In 1925 King-Seeley, inventor and manufacturer of the first dash-mounted gas gauges for autos, moved into the old Krause tannery building with its tall smokestacks on Second Street (right rear). By 1940 the factory had expanded east to First Street with the five-story facility shown above. It was downtown's last factory in 2005, when the tannery wing was demolished and the remainder remodeled for housing. Allen Creek and its westside tributaries once provided water for mills, tanneries, foundries, and breweries.

The Ann Arbor Railroad, which followed the creek valley, attracted manufacturing, warehouses, and lumber and coal yards. Dean & Co., Main Street's premier grocery, had warehouses on the creek near the railroad. The creek also provided recreation. Early residents bathed in a "little, octagonal, white frame building with a sharp little spire in the middle and Victorian scrolls" that was built over the creek near the corner of West Liberty and South First. Downstream, they skated on the millpond north of Miller and First.

The Toledo & Ann Arbor Railroad reached Ann Arbor in 1878 amid festive celebrations. "Big Jim" Ashley, former lawyer, abolitionist, and Ohio congressman, was the driving force behind its construction. Always one to seize opportunities, Ashley pushed the line northwest to Frankfort on Lake Michigan, where his railroad-car ferries were the first in the world to cross a wide body of water.

A new depot was built in 1889 two blocks south of here on Second, soon renamed Ashley Street. The railroad’s mainstay was freight. Local merchants had warehouses and sidings where coal, oil, and lumber were unloaded. Passenger traffic was also brisk, especially in summer with vacationers heading to cottages. In autumn football specials from throughout the Midwest brought fans, who disembarked near the stadium. During the game, the engines were turned around for the return trip. Horse-drawn ambulances met patients arriving for treatment at University Hospital. Passenger service ended in 1950, although freight hauling continued. In 1985, after a variety of uses, the depot became a preschool with an old caboose on its playground.

Circuses unloaded near the Michigan Central depot and paraded up Main Street to perform at the fairgrounds or on a farm at Packard and Stadium. Exotic animals passed by in fancy wagons, bands played, the calliope blared, and children screamed with delight.

Some summers Ann Arbor enjoyed as many as three circuses. Barnum and Bailey was the largest. Almost anything was an excuse for a parade — holidays, new buildings, new fire equipment, visiting dignitaries, political candidates, and student celebrations of all kinds.

In 1908 you could hop on an open-air trolley, ride to the fairgrounds (later Burns Park), and, for 10 cents, see a baseball game. Electric streetcars ran in Ann Arbor from 1890 to 1925. From Main Street, cars followed Detroit Street down to the end of the line near the Michigan Central depot. There the motorman and the conductor reversed the car’s direction by swinging the electric pole on the roof around to the other end. For a single fare, a passenger could ride all evening to enjoy the cool breezes. In 1913, to cut costs, "pay as you enter" cars eliminated the need for conductors. Buses and automobiles eventually put trolleys out of business.

In 1896 the Crescent Works, manufacturers of custom-made corsets and "comfortable waists," moved into the upper floors of the new Pratt Block (above). For a few years the corset salesroom was in the central bay on the street between the Portland Café — "Open All Night" — and Hendrick Millinery, one of nine Ann Arbor shops fashioning hats for ladies. By 1909 Schumacher Hardware to the left had expanded into two storefronts of the Pratt Block. They sold everything from bathtubs and sporting goods to toys and vacuum cleaners.

When the Orpheum opened in 1913 at 326 South Main Street, the event drew such a crowd that people had to be turned away. Constructed by clothier J. Fred Wuerth, it was the first theater in town built to show movies. Earlier, one-reel films were shown in storefront nickelodeons like the Star at 118 East Washington Street (lower right). Advertised as "family entertainment," many shows included live acts.

In 1917, behind his clothing shop next door to the Orpheum, Wuerth built a second theater. Movie goers entered below the Wuerth's Main Street marquee (shown above in the 1940s) and passed through a two-story, skylit arcade that led to the theater. The L-shaped plan allowed the two theaters to share backstage space and a single theater organ. In early 1929 the Wuerth was the first local theater to convert from silent films to "talkies." While the Orpheum specialized in more high-toned productions, the smaller, cozier Wuerth showed children's serialized matinees and gave away china to attract viewers. After both theaters closed in 1957, the interior spaces were remodeled for new uses. By 1927 Wuerth's menswear business had become Fiegel's. It survived until 1997.

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In 1871 tavern keeper and developer Henry Binder replaced the old house on this corner with an elaborate three-story brick building (inset above left). Plank sidewalks, hitching posts, dirt streets, and gas lamps were typical of the era. As downtown expanded southward, more Main Street houses were replaced by commercial blocks. Binder and his family lived on the second floor of his new building, above his "billiard, lager, beer, and refreshment saloon." The hall on the third floor had an orchestrion, a large music box that played several instruments.

Civic leader Silas Douglass, dean of the UM medical faculty and twice mayor of Ann Arbor, lived in this home at 502 East Huron Street from 1848 until 1902. His three daughters, Kate, Marie, and Louise, shown here around 1890, enjoyed the luxuries of privileged America. Kate wrote in her reminiscences, "Ann Arbor society was unusually good for a small place. There were many tea parties where both gentlemen and ladies were invited. They sat around little tables enjoying the good supper and pleasant talk. They often had dances in private homes. There were many tableaux too, which we had in our bay window." In contrast, Harriet Noble recalled that when she arrived from New York State in late 1824, "there were six or seven log huts occupied by as many inmates as could crawl into them."

Most of the 19th-century homes and churches built between downtown (upper left) and UM campus (lower right) have been lost to 20th-century commercial expansion. In what was once a neighborhood of quiet, unpaved tree-lined streets, residents could walk everywhere—to work, to shop, or to worship. Mansions that lined East Huron succumbed to gas stations, parking lots, and large buildings that dominated what became a major auto artery. On North Division, out of the path of development, some grand homes still remain, now protected in a historic district. Once one of the most fashionable parts of town, its houses had extensive grounds, richly adorned with flowers and trees.

The Hamilton Block, later known as the Cornwell Building, was built in 1882 across from the Cook House Hotel. The first floor housed the Postal Telegraph Cable Co.in the 1890s, a bowling alley for a time, and later the Cornwell Coal Co. When Register Publishing Co. occupied space, it claimed to employ "more hands than all other printing establishments in Ann Arbor combined." Joe Parker opened a popular cafe there during Prohibition. For many years the third floor was a drill hall for Company A of the Michigan National Guard. It later housed an I.O.O.F. temple and a Greek Orthodox church. The building was torn down to make way for a gas station in 1936.