Brighton Area Historical Society

The Michigan State Fair, Fowlerville Fair, Brighton Folk Art Fair and, Sponsored by the Livingston County Agricultural Society, the Agricultural Fair in Brighton. All but the latter are familiar to us.

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If one can correctly tap in the many numbers required, it is possible to talk to someone on the other side of the world within a few seconds.  From many locations or from one’s vehicle a conversation can be held in which the message comes through loudly and clearly.  It is also possible for several […]

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In 1843 The Livingston County Agricultural Society was formed for the purpose of encouragement and advancement of agriculture. This is barely ten years since the first settlers came to this wilderness area. In that short time land was cleared of trees, swamps were drained by digging ditches and the prairie was furrowed by the plow. […]

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Struggling through the wet area in the southeast corner of Genoa Township (at that time the north half of Hamburg Township) around the lake (Lime Lake), it was with relief Henry Earl arrived on higher ground. But what a steep hill to climb! Henry Earl examined the 160 acres he had purchased from the U.S. […]

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The Indians were the first to feel the effects of the migration of people into the Brighton area, the first to be displaced by an influx of newcomers.  Most who have lived here for the past 50 years are very aware of the changes which have taken place more recently.  The flood of people moving […]

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Brighton’s first electric lighting plant was built in 1897 by Carl Conrad.  He installed wiring in local homes virtually free of charge to encourage the use of electricity for lighting and operating small appliances.  On all but moonlit nights, the streets of downtown Brighton were soon illuminated by arched strings of light bulbs.  The Brighton […]

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By the late 1920s it because necessary to consider the construction of another building in which to educate the children of the area, which now included high school pupils from outlying districts.  The story is told that a dispute arose as the location of this school.  To settle the argument, Thomas S. Leigh, school board […]

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The 75th Anniversary issue of the Brighton Argus, printed in 1955, includes many references to earlier events.  Among them was a recounting of an 1880 ball game between Brighton and Fowlerville.  Brighton’s original baseball club was organized as The Maple Leaf Club in 1876.  Its first game that year was played . . . against […]

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Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary- Banking: an establishment for the custody, loan, exchange or issue of money, for the extension of credit and for facilitating the transmission of funds by drafts or bills of exchange.

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July 4th, 1871, 122 years ago, Brightonians, by the 100s, were waiting at the railroad crossing on W. Main.  They were there to celebrate the opening of the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad. They were inpatient; they had been waiting a long time.

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