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 34 local stories.

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History and culture Chelsea's clock tower was built to hold 35,000 gallons of water The 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 culture Gordon Hall: the Greek temple on the hill above Dexter The 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 culture Manchester's Chicken Broil: 10,000 dinners off four 100-foot pits Every 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 culture Milan's Hack House was built with money from a sugar swindle Milan'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 culture Saline's old Ford plant ran on river water and soybeans On 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 culture Six generations on one Pittsfield farm, now a township museum The 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 culture Webster's 1871 town hall got moved across the cornfields Webster 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.
Outdoors Whitmore Lake straddles two counties and used to be cottage country The 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 culture Ypsilanti has two downtowns, and Depot Town is the old one Ypsilanti grew two commercial cores: Depot Town, the railroad-era district by the old station, and the Michigan Avenue strip across the river.
Outdoors Rapids, river road, and a trail that keeps growing: Scio's Huron riverfront Scio 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 property Buying in Ann Arbor's Old West Side? It's a binding historic district Ann Arbor's Old West Side is a binding local historic district, so exterior changes usually need city Historic District Commission approval.
Money and taxes Buying in the city of Ypsilanti? No income tax — but the city's still paying off a big debt Ypsilanti has no city income tax, but its Water Street redevelopment debt still shapes the city's budget and tax picture.
History and culture Chelsea's Purple Rose Theatre, founded by Jeff Daniels Jeff Daniels founded Chelsea's Purple Rose Theatre Company to develop new American plays and Midwestern voices.
Money and taxes Dexter used to be a village in two townships — becoming a city in 2014 simplified the taxes Dexter became a city in 2014, ending its old village-plus-township tax setup and unifying local government.
Money and taxes Does Ann Arbor have a city income tax? No — but the question keeps coming back Ann Arbor has no city income tax, but voters and city leaders have revisited the idea several times over the years.
Money and taxes How the University of Michigan shapes Ann Arbor — including your tax bill The University of Michigan drives Ann Arbor's economy, housing demand, culture, and a long-running property-tax-base debate.
History and culture Jiffy: the little blue box made only in Chelsea Every box of Jiffy mix comes from Chelsea, where the Holmes family has run Chelsea Milling Company for generations.
Money and taxes Manchester became a city in 2023 — what that changed Manchester became a city in late 2023, leaving Manchester Township and moving tax collection, assessing, and elections into one city government.
Rules and licenses Renting in Ann Arbor? It has some of Michigan's strongest tenant protections Ann Arbor inspects rentals and has city rules around renewals, application fees, and tenant screening.
History and culture The Dexter Cider Mill: Michigan's oldest, pressing cider since 1886 The Dexter Cider Mill has pressed cider on the Huron River since 1886 and still uses an old-fashioned oak rack press.
History and culture The Ypsilanti Water Tower: 1890 landmark on the city's highest hill Ypsilanti's 1890 limestone water tower is a National Register landmark, a local icon, and a famously suggestive piece of civic infrastructure.
Rules and licenses Thinking about an Airbnb in Ann Arbor? The rules are strict Ann Arbor has strict short-term rental rules, especially for whole-home rentals in residential neighborhoods.
History and culture A B-24 Bomber Rolled Out of a Michigan Plant Every Single Hour At 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 culture Fielding Yost and the Little Brown Jug Fielding Yost's point-a-minute Wolverines and a 30-cent water jug gave college football its oldest trophy.
History and culture That Famous Corn Muffin Mix Has Never Run a Single Ad Those 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 culture The Day the World Held Its Breath in Ann Arbor — and Polio Was Beaten On April 12, 1955, the world learned from a packed auditorium in Ann Arbor that the Salk polio vaccine worked.
History and culture The Game: Michigan vs. Ohio State College football's fiercest rivalry, forged in the Ten Year War between Bo Schembechler and his old mentor Woody Hayes.
History and culture The Largest Stadium in America Sits in a College Town in Michigan Michigan Stadium — 'The Big House' — is the largest stadium in the U.S., and every home game since 1975 has drawn more than 100,000 fans.
History and culture Yes, There's a Town in Michigan Actually Named Hell Yes, 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 culture The half-mile-long building with a petting farm: Domino's Farms Ann Arbor Township is home to Domino's Farms — a half-mile-long Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired 'groundscraper' with a working petting farm out front.
Outdoors The university's gardens are in the township: Matthaei The University of Michigan's Matthaei Botanical Gardens — conservatory, bonsai collection, and miles of free trails — sits in Ann Arbor Township.
History and culture Willow Run: where Rosie the Riveter built bombers Willow Run mass-produced B-24 bombers during World War II and helped make Rosie the Riveter a national symbol.
History and culture A Michigan UFO Sighting Got So Big That a Future President Demanded a Congressional Hearing In 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 culture Punk Rock Has Michigan Roots — Meet the MC5 and the Stooges Before 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 culture The Pizza Empire That Started With a Borrowed $500 — and a Volkswagen Domino's Pizza grew from a tiny Ypsilanti shop the Monaghan brothers bought for $500 down — one of whom traded his half for a used Volkswagen Beetle.
History and culture Willow Run: where Rosie the Riveter built a bomber an hour Ypsilanti 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 property Buying on Ann Arbor's west side or in Scio Township? Know about the groundwater plume A known 1,4-dioxane groundwater plume under parts of western Ann Arbor and Scio Township is worth checking by exact address.
Outdoors The American Robin — and Michigan's Other Bird The 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 culture Chelsea: the Jiffy mix tower and Jeff Daniels' theater Chelsea 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 culture The Mastodon Before 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 culture Why 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.
Outdoors The Huron: a National Water Trail runs through it The Huron River is a designated National Water Trail, with more than a hundred paddleable miles and liveries, launches, and river towns strung along it.
Outdoors The Lower Peninsula's biggest park is in Washtenaw's backyard Waterloo Recreation Area — roughly 20,000 acres of lakes, hills, and trails — sprawls across western Washtenaw and eastern Jackson counties, the largest park in the Lower Peninsula.
Money and taxes Buying in a township? Watch for special assessments on top of your taxes Michigan township buyers should check for special assessments that can add separate road, sewer, water, lighting, sidewalk, or drain charges.
Money and taxes In Michigan, you get two property-tax bills a year — not one Most Michigan property owners get separate summer and winter tax bills, with local rules deciding what lands on each bill.