior to 1877 were destroyed over the years but, according to other sources, the elected officers included nearly every landholder of means in the area. Many of their names are today assigned to streets and subdivisions in the village.

The post office at the mouth of Paint Creek was named New Canandaigua until 1854, when it was formally changed to Orion. J.A. Treat wrote in 1911 that it was his father, Loren Treat, who named Orion when he served as postmaster for the community "because it was short, handy to write and altogether lovely, it being the finest constellation in the heavens."24 Orion was incorporated as a village in 1859, but the charter was repealed by the legislature in 1863 following a fire that effectively leveled the business district. The downtown was quickly rebuilt and the village reincorporated in 1869. Following several amendments to its charter, it was again reincorporated in 1891 . By public referendum the name of the village was changed to Lake Orion in 1928.

In 1900 the current village hall was built at 37 E. Flint Street (Photo 21 center). The building was designed to house the fire department on the first floor and the town hall on the second floor. A large arched doorway opening on the ground floor originally provided access for horse-drawn, hand-pumped equipment, and a tower on the roof housed a large iron triangle used to summon the firefighters. An adjoining concrete block building on the west side of the town hall housed the horses and stored feed. The first gasoline-powered fire engine was purchased and housed here in 1910, following a major downtown fire. The village fire department was established the following year. In 1972 the village offices were relocated to the Union Church at 21 E. Church Street. In 1980 the town hall was renovated and the adjoining garage was replaced with a one-story addition and arcaded front courtyard. The village offices, council chamber, and police department returned to the current site in 1981 . Orion's town hall was listed in the Michigan State Register of Historic Sites in 1981. 23 S.A. Wuest, Orion Township Sesquicentennial Starring 150 Years. 1835-1985 (Sherman Publications, 1985) p. 23. 24 Originally written in the 28 July 1911 issue of the Orion Weekly Review, and reprinted in the Golden Anniversary Edition of the paper on 18 December 1931 . (Rev. 10-90)

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service

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Lake Orion Historic District Oakland County, Ml The Detroit & Bay City Railroad Arrives

Railroads provided shipping options and wider access to markets and goods than were available in Orion by road alone. In 1872 the Detroit & Bay City Railroad (which was leased to and became part of the Michigan Central system) was completed to Orion. The railroad followed the same general line as the State Road, but was routed to the west edge of town and over the dam at Paint Creek, which was substantially reinforced as part of the construction. Rail shipments went primarily to Flint and Detroit. The coming of the railroad stimulated local business, and presented vast opportunities for recreation and resort development that would be realized over the next fifty years. More immediately, it connected the rich farm lands of Oakland County with Detroit and provided an 25 outlet for an increasingly productive agricultural market in Orion Township, with Orion its principal shipping point.

For over a century, agriculture was the backbone of Michigan's economy, swelling from 4.4 million cultivated acres 26 in the 1850s to over 19 million acres at its peak in 1920. Because Oakland County was one of the first to be settled, it contained more cleared land than any other in Michigan during the nineteenth century. It also boasted 27 more farm acreage than any other county and was a leading agricultural producer in the state. Its chief products were wheat, potatoes, wool, cheese , butter and pork, but as early as 1873 the county's orchards were also producin@ apples and cherries for the region. By 1920 farms covered eighty percent of the land in Oakland 2 County.

Early settlers found the land in Orion Township nearly all forested, but as soon as the land was cleared, a system of general agriculture was developed. The land proved to be ideally suited to wheat cultivation, but corn, oats, rye and 29 potatoes later came to be profitable field crops as well. The first known crop of any size was planted by Jesse Decker, who seeded three acres to wheat in 1826 "and began some improvements which gave character to the 30 neighborhood" including in 1830 the first frame barn in the township. Within a decade "the surrounding country 31 had quite a sprinkling of farms and the neighborhood trade was considerable." The Grange Hall at 103 N. Broadway (Photo 13) was built in 1881 as a social outlet and gathering place for area farmers; it was used as such until around 1916, when the building was leased and then sold to the Church of the Latter-Day Saints.

Local dairy operations also prospered at this time. In 1877, area dairymen formed the Oakland County Butter and Cream Association . The purpose of the Association was "to furnish a superior quality of butter for the Detroit 32 market [and] to ship pure milk and manufacture cheese." Under the leadership of David B. Swayze and Payne

25 Durant, p. 257. 26 Michigan Land Use Leadership Council, Timeline of Michigan's Development and Settlement, accessed 2005 at 0http://www.michiganlanduse.org/resources/councilresourcesffimeline_ M I_Dev_Settlement. pdf>. Hagman, p. 32. 28 Adler, p. 19. 29 Dunbar, p. 172. 30 Durant, p. 255. 31 Seeley, p. 443. 32 Durant, p. 239. 33 Axford, a creamery was built in Orion "with the most approved apparatus." The association soon became a major supplier of the county's dairy needs.

The resort industry was a boon to local farmers in the late nineteenth century. Many hotels and restaurants were established in Lake Orion to serve thousands of visitors during the summer months, and farmers delivered wagon loads of produce to meet their needs. As late as 1941, the village of Lake Orion was still essentially a country market center and depended for its local trade on "the productive surrounding country, which yielded fair 34 crops of grain, fruit, potatoes and general farm produce." But in the 1950s Oakland County experienced the greatest rate of population growth of any county in the state. Most of it took place in unincorporated township areas. By the 1970s Orion Township had become a bedroom community to Pontiac, and working farms were almost entirely converted to residential subdivisions for the growing suburban population.

Lake Orion's Resort Era

In addition to supplying the village with goods, railroad and interurban access also helped establish Lake Orion as the centerpiece of a booming summer resort industry at the end of the nineteenth century. Visitors from Detroit and other urban areas were attracted by the lake and surrounding countryside and the short trip by rail or interurban made it an ideal place for excursions. Recognizing the potential for capturing this trade, E.R. Emmons created a small park on the northeast lakeshore for picnicking in 1874, and he operated a small excursion boat to islands around the lake. In the same year, the Orion Park Association purchased nearby Park Island, where they built a large reception/dance hall, an eighty-foot observation tower, and an outdoor amphitheatre with seating . Visitors came for Lake Orion's "natural scenic beauty and the irresistible charm of miles of cool, wooded shores, numerous beautiful islands, hundreds of acres of pure, clear water, and a variety of wholesome amusements and recreation."35 The Orion Park Association sponsored picnics and entertainment, and big celebrations on the summer holidays that drew thousands of visitors. Trains ran four times daily through Orion, and lakeside cottages were quickly built to accommodate the growing summer population. While most of the development occurred outside the boundaries of the historic district, these lakeside activities generated considerable revenue and positive exposure for businesses and residents in the village.

Lake Orion became one of the most popular resorts in southeastern Michigan. One of the major attractions at the end of the century was the chautauqua, which provided a mix of popular education and entertainment in plays, concerts and lectures. In 1898 the Assembly Resort Association was organized to create a permanent assembly ground for religious conventions and educational programs in Lake Orion. The Assembly Resort Association purchased Bellevue Island near the south shore of Lake Orion and built a bridge to the island, constructed a large auditorium, cut a canal to the island interior, and within a year built one hundred cottages on the island. The crowds were huge, especially after the first interurban line from Detroit was completed in 1900, and then extended to Flint in 1901 . 33 Durant, p. 239. 34 Seeley, p. 443. 35 Lake Orion Summer Homes Co. and Detroit Chamber of Commerce, undated pamphlet titled "Say Yes to Lake Orion," from the collection of the Michigan State Archives. For a few years Lake Orion was known as "The Chautauqua of Lower Michigan," but the financial commitment was overwhelming to the owners, and the last camp meeting was held around 1909. Still, the resort was firmly established by this time and other activities continued unabated. In 1911 the Summer Homes Company purchased Park Island and built an amusement park there that included a dance hall, amphitheater, skating rink, penny arcade, roller coaster, and other rides. Next to it was a bathing beach with bathhouses, a dock with diving boards, and the largest water slide in Michigan. Orion's heyday as a resort town abruptly ended in the first years of the Depression, but the amusement park remained in operation until it was finally closed in the 1940s. The park was finally demolished following a fire in 1955.36

Development of the Business District

Fire was a formative element in the physical evolution of Lake Orion's core area, beginning with the 1862 fire that resulted in the revocation of Orion's first charter. Most of the business district was destroyed by fire in 1874, but the arrival of the railroad and the influx of money from the resort industry in Lake Orion began a new period of commercial growth and reinvestment. Many of the businesses destroyed by the fire were quickly rebuilt, and new 37 ones were created by businessmen that were eager to capitalize on the growing economy. Only a few commercial buildings that survived the 1874 fire are still standing: the Lake Orion Post Office at 18 S. Broadway (1854), the Bradford Building at 33. S. Broadway (c. 1850), and the Smalley Building at 27 E. Shadbolt (c. 1872, Photo 14). Astoundingly, the latter two buildings are wood framed.

Among those constructed after the 1874 fire, most commercial buildings were one- or two-story brick structures with traditional glass storefronts at street level. These include: the Korner Drugstore at 2. S. Broadway (1881, Photo 25); the Berridge Building at 27 S. Broadway (1881, Photo 27); the Parker Feed Store at 47 S. Broadway (c. 1880); the Curtis Building at 51-59 S. Broadway (c. 1880); the Davis Building at 30-32 N. Broadway (1884); the Belles Building at 2-12 W. Flint (1881); the French Building at 16 W. Flint (1881); the Orion State Bank at 22-24 W . Flint (1881); and Barney's Tavern at 36 W. Flint (c. 1880). There are also two purpose-built commercial buildings from this era that do not represent the typical storefront configuration. The Cady House at 35-37 N. Broadway (ca. 1875), a wood-framed building, was originally constructed as a boarding house and later became a single-family residence and offices. The Cataract House at 54 S. Broadway (1881), the "tallest" building in the downtown area, is a three-story brick hotel that was listed in the Michigan Register of Historic Sites in 1983 (Photo 28 on right) . It still operates for multi-unit residential use.

Fire damaged portions of the village again in 1894, 1901, and 1902, and resulted in the construction of the King Building at 4-12 N. Broadway (1899); the Beemer & Carleton General Store at 12 S. Broadway (c. 1902); the Nolan Building at 17 E. Flint (c. 1900); and the Charlton Building at 27 E. Flint (c. 1900). In 1910 a fire destroyed the wood-framed Commercial Hotel at the southeast corner of Broadway and Flint Street, along with two buildings to the south of it (Photo 26). The Van Wagoner Building (3 S. Broadway) was built on the site of the hotel in 1912; Lake Orion's first movie house (11 S. Broadway) was built next to it in 1913, and the one-story Kessel Building (17

36 Scott, p. 21. 37 Scott, p. 12. S. Broadway) in 1910. The 1912 concrete block Van Wagoner Building was re-skinned in c. 1950 with the current Moderne veneer (Photo 24 ).

Other civic improvements in the downtown area reflected the prosperity of the time, and signaled the maturing status of the community. In the mid-1880s wooden sidewalks were installed throughout the village, and streets in the commercial district were re-graded to provide gutters. The first telephone lines were installed in 1882, and by 1887 a telephone exchange was established connecting downtown businesses. In 1915 a municipal water works was built, and in 1930 a new well for more adequate fire protection was added. When the Emmons grist mill on Paint Creek was burned in 1901, the Assembly Resort Association purchased the water power rights. As the Orion Light & Power Company, they built a small generating plant on the south side of the creek and in 1906 installed the first streetlights in the village. The generating plant was purchased by the Detroit Edison Company in 1912. In 1926 the company built a substation at 215 E. Church Street, a textbook example of the Tudor Revival style (Photo 6).

In addition to tourism, Orion also emerged as a major producer of ice in the early twentieth century. Ice houses were scattered throughout Orion Township on all the major lakes. The first in Orion was the Pittman & Dean Company, which built elaborate ice cutting and storage facilities just north of the village on Long Lake in 1906. The Hacker & Mackrohdt Company built their ice plant in the center of town in 1911 . Both companies furnished employment to local residents in the winter, and in the summer the ice was sent to Detroit and Flint by streetcar or train . The industry prospered until the coming of mechanical refrigeration in the mid-twenties, and in the 1930s nearly all the local ice houses were torn down. No buildings associated with that industry are still standing in the historic district. There is also no known evidence of a short-lived tile and brick works that was established in 1884.

Residential Development Before 1900

The residential areas in the historic district did not experience the same purging influence of fires as the commercial district. Instead, the major building episodes were more closely associated with economic trends and social developments. As a result, a full range of architectural styles and types are represented in the neighborhoods of the district today, dating from the 1840s to the 1950s.

According to the reminiscences of an early settler, "not a soul lived in Orion village" when the family arrived in the 38 area in 1831 . The first frame building in the village was located on the north side of town and was operated by Thomas Abernathy as a hotel in the mid-1830s. In 1842 the first brick building in the area was also constructed on the north side of the village (at the southwest corner of Elizabeth and Lapeer streets and the northwest district boundary) with materials from the brickyard of Mathias Varhite in the Perrysburgh Addition .39 Neither building remains standing.

38 J.Y. Clark Clark Family History. 39 The house was razed around 1927 to make way for the present Elizabeth Street School. By 1860 there were sixty-three families residing within the village limits. The preponderance of homes were then located in Hemingway's original plat along Lapeer, Broadway, and Anderson streets, with more scattered sites also occurring to the northeast, and at the southeast corner of the plat along Front and Flint streets. Homes within the district that were built before 1872 include the Sims house at 218 N. Anderson (c. 1840, Photo 7); the Bradford house at 207 N. Broadway (1842, Photo 10); the Ferguson house at 325 N. Broadway (c. 1860, Photo 3); the Warner house at 44 W. Jackson (c. 1869); the Kessel house at 29 S. Slater (c. 1850); the Gardner house at 8 N. Washington (c. 1840); the Beemer house at 108 N. Washington (c. 1866); and the Predmore house at 218 N. Anderson (c. 1840, Photo 7).

In 1874 the railroad and resort industry introduced a new era of economic prosperity and population growth in Orion. Along with this, the first in a rapid succession of nine subdivisions was dedicated 1881 on the west side of the rail line (outside the district boundaries). Most of these subdivisions were platted along the shoreline or the islands of Lake Orion, where they were intended primarily for seasonal use. However, residential development also intensified within the existing village boundaries with the expansion of employment opportunities at that time, and roughly thirty blocks were platted to the south and southeast of E. Flint Street in 1884.

Within the historic district over forty homes were built between 1870 and 1900. Many were high-style homes of local businessmen or professionals, such as the Belles house at 347 N. Broadway (1884); the Anderson house at 106 E. Flint (1898); the Letts house at 209 E. Flint (1884, Photo 20); the Wieland house at 45 N. Lapeer (1899, Photo 12); the Charlton house at 107 N. Lapeer (1872); the Tunison house at 242 N. Anderson (1900, Photo 5); the Webb house at 129 E. Church (c. 1887); and the Kitchen house at 144 N. Washington (c. 1880). Others belonged to tradesmen or general workers, and were typically modestly embellished vernacular types such as the Willis- Byrnes house at 129 E. Shadbolt (1896) which was listed in the Michigan Register of Historic Sites in 1977 (Photo 16); the Axford house at 205 E. Shadbolt (1889); the Groover house at 351 E. Shadbolt (c. 1870); the Stoddard house at 45 E. Jackson (c. 1890, Photo 8); the Dernberger house at 305 N. Broadway (1884); and the Smalley house at 244 N. Slater (c. 1870).

Residential Development After 1900

Although the township continued to attract a large summer recreation population, more permanent settlement was 40 also starting to occur in the early twentieth century. Over sixty homes were constructed in Lake Orion's historic district between 1900 and 1930, when the Depression halted construction of almost every kind . House types from this period ran the gamut from high-style Late Victorian homes to middle-class bungalows. Examples from early in the century include the Philips House at 222 N. Broadway (c. 1900, Photo 9); the Neal house at 210 N. Broadway (c. 1901); the Losey house at 330 N. Anderson (c. 1910); the Henderson house at 245 N. Broadway (c. 1900); the Haseley house at 211 E. Church (c. 1910); the Meade house at 241 E. Flint (1913); the Stanaback house at 305 E. Jackson (1908); and the Ross house at 43 E. Shadbolt (1905, Photo 15).

40 Scott, p. 21 . (Rev. 10-90)

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET

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Lake Orion Historic District Oakland County, Ml Later within this time period, the American Foursquare was a dominant subtype. Examples exhibiting a high degree of integrity include the Close house at 51 S. Anderson (c. 1910); the Cascaddan house at 129 N. Anderson (c. 1905); the Hathaway house at 77 W. Church (c. 1910); the Nelson house at 240 E. Flint (1915); the Parker house at 105 E. Jackson (c. 1905); the Genereux house at 317 E. Jackson (c. 1920); the Hemingway house at 347 E. Jackson (1921); and the Chapin house at 306 N. Washington (c. 1910). Also well represented in the district are bungalows and Craftsman homes, including the Wright house at 242 E. Church (c. 1929); the Reid house at 228 E. Flint (c. 1920); the Gates house at 217 N. Lapeer (c. 1920); the Stitt house at 249 N. Lapeer (1921 ); the Stone house at 122 E. Shadbolt (c. 1915); the Cochran house at 325 E. Shadbolt (c. 1920); the Conn house at 335 E. Shadbolt (c. 1920); the Stephen house at 24 N. Washington (c. 1915); the Lyons house at 43 N. Slater (1924, Photo 19); and the Hall house at 336 N. Washington (c. 1920). Most bungalows are located on the east side of Hemingway's plat and in the Perrysburgh Addition .

In 1933 the Assessor's Plat No. 1 was dedicated, encompassing a large area north of the Perrysburgh Addition from Jackson to Cedar Bend Drive, and east from Florence to Schorn. A number of pre-existing homes outside the eastern boundary of the original village plat were incorporated into the new subdivision. Ten buildings along the eastern boundary of the historic district are included in Plat No. 1. Over the next twenty-three years (in 1944, 1955 and 1961) parts of this addition would be re-platted into smaller lots for tract homes, the scale of which is inconsistent with the previous lot dimensions.

Twentieth Century Transportation and Suburbanization

The railroad and interurban helped transform the northern Oakland County resort region into a highly mobile community in the first quarter of the twentieth century, and Lake Orion fell into the expanding sphere of the Detroit metropolitan area during that period.41 With the growing popularity of the automobile, the rural landscape was even more profoundly changed. In 1905 the voters of the state approved an amendment to the state constitution to authorize state aid to roads, thus opening the way for Michigan's modern highway system. 42 In 1913 the State Trunk Line Act was passed by the state legislature, which provided for a network of through highways in Michigan 43 to replace local farm-to-market roads. That year a county road system was adopted in Oakland County. In 1915 a bond issue of one million dollars was approved for construction of roads. Until that time, the main road from Pontiac to Lapeer passed through Orion along Broadway and Elizabeth, but in 1916 the route was shifted to Lapeer Street and designated as State Trunk Line No. 36. The Trunk Line was graveled in 1916, Broadway was paved in 1919, and Flint Street was paved in 1926.

Early twentieth-century road improvements were directly associated with Lake Orion's ultimate suburbanization. According to the Board of County Road Commissions "this system of improved highways has had more to do with the phenomenal growth of Oakland County than any other cause [in that it has] provided easy access to the beautiful lakes and the rolling scenic beauty of the county ... inducing many people from outside our borders to

41 Hagman, p. 36. 42 P.P. Mason, Michigan Highways: From Indian Trails to Expressways (Detroit, 1959), p. 13. 43 1bid. 44 purchase summer homes and to spend considerable time and money in Oakland County." The impact on Orion's commercial core was especially critical. The Trunk Line was paved in 1938, but on a new alignment on the west side of the village. Realignment of the Trunk Line (now M-24) significant~ reduced the number of travelers who 4 stopped in Orion, and attracted businesses away from the downtown area.

A few new commercial buildings were constructed downtown in the 1920s and 30s. Several were auto-related and strategically located on Broadway, which could still easily be accessed from the main highway. Henry Predmore built a filling station at 106 N. Broadway in c. 1920 that operated as Earl Abbey's Service Station for over twenty years. Earl Milliman's Ford dealership was located in the Howarth Building at 102 S. Broadway in the 1920s and 30s (Photo 28). In 1937 Milliman opened another dealership and gas station on the north side of town at 51 N. Broadway, and built a Quonset hut in back for auto repair. A block of buildings at 121-135 S. Broadway was constructed by Earl Speaker between 1920 and 1948 on the site of his father's blacksmith shop. Businesses within the Speaker Block included a hardware store, auto service shop, garage, and car showroom. Other commercial buildings appeared simply through attrition: Sheldon's Restaurant at 16-20 N. Broadway (c. 1930); the Wigg building at 24 N. Broadway (1920); and Stan's Market at 33 N. Broadway (c. 1948).

With the decline of the resort industry and the closure of local ice houses, Orion began to change from a seasonal resort town to a suburban community, and the local economy shifted accordingly. Residents were forced to look outside the community for employment, and in the 1940s many of them found jobs in Pontiac factories as production increased to support the war effort. The boom of the auto industry ten years later made Orion a bedroom community of Pontiac, which was then experiencing an extreme rate of population increase, especially as the suburban movement out of Detroit accelerated. Established on former farmsteads on the fringes of Orion in 1924, the Bunny Run Country Club and the lndianwood Golf and County Club were the first subdivisions in the area to combine recreation and housing, a model that is still favored by local developers. In 1956 M-24 was expanded from a two-lane highway to a four-lane divided highway from Pontiac to Lake Orion. Since then there has been a significant increase in residential and commercial development outside the traditional core area.

44 Board of County Road Commissions, "Ninth Annual Report to the Board of Supervisors of the County of Oakland, State of Michigan," (Oakland County, Ml, 1921), p. 26. 45 Scott, p. 23.

DESCRIPTION

The Lake Orion Historic District includes approximately twenty-six blocks in the Village of Lake Orion. The district boundary roughly encompasses the two earliest platted areas of the village. Its focal point is the intersection at Broadway and Flint Street, which was historically the epicenter of the downtown. When M-24 was rerouted to bypass the business district in 1938, there was a shift in downtown activity, and residential development became increasingly dispersed. The Village of Lake Orion has nevertheless maintained a strong sense of cohesion and self-identity. The period of significance is defined as 1829 to 1956, from the time the first industry in Lake Orion was established to the defined fifty-year threshold for historic consideration.

The historic district includes a total of 280 properties, the vast majority of which are contributing resources. Although many contributing buildings have had some degree of alteration, they still retain their exterior integrity and historic character. Contributing resources within the district include 1 school, 2 churches, 1 site, 140 primary structures, and 77 outbuildings~ Six of those properties were previously listed in the State Register: Lake Orion Methodist Church at 140 E. Flint Street (1972); Lake Orion Community Church at 21 E. Church Street (1979); Cataract House at 54 S. Broadway (1983); Lake Orion Town Hall at 37 E. Flint Street (1981); Joshua C. Predmore House at 244 N. Broadway (1979); and the Willis-Byrnes House at 129 Shadbolt (1977). There are 62 non- contributing resources in the district, including 26 primary structures and 36 outbuildings. Non-contributing resources generally have a high degree of alteration or addition, with changes in siding materials, windows, and porch configuration among the most common alterations observed. In addition, a small number of buildings within the historic district boundary were designated as non-contributing because their construction date falls outside the period of significance.

Lake Orion's downtown commercial district is located in the southwest corner of the historic district, with the majority of the commercial buildings located on Broadway and Flint Street. The commercial district is generally characterized by brick one- or two-story buildings, directly adjoining each other and abutting the sidewalk, each with one or two retail storefronts. Although the commercial district is relatively small, several periods of architectural development can be observed. This variety is due in part to the several fires that have occurred over the years (in 1859, 1862, 1874, 1894, 1902 and 191 0) in portions of the commercial district. When rebuilding occurred after the fires, brick buildings replaced wood frame structures, and the architectural style of the day replaced older styles. Today, styles represented in the commercial area include Commercial ltalianate, Romanesque Revival, Moderne, and simply detailed Commercial Brick buildings. Another notable architectural characteristic of the commercial district is the many examples of commercial buildings that were formerly houses. Most of these buildings are located near the perimeter of the commercial district, and have been altered to varying degrees to accommodate their new use. Examples include a former Gothic Revival house at 46 W. Flint (c. 1870) that is now a hair salon, a large Upright and Wing house at 111 E. Flint (c. 1860) that has been modified for use as a funeral home, and a former brick ltalianate house at 44-46 E. Flint (c. 1880) that has had a large front addition and now houses two retail stores.

The residential area of the Lake Orion Historic District is largely comprised of modest wood frame houses with construction dates ranging from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. According to nineteenth-century plat maps, the oldest homes in the historic district were evenly dispersed throughout the area, with most property owners possessing multiple lots surrounding their homes. As the village grew, newer homes began to fill in the lots between the original homes, creating an interesting mix of architectural styles on each street in the district. Pockets of early to mid-twentieth century houses can be seen in every part of the residential area, but are more heavily concentrated in the northeast corner of the district, which remained undeveloped until the early 1900s, and was not formally platted until 1933. The neighborhoods are now characterized by mature deciduous street trees thatform a canopy over the streets (Photo 2). For the most part, the streets are level, with a gradual ten-foot incline towards the northwest. The site of the former Elizabeth Street School at the northwest corner of the district is the highest point in the downtown area.

Representative Architectural Styles and Types

The Lake Orion Historic District represents a great diversity of architectural scale, form and style, which reflect the various stages of development and the effects of external influences upon the village. Although there are several examples of high-style architecture in the district, many of the homes and commercial buildings have little formal styling, and include examples of standard vernacular forms that are common to Michigan and the greater Midwest. These are interspersed with examples of public, religious, educational, and utility buildings that follow the same idioms. The following describes more specifically the features and attributes of the most common local styles and types in the district.

Vernacular: New England settlers in Southeastern Michigan brought their folk building traditions with them, and many of Lake Orion's homes reflect those traditions. Vernacular house types in the historic district area include Front Gabled, Upright and Wing, 1-House and Gabled Ell. These house types have little stylistic decoration, and are best characterized by type rather than by style. Typical vernacular houses are wood frame, with one or two stories, and a variety of porch configurations.

The Front Gabled house is a dominant urban Folk type that is commonly associated with the Greek Revival style. Front Gabled houses were well suited for narrow lots such as those seen in Lake Orion. Houses of this type are usually narrow, with two stories and a relatively steeply pitched roof. Several examples of the Front Gabled house type can be seen in the district, including the 1861 Neal House at 148 N. Broadway and the c. 1860 house at 326 N. Lapeer. Both of these houses are two stories tall, with prominent front gables and simple detailing.

The Upright and Wing is a compound house type comprised of a taller gable front upright and a lower side-gabled wing. The upright is typically one-and-a-half or two stories tall. The side wing meets the upright below the eaves to form an L or a T, and is one or one-and-a-half stories tall. Like the Front Gabled house, the Upright and Wing was often expressed in the Greek Revival style, as its occurrence coincided with the popularity of that architectural fashion. Unstyled examples were sometimes the product of multiple construction episodes, where a modest 1- House or Hall-and-Parlor might be expanded with the addition of the two-story upright. An example of the Upright and Wing type is the house at 209 E. Jackson (c.1900). The upright portion of the house is one-and-a-half stories, and the wing is one story. A small shed-roofed porch is commonly located at the intersection of the upright and the wing . The Hall-and-Parlor and 1-House are traditional British forms that were readily adaptable to regional conditions, fashions, and changing lifestyles. As a result, they were popular folk types well into the twentieth century. Both are side-gabled, two rooms wide and one room deep. The Hall-and-Parlor is one story tall, and the 1-House is two stories. Rear wings and porch additions are common. The Dernberger House (1884) at 305 N. Broadway is an example of this simple house type. The house is side-gabled and two stories tall, with a simple one-story hip- roofed porch.

The Gabled Ell is a post-Civil War house type that features a one- or two-story gable front with an intersecting gable wing of the same height. Like the Upright and Wing, the footprint of the Gabled Ell is typically l- or T- shaped. Following the Civil War, the growing popularity of balloon framing allowed for cheaper and faster construction, which led to an expansion of folk housing throughout the U.S. The c.1900 Gabled Ell house at 140 E. Jackson is typical of the type, with two-story gables intersecting to form an l shape, and a small shed-roofed porch at the intersection. Another slightly more elaborate example can be seen at 45 E. Jackson. This c.1890 T -shaped Gabled Ell has an octagonal enclosed porch on the fa~ade.

Greek Revival: The Greek Revival was the most popular domestic architectural style between the 1830s and 1860s. large numbers of Greek Revival houses are found in Southeastern Michigan due to the fact that there was a large population growth in the area during the period of the style's popularity. Typical features include low- pitched gabled or hipped roofs, wide cornice trim, and full- or partial-width porches. The historic district has several examples of houses with Greek Revival stylistic elements, including the c. 1840 house at 218 N. Anderson. It is a simple one-and-a-half story, side-gabled house with wide cornice trim, eave returns in the gables, and a pedimented entry porch. The c.1850 house at 29 S. Slater also exhibits these details, with its wide cornice trim and low-pitched gable roof. The Union Church at 21 W. Church Street (1854) has a pedimented porch and front gable, and a wide undecorated frieze band that are typical of Greek Revival architecture.

Gothic Revival: The Gothic Revival style was popularized in the United States through the pattern books of Andrew Jackson Downing. Most of the homes in the style were constructed between 1840 and 1880. Steeply pitched roofs and gables, often with decorative vergeboards, windows that extend into the gables, and one-story porches are common features of the Gothic Revival style. While there are no examples of high-style Gothic Revival in the district, there is nevertheless some evidence of Gothic influence. The Predmore House (1879) at 244 N. Broadway is an Upright and Wing type with steeply pitched gables and vergeboards that are characteristic of the Gothic style. The Warner House (1869) at 44 W. Jackson is a Gabled Ell version that also has decorative vergeboards in the gables, a steeply pitched subsidiary gables, and a one-story partial-width porch that are typical of the style.

ltalianate: The ltalianate style emerged in the 1840s and dominated architectural design in Michigan until 1880. The style was represented in the pages of pattern books, and was adopted in several forms for residential and commercial buildings. Domestic examples often have low-pitched hipped roofs, deep overhanging eaves with brackets, tall arched windows, and a generous porch. Buildings in the ltalianate style are almost always two or three stories tall. The Webb-Coon House at 129 Church Street is a well-restored example of the style. The house is two stories, with a hipped roof and wide bracketed eaves. A full-width, one-story front porch and a bay window on the west elevation also exhibit details of the style.

Several commercial ltalianate buildings can also be seen in the historic district area. Commercial ltalianate buildings share many common features with domestic examples, although they are generally flat-roofed and have accentuated cornices. The French Building (1881) at 22 W . Flint retains much of its original detail, such as a bracketed cornice, segmental arched windows and pedimented window hoods. The former Orion State Bank at 2 S. Broadway was built in 1881 in the ltalianate style. It is a two-story brick building with a corbelled cornice and segmental arched windows with raised brick hood moulds. The Lake Orion United Methodist Church (1872) at 140 E. Flint also presents a number of ltalianate features, such as the decorative pedimented hood moulds and crowns above the windows in the vestibule and sanctuary, and paired brackets beneath the eaves of the church gable and tower.

Romanesque Revival: European Romanesque models were sometimes used for commercial and public buildings in the United States in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. Termed Romanesque Revival, these buildings were of masonry construction and typically featured semi-circular arches for window and door openings. Two examples of this style can be seen in the historic district. The first is the Berridge Building (1881) at 27 S. Broadway. It is a two- story brick commercial building with a storefront on the first story and a large arched window with stained glass on the second story (Photo 27). The second example is the Neo-Romanesque Elizabeth Street School at 55 Elizabeth Street (Photo 1). Built in 1927, it displays large stone compound arched doorways and liberal use of stone detailing.

Second Empire: Popular in the Midwestern states between 1865 and 1885, the Second Empire style imitated the latest French building fashions, and was therefore considered very modern. The style is characterized by its mansard roof with dormers, bracketed cornices, and windows with elaborate surrounds. The Griggs House (1884) at 231 E. Flint Street is the single example of the Second Empire in the historic district (Photo 20). The house is one-and-a-half stories, with a concave mansard roof with pedimented dormers and a bracketed cornice, all textbook features of the style. It also has a wraparound porch with elaborate wood ornamentation in the frieze and balustrade.

Queen Anne: Queen Anne was the dominant style of domestic building between 1880 and 1900, although the style persisted through 1910. Features of the Queen Anne style include an irregular roofline and footprint, patterned wood shingles, projecting oriel and bay windows, towers, balconies, porches and a variety of turned wood ornamentation. The district has a good number of homes built in the Queen Anne style. The Willis-Byrnes House (1896) at 129 E. Shadbolt is a two-story front-gabled house with two porches decorated with spindlework, wood shingles in the gable, and curved brackets below the gable Photo 16). Another example is the Ross House at 43 E. Shadbolt. Built by local carpenter David Stitt in 1905, the house is a two-and-a-half-story, side-gabled Queen Anne with a partial-width hipped porch, one hipped dormer, one gabled dormer, and an oriel window on the second story (Photo 15). The Wieland House at 45 N. Lapeer is also an example of the style (Photo 12). Although smaller, the 1899 house features an engaged tower and an arched partial-width front porch. Prairie: Most Prairie style houses were built between 1900 and 1915, and are common in early twentieth-century suburbs across the Midwest. The style originated in Chicago and soon spread to other cities in the region . Prairie style houses are characterized by their low-pitched hipped or gabled roofs with wide overhanging eaves, horizontal emphasis, and one-story porches with massive square porch supports. The Schick House (1900) at 242 N. Anderson is a front-gabled example of the Prairie style (Photo 5). It is a two-and-a-half-story brick house with a flat-roofed wraparound porch supported by heavy brick posts. The house has wide flared eaves with brackets, and ribbon windows in the gable. The second example of the Prairie style in the district is the Meade House (1913) at 241 E. Flint. It is an asymmetrical, two-and-a-half-story brick house with a hipped roof and a large two-story front gable. The house has several gabled dormers, wide eaves with exposed rafter tails, and decorative half-timbering in the gables.

American Foursquare: Several early prototypes for the American Foursquare appeared in American publications in the 1890s. By the turn of the century, every mail-order company offered variants of the style, and the Foursquare flooded the landscape of the American suburb. One of the most versatile of house types, it was also one of the most popular in the first two decades of the twentieth century. The basic Foursquare is two or two-and- a-half stories tall, has a nearly square floor plan and cube-like massing, sits on a raised foundation, and is capped by a low-pitched hipped roof, often with dormers. On the front elevation, a full-width porch is common. There are many examples of the Foursquare type throughout the historic district. One of the finest examples is the Nelson House at 240 E. Flint Street (Photo 18 in foreground). Built in 1915, the house features a stone foundation and full- width stone porch. The hipped roof with hipped dormers and wide eaves references the related Prairie style. A second example of the American Foursquare is the Hemingway House (1921) located at 347 E. Jackson. It is also two stories, with a hipped roof, hipped dormer and wide eaves. The full-width porch has a closed rail and is supported by large square posts.

Commercial Brick: At the turn of the twentieth century, stylistic trends rejected elaborate and intricately detailed architecture, and building surfaces became simpler and smoother at this time. For commercial applications, one result was the Commercial Brick. A building of this type is characteristically two or three stories tall, with retail space at first-floor lower level and residential space above. It is oriented directly toward the street. Decorative effects are often achieved simply through subtle geometric brick patterning or the use of contrasting colors or textures. Devices such as corbelled cornices and recessed panels, raised parapets, and contrasting trim are selectively applied. Many examples of Commercial Brick buildings can be seen in the commercial district. An example is the Kessell Building at 17 S. Broadway. Built in 1910, it is a one-story brick retail store with corbelling near the roofline and a band of decorative brick above the storefront cornice.

Arts and Crafts/Craftsman: In the early years of the twentieth century, home ownership was becoming a reality for a rapidly-growing middle class, and with it a demand for a small house that would look good even if simply built and furnished . The Arts and Crafts house epitomizes many of the basic tenets of that aesthetic, which favored structural honesty, natural materials, and fine craftsmanship. The Arts and Crafts bungalow is typically one or one- and-a-half stories tall, with a low-pitched gable roof, wide eave overhang with exposed rafter ends, and a deep porch supported by massive battered posts. With its full-width engaged porch, shed dormer and exposed rafter tails, the house at 122 E. Shadbolt (c.1915) demonstrates the Arts and Crafts influence. The Speaker House (c.1921) at 59 N. Washington is another example of the style. It is a one-and-a-half-story, cross-gabled bungalow with an enclosed full-width porch with battered brick piers and wide bracketed eaves.

Dutch Colonial Revival: As the Colonial Revival movement spread, architects sought to expand the vocabulary of that period style. Around 1900, they began to incorporate features of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century dwellings of the Hudson Valley. The Dutch Colonial Revival reached its peak popularity among middle-class urban and suburban families throughout the country in the 1920s. These homes are distinguished by a signature gambrel roof with deep (often flared) eaves. Early examples commonly have front-facing gambrel roofs. By the 1920s, the side-gambrel shape was the most common form, most often with a full-width shed dormer. A side-gambrel example of the Dutch Colonial Revival style is the Flumerfelt-Treinen House (c.1920) at 225 N. Broadway. It is a two-story wood frame house with a full-width shed dormer. A front gambrel version can be seen at 207 N. Slater. The c. 1910 house is one-and-a-half stories with both gambrel and shed dormers. The fac;ade has a one-story flat- roofed porch with a balcony above.

Tudor Revival: Architects designed the first generation of Tudor homes for wealthy clients, but by the early twentieth century the Tudor Revival style was more widely adapted to the middle-class house. The buildings feature steep front-gabled roofs, casement windows, heavy elaborated chimneys, and decorative half-timbering. Brick, stone, wood and stucco - often in combination . . :. are common exterior wall finishes. There are only two examples of the Tudor Revival in the historic district. One is located at 352 E. Shad bolt, and is a c.1920 two-and-a- half-story brick house with areas of stone veneer (Photo 17 on left). The dominant brick front gable has a large chimney, and a smaller stone-clad gable covers the entry door. The second example of Tudor Revival is the Detroit Edison Substation at 215 E. Church (Photo 6). Constructed in 1926, the building adopted the style due to its location in a residential area. The brick building is one-and-a-half stories, with two overlapping gables on the fac;ade. The larger gable has decorative half-timbering, and the entry door is located in the smaller gable.

Moderne: Moderne was popular in the United States between 1930 and 1945. It is characterized by a strong horizontal emphasis, streamlined features, curves and rounded edges, and smooth wall finishes. The single example of Mod erne in the historic district is a commercial building at 3 S. Broadway (Photo 24 ). Originally built in 1912, the two-story building was remodeled in the Moderne style in 1950 and features stucco covered walls, a rounded corner entrance, a flat-roofed corner canopy, and fluted corner detail.