If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I’m a history buff. I love learning about history, especially Michigan history.
In the past few months, I’ve discovered McGulpin Point Lighthouse in Mackinaw City, explored the only natural ice museum in North America, and visited Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn where I helped build a Model T.
So when I was driving along the back roads in my community this weekend and saw the green and gold historic marker in front of a white Greek Revival-style house, I had to stop to learn more.
The house is located in an area of Washtenaw County that is slowly being developed for large residential homes.
Few older homes
remain as land is cleared for new development.
I took several photographs of the farmhouse before I returned home to research the home and property.
History of the John Wesley Conant House
The one and half story farmhouse was built by John Wesley Conant and his wife Alice in 1833 in Denton, Michigan, eight miles south of where the current home is located.
The Conant family farmed land along Denton Road in what is now Van Buren Township.
Trimmed in green, a three-room wing was added to the farmhouse in 1870.
In 1940-41, Henry Ford (of Ford Motor Company) made several offers to purchase the farm, but the Conant family didn’t want to sell their farm. They liked living in their community.
The family finally had to move when their land was condemned to make way for the Willow Run Bomber Plant.
Moving the House
In 1942, the Conant family moved their home and several farm buildings to the current location on Napier Road, north of Ann Arbor Road.
I was fascinated to read the history of the move.
Due to World War II, labor was hard to find in the 1940’s. In order to move the house, the movers separated the house into two parts, the wing and main house.
After placing the two parts of the house on the new property, the movers left, forcing Herbert Conant to put the two parts of the house back together with the family tractor.
It took almost a year to rebuild the house on the new foundation.
1940’s to Present Day
The Conant family continued to farm the land as a dairy and truck farm.
They sold their produce, eggs, and dairy products at Detroit’s Western Market, Ypsilanti Farmers Market, and the Ann Arbor Farmers Market until 1996 when farming stopped with the death of Jim Shake, husband of Cyndi Conant.
Five generations of the Conant family have lived in the farmhouse.
Added to the State Register of Historic Places in 1989, the Conant farmhouse is recognized as an
example of architecture from Michigan’s settlement period
in the nineteenth century.
The Conant property is an open space conservation easement, held by the Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy.
According to the April 2, 2015 Washtenaw County Historic Commission meeting minutes (PDF), the property was sold by the Conant family to new owners.
Source: Conant Farm Historic District Study Committee Final Report (PDF)
