The Ladies Library Association was established in 1871 to provide reading material at a small cost to the community.

Albert Stephens offered to fund the construction of a library in honor of his father. The following year local contractor Al Thayer erected this Georgian Revival building.

General Squier held a great love for his community and showed this by establishing a country club in 1918 for the people of the entire area.

Purchased by the Grand Trunk in 1909, the station was used for passenger service until 1955 and as a freight agency until October 9, 1973. It was moved here in 1979 and opened as a museum in 1981.

Frederick and Mary Currier built this house around 1854, inspired by Orson Fowler’s A Home for All, which promoted the octagon form as a healthy place to live.

In the nineteenth century, railroads provided the prime transportation link between small villages and the rest of the country. The first Columbiaville depot was built near this site in 1872.

Circuit riders, who traveled through local villages, served the Watrousville United Methodist Church when it was established in 1856.

Aaron Watrous and his crew of loggers came here in 1852 to cut the virgin pine of the Cass River Valley. In 1860 he platted the town, naming it Watrousville, and a few years later constructed this building as a general store.

Cork pine grew in abundance along the Cass River and was much in demand. These kings of the forest grew to a height of 150 feet. With forests depleted, a diversified economy developed here—agriculture, manufacturing, and commercial business.

On March 11, 1882, thirty-three years after the nation’s first state fair was held in Detroit, the Tuscola County Fair was organized as the Caro District Agricultural Association.

Peter DeWitt Bush (1818-1913), the second permanent resident of the village of Caro, donated this site for the county courthouse square in 1866. In 1873 the county replaced the former church with a brick courthouse that served the community's needs until 1932 when the present Art Deco style structure was completed.

The Tuscola County Advertiser began publishing on August 21, 1868. The city’s oldest surviving business establishment was founded by Henry G. Chapin, a native of Conesus, New York.

This skillfully designed board and batten Gothic Revival church first served local Episcopalians in 1880. The congregation had been formed in 1871, the year the town was incorporated.

The state highway system began with the State Reward Road program, created by the Michigan Legislature in 1905. The program provided "rewards" to local governments for road improvements made according to state standards. Elkland Township was the first municipality to receive a reward.

The beet sugar industry in Michigan began growing rapidly in the late nineteenth century and is still a popular crop to this day. With more than a century under its belt, there is no shortage of history, Peninsular Sugar Refining Company included.

In 1884 Millington citizens decided to construct a modern brick building. Between 1947 and 1970 eighteen rural schools consolidated to form the Millington Community School District.

Offering a historical experience with educational programming to the people of Lapeer County and visitors to the area

The Davis Brothers' Farm Shop Museum is one of three museums we operate, and was made possible by a generous donation of the land, buildings, and artifacts by Jim and Patti Davis.

International harvester collection

Local history museum in Deckerville, MI, offering an old fashioned General Store, Post Office, Military Room, Indian/Native American Artifacts, Family & Business History, School & Church Memories, Research Room, Farm/Barn Area, and more!