Sponsored by the Ann arbor Area Community Foundation

Photos Courtesy of Wystan Stevens and the Bentley Historical Library

Washtenaw County solved a dilemma in 1954. By the terms of town founder John Allen's original gift, proceeds of the sale of the Courthouse Square land might go to Allen's heirs, not to the county, if it were sold for other use. That incentive to keep the courthouse on the same site presented the unattractive prospect of moving the entire operation of the county to another site during construction, then moving back once the new courthouse was finished.

The architect's plan cleverly solved this problem and provided parking as well. The new courthouse was built around three sides of the existing structure, which continued to function until the new building was finished in 1955.

The old building was then torn down and the space it occupied became a parking lot. An employ-ee then working at the courthouse recalled, "I could open my window and reach out about twelve inches and touch the new building." Much of the move was made by employees handing materials through the old windows into the windows of the new structure.

Sponsored by The Mosaic Foundation (of R. & P. Heydon)

Photos Courtesy of the Ann Arbor News

On a hot August night in 1927 four fully loaded interurban freight cars, parked near the County Fairgrounds (out Jackson Ave.,where Veterans Park is today), broke loose from their couplings and began rolling back to town.Gaining momentum with every downhill turn of the wheels, they screeched around the Jackson-Huron bend, and careened through residential areas and under the Ann Arbor Railroad viaduct over Huron St.Climbing the grade toward Main St., the freight cars lost little speed.Where the tracks made a 90-degree turn onto Main St., the cars leaped the rails at forty miles an hour and smashed into the lobby of the Farmers & Mechanics Bank.

Late diners at Prochnow’s Dairy Lunch next door were thrown from their seats by the tremendous impact.The walls bulged and bricks flew into the streets.Late patrons at Candyland on Huron St.and the Sugar Bowl Restaurant on Main St.rushed into the street and were showered with particles of dust and brick settling from the air.

Sponsored by National City

Photos Courtesy of the Bentley Historical Library

The Downtown Ann Arbor Historical Street Exhibit Program visually portrays the city’s history and relates it to the present streetscape. The exhibit sites below celebrate the history of Courthouse Square as the original heart of Ann Arbor.

Sponsored by The Ann Arbor Historical Foundation

Ann Arbor's early centers for communications, including newspaper, postal, and telegraph offices, were all located in buildings facing Courthouse Square. The telegraph line between Detroit and Ann Arbor was opened on Christmas Day in 1847. The first telephone switchboard was placed in a building not far from the Square on South Main in 1881. There were twenty-five telephone subscribers at that time.

From 1882 to 1909 Ann Arbor's sixth Post Office, at the corner of Ann and Main, was housed in what was the showiest building in town the Beal Block, an ornate brick edifice lavished with decorative stonework and iron filigree. Before home delivery began in 1886, every household in Ann Arbor picked up its mail here. In 1909 the Post Office was moved to the new classic Beaux Arts building still standing just to the north on the corner of Main and Catherine.

Photos Courtesy of the Bentley Historical Library and the Ann Arbor News

By the late 1870s, Ann Arbor was a thriving and prosperous business center. The streets facing Courthouse Square contained some of the town's grandest commercial buildings. Originally, the northwest corner of Main and Huron was the site of a small, two-story, log block house built by town founder John Allen in 1824. Later expanded and painted bright red, Allen's former home was called "Bloody Corners." It housed a tavern, inn, and store before being replaced by Ann Arbor's first large hotel, the "Franklin House."

The imposing Gregory Block was built on this site in 1862. For over a century it provided space for a wide variety of establishments, including a hotel, banks, bars, bookstores, a post office, and Municipal Court offices. It became known as the Masonic Block when Masonic lodges occupied the second and third floors from 1885 to 1926.

By the time of its destruction in a 1971 fire, the Gregory Block's rich architectural details had been hidden under a façade of blue and white metal panels. The present building was constructed in 1986.

Photos Courtesy of the Bentley Historical Library