County note shelf
Washtenaw County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Washtenaw County. This shelf has 11 practical notes and 48 local stories.
59 notes
Read the county shelf
- OutdoorsPittsfield preserved 535 acres across two watershedsPittsfield Township bought a 535-acre landscape in 2002 that straddles the Huron and River Raisin watersheds and protects wetlands, woods, prairie, and a heron colony.
- History and cultureAugusta's first postmaster carried the mail in his hatBefore Augusta Township had a post office building, David Hardy met the Monroe-Ypsilanti mail stage and handed neighbors their letters from his hat.
- History and cultureDixboro is Superior Township's village greenSuperior Township's early Dixboro settlement keeps 1830s houses, a church and schoolhouse, a village green, a farmers market, and Fleming Creek in one small crossroads.
- OutdoorsSalem Township turned 235 farm acres into walking countryThe Salem Township Farm Preserve keeps 235 acres of rolling farmland open with marked walking paths, alongside two smaller woodland and wetland preserves.
- History and cultureLodi's one-room school moved seven miles and teaches againThe 1867 Weber-Blaess schoolhouse left its Lodi Township farm site in 2002 and became a living-history classroom on the Saline school campus.
- History and cultureAn 1815 survey left one Salem buyer 23.5 acres shortSalem Township had to be surveyed again in 1844 after settlers discovered that some purchases were smaller than promised; one supposed 80-acre tract measured only 56.5.
- History and cultureToyota crash-tests cars in York TownshipToyota's York Township R&D campus opened in 2008 and holds what the company calls its only crash-test facility outside Japan.
- OutdoorsSearles Preserve keeps 48 acres wild in Augusta TownshipSearles Nature Preserve protects forest, shrub-carr wetlands, and the headwaters of Stoney Creek on 48.3 acres in Augusta Township.
- History and cultureSaline is named for salt springsNatural salt springs drew people and wildlife long before Saline became a city, then gave the river and community their name.
- OutdoorsSuperior Township is building a 320-acre preserve and farmSuperior Township is turning more than 320 acres into BirdSong Nature Preserve and a community farm through a phased restoration plan.
- History and cultureThe railroad passed Mooreville and made Milan the centerMooreville held York Township's first election and became its early center, but the 1878 railroad chose Milan and shifted the local map.
- OutdoorsTwo Northfield preserves protect 351 acres of woods and old fieldsNorthfield Woods and Arbor Woods combine 351 acres of forest, vernal ponds, farmland, and former fields being restored to grassland and wetlands.
- History and cultureChelsea's clock tower was built to hold 35,000 gallons of waterThe 1907 tower over Chelsea's old Glazier Stove Works was a clock and a water tank in one, built to feed fire hoses for a stove maker who soon went to prison.
- History and cultureGordon Hall: the Greek temple on the hill above DexterThe judge who founded Dexter built a columned Greek Revival mansion on the bluff above town in the 1840s; it's now run by the local historical society.
- History and cultureManchester's Chicken Broil: 10,000 dinners off four 100-foot pitsEvery third Saturday in July, Manchester runs one of the Midwest's biggest single-day charcoal chicken broils, a tradition that dates to 1954.
- History and cultureMilan's Hack House was built with money from a sugar swindleMilan's grandest Victorian, the 1888 Friend-Hack House, was paid for with proceeds from a notorious New York stock fraud and is now the town's museum.
- History and cultureSaline's old Ford plant ran on river water and soybeansOn Saline's west edge, an 1845 gristmill became a Ford 'village industry' in 1938, pressing soybeans into oil for paint and plastic car parts.
- History and cultureSix generations on one Pittsfield farm, now a township museumThe Sutherland-Wilson Farm on Textile Road stayed in one family from 1832 until 2000; Pittsfield Township now keeps it as a historic farm museum.
- History and cultureWebster's 1871 town hall got moved across the cornfieldsWebster Township's 1871 town hall — one of Michigan's oldest in continuous use — was hauled three-quarters of a mile across farm fields in 1997 to save it.
- OutdoorsWhitmore Lake straddles two counties and used to be cottage countryThe 667-acre all-sports Whitmore Lake sits half in Washtenaw and half in Livingston County and was a summer-cottage resort area long before it filled with year-round homes.
- History and cultureYpsilanti has two downtowns, and Depot Town is the old oneYpsilanti grew two commercial cores: Depot Town, the railroad-era district by the old station, and the Michigan Avenue strip across the river.
- History and cultureBOP records Michigan's only federal execution at MilanMichigan ended its death penalty for murder in 1846. BOP records Anthony Chebatoris's 1938 hanging at the federal prison in Milan as Michigan's only legal federal execution.
- OutdoorsRapids, river road, and a trail that keeps growing: Scio's Huron riverfrontScio Township's stretch of the Huron River has Delhi Metropark's rapids, canoe launches, and newly built miles of the Border-to-Border Trail.
- Home and propertyBuying in Ann Arbor's Old West Side? Check the local historic-district rulesAnn Arbor's Old West Side is a local historic district, so exterior work goes through the city's Historic District Commission process.
- Money and taxesBuying in the city of Ypsilanti? No income tax — but the city's still paying off a big debtYpsilanti has no city income tax, but its Water Street redevelopment debt still shapes the city's budget and tax picture.
- History and cultureChelsea's Purple Rose Theatre, founded by Jeff DanielsJeff Daniels founded Chelsea's Purple Rose Theatre Company to develop new American plays and Midwestern voices.
- Money and taxesDexter used to be a village in two townships — becoming a city in 2014 simplified the taxesDexter became a city in 2014, ending its old village-plus-township tax setup and unifying local government.
- Money and taxesDoes Ann Arbor have a city income tax? No — but the question keeps coming backAnn Arbor has no city income tax, but voters and city leaders have revisited the idea several times over the years.
- Money and taxesHow the University of Michigan shapes Ann Arbor — including your tax billThe University of Michigan drives Ann Arbor's economy, housing demand, culture, and a long-running property-tax-base debate.
- History and cultureJiffy: the little blue box made only in ChelseaEvery box of Jiffy mix comes from Chelsea, where the Holmes family has run Chelsea Milling Company for generations.
- Money and taxesManchester became a city in 2023 — what that changedManchester became a city in late 2023, leaving Manchester Township and moving tax collection, assessing, and elections into one city government.
- Rules and licensesRenting in Ann Arbor? It has some of Michigan's strongest tenant protectionsAnn Arbor inspects rentals and has city rules around renewals, application fees, and tenant screening.
- History and cultureThe Ypsilanti Water Tower: 1890 landmark on the city's highest hillYpsilanti's 1890 limestone water tower is a National Register landmark, a local icon, and a famously suggestive piece of civic infrastructure.
- Rules and licensesThinking about an Airbnb in Ann Arbor? The rules are strictAnn Arbor has strict short-term rental rules, especially for whole-home rentals in residential neighborhoods.
- History and cultureWhat Dexter Cider Mill's 'oldest' claim meansDexter Cider Mill dates to 1886 and calls itself Michigan's oldest continuously operating cider mill — a narrower claim than simply having the oldest mill history.
- History and cultureA B-24 Bomber Rolled Out of a Michigan Plant Every Single HourAt Ypsilanti's mile-long Willow Run plant, Ford built B-24 bombers on an assembly line — nearly one an hour — and helped give the world Rosie the Riveter.
- History and cultureFielding Yost and the Little Brown JugFielding Yost's point-a-minute Wolverines and a 30-cent water jug gave college football its oldest trophy.
- History and cultureMichigan Stadium is North America's largest stadiumThe Big House seats 107,601. Michigan Athletics says it has drawn more than 100,000 fans for 329 straight home football games.
- History and cultureThat Famous Corn Muffin Mix Has Never Run a Single AdThose little blue-and-white boxes of Jiffy mix come from one family mill in Chelsea, Michigan — which has never run a single ad.
- History and cultureThe Day the World Held Its Breath in Ann Arbor — and Polio Was BeatenOn April 12, 1955, the world learned from a packed auditorium in Ann Arbor that the Salk polio vaccine worked.
- History and cultureThe Game: Michigan vs. Ohio StateCollege football's fiercest rivalry, forged in the Ten Year War between Bo Schembechler and his old mentor Woody Hayes.
- History and cultureYes, There's a Town in Michigan Actually Named HellYes, there's a real town in Michigan named Hell — settled in 1838, officially named in 1841, and happy to let you get 'married in Hell' or crowned mayor for a day.
- History and cultureThe half-mile-long building with a petting farm: Domino's FarmsAnn Arbor Township is home to Domino's Farms — a half-mile-long Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired 'groundscraper' with a working petting farm out front.
- OutdoorsThe university's gardens are in the township: MatthaeiThe University of Michigan's Matthaei Botanical Gardens — conservatory, bonsai collection, and miles of free trails — sits in Ann Arbor Township.
- History and cultureWillow Run: where Rosie the Riveter built bombersWillow Run mass-produced B-24 bombers during World War II and helped make Rosie the Riveter a national symbol.
- History and cultureA Michigan UFO Sighting Got So Big That a Future President Demanded a Congressional HearingIn March 1966, UFO sightings near Dexter and Hillsdale drew Walter Cronkite, an Air Force "swamp gas" explanation, and a congressional-hearing demand from a young Gerald Ford.
- History and cultureDomino's began in Ypsilanti with a $900 loanDomino's traces its start to a Ypsilanti pizza shop bought with a $900 loan in 1960. A year later, James Monaghan traded his half to his brother Tom for a Volkswagen Beetle.
- History and culturePunk Rock Has Michigan Roots — Meet the MC5 and the StoogesBefore anyone called it punk, the MC5 of Detroit and the Stooges of Ann Arbor were already playing it — and the world's punk bands took it from there.
- History and cultureWillow Run: where Rosie the Riveter built a bomber an hourYpsilanti Township's Willow Run plant turned out a B-24 bomber roughly every hour at its WWII peak — the 'Arsenal of Democracy' made literal, now honored by the Yankee Air Museum.
- Home and propertyBuying on Ann Arbor's west side or in Scio Township? Know about the groundwater plumeA known 1,4-dioxane groundwater plume under parts of western Ann Arbor and Scio Township is worth checking by exact address.
- History and cultureMadonna was born in Bay City before growing up near DetroitMadonna was born in Bay City, raised in Pontiac and Rochester Hills, and studied dance in Ann Arbor before leaving Michigan for New York.
- OutdoorsThe American Robin — and Michigan's Other BirdThe cheerful robin has been Michigan's state bird since 1931 — but the Kirtland's warbler, which nests almost nowhere but Michigan, may be the most Michigan bird of all.
- History and cultureChelsea: the Jiffy mix tower and Jeff Daniels' theaterChelsea bakes America's Jiffy mixes beneath its landmark silos and hosts the Purple Rose, the professional theater founded by hometown actor Jeff Daniels.
- History and cultureThe MastodonBefore robins or white pines, Michigan belonged to the giants — and the mastodon, the state fossil, still turns up in farm fields where it browsed 10,000 years ago.
- History and cultureWhy Does Michigan Have So Many Places Named After Foreign Places?Michigan's map is full of foreign and classical town names — Paris, Moscow, Athens, Rome — left over from an 1800s naming boom, and locals pronounce most of them their own way.
- OutdoorsThe Huron: a National Water Trail runs through itThe Huron River is a designated National Water Trail, with more than a hundred paddleable miles and liveries, launches, and river towns strung along it.
- OutdoorsThe Lower Peninsula's biggest state park is near ChelseaWaterloo Recreation Area covers more than 20,000 acres in Jackson and Washtenaw counties, making it the Lower Peninsula's largest state park.
- Money and taxesBuying in a township? Watch for special assessments on top of your taxesMichigan township buyers should check for special assessments that can add separate road, sewer, water, lighting, sidewalk, or drain charges.
- Money and taxesIn Michigan, you get two property-tax bills a year — not oneMost Michigan property owners get separate summer and winter tax bills, with local rules deciding what lands on each bill.