Washtenaw County had been continuously inhabited for a few thousand years before Europeans arrived, and there was a mix of Native American, European and African American people here for about two hundred years by the time Washtenaw County officially split off from Wayne County to become its own entity two centuries ago.
The oldest existing building in Ann Arbor was built in 1835. Its current location at the five points of Main, Kingsley and Beakes streets, and now houses the Museum on Main. Take a look inside and you’ll find a treasure trove of early Washtenaw County history and more in the archives.
Beverly Willis, a historian with the Museum on Main, estimates that “about 3%” of the materials in that museum come from the years before the county’s lifetime as an entity independent of the county centered around Detroit, and quite a bit comes from the period surrounding the county’s creation and aftermath…