Occasionally, history is revealed by chance. In early 1983, I happened upon the Anderson family of Glen Echo, Maryland, walking along one of our nature trails. Mrs. Carlotta Anderson was searching for the former site of her grandfathers summer home, called Bulling Waters. Her grandfather was Jo Labadie (1850-1933).
According to available documents and letters from early immigrants, the nucleus of a Roman Catholic Church was in existence upon their arrival in 1832. Children were instructed and services held in private homes until completion of a log church, built in the center of Green Oak Township in 1838. Rev. Father Partrick OKelley for many […]
Michigan Territorys first Protestant congregation was the First Presbyterian Church of Detroit, organized in 1826. From that beginning developed many other Presbyterian churches in the Southeastern Michigan area, including Brighton. Rev. & Mrs. Chauncey Osborne arrived in 1852, to form a new congregation.
Serving as Acting Governor of Michigan before he was 21, Stevens T. Mason, in his address at the convening of the Territorial Council in 1832, encourage the members to consider legislation in support of education for the citizens of the Territory of Michigan. Laws passed almost a quarter century earlier had not been implemented. Even […]
Prior to the advent of sawmills in the area lumber, glass, sash, etc., was drawn by ox team from Ann Arbor or Detroit. A case in point being of Lewis B. Fonda who, in 1832, entered the W ¼ of the SW ¼ of Section 32. In 1834 he erected on it a frame house, […]
The advent of gristmills eliminated the tedious hand grinding of grain which had been necessary to have flour, or the labor and expenses of several days travel to bring it from Detroit or Ann Arbor. Today it is difficult to decide which cake mix or which of dozens of types of bread to select. Following […]
The first Schoolhouse in Brighton was built on the Grand River Trail in 1837. The building was used for about ten years and during that time the Brighton-Genoa Fractional District No. 5 was formed. The village grew, the citizens became dissatisfied with the old building and it was sold. A house on what is now […]
To commemorate the recent progress in the restoration of the old building, it was felt that a summary of the work of the Society’s Old Town Hall Restoration Committee and a short review of the building’s history was appropriate. The Society has been conducting fund raising projects to restore the Hall for future use as […]
Ben Cushing built the Brighton Hotel on the NE corner of Grand River and Main Street, in 1850, at the time of the completion of the planked toll road connecting Detroit with the newly built capital at Lansing. A continual procession of teams and vehicles traversed the road in both directions. Brighton at the half […]
A walk north on the east side of Grand River, in 1870, brought one past the Brighton Hotel (lots 47-48), noting the large barn to the east along East Fitch Street. The M.L. Case store (lot 49) is adjacent, bordering the Martin Wickes store (lot 50) and DuBois blacksmith shop (lot 51). After crossing Mill Street […]
