The 41 year old Carriage House in 2021.

The Carriage House is a replica of a barn taken down in 1962. The original barn stood on the same footprint as the current building. At that time the stone foundations were filled in and buried.

1961 Original Barn, 3/4 view from southwest rear	1961 Original Barn, 3/4 view from southeast	1961 Original Barn, from the west (front view)
1976 Carriage House under construction	1976 Carriage House, nearly completed	1980 Carriage House during installation of the cupola

In 1976, ground was broken on a new office and archive storage building as a Bicentennial project, which was partially funded by the government of Oakland County. Before construction began, an archaeological dig was undertaken to locate the original foundations and discover any artifacts from the Wisner era. The dig was completed and processed, with a large number of artifacts – mostly related to agriculture and farming – cataloged. Most of them were disposed of as objects of little historical interest, although a few were retained by the historical society.

Many of the original stones from that foundation were reused as a facade for the concrete foundations built in their place.

In May of 1977 that building burned down as a result of arson.

Using the same blueprints, the Historical Society began reconstructing the building in the fall of 1977. It was officially opened in 1980 after a difficult and extensive fundraising campaign. Part of that campaign involved “selling” the stones that make up the facade of the concrete foundations, which you can still see today.

The Carriage House was expanded in 2000 when a rear addition was added, which now houses our Research Library on the first floor and Archive Room in the basement. 

Also in the basement is the Ray Lucas Museum Room, containing artifacts related to the development of Oakland County, consisting of farm tools, business equipment, ice harvesting tools and domestic objects.

The first floor contains our Elizabeth Dawson Brown Research Library, the Gottfried Brieger Accession Room, the Evan Monaghan Commemorative Administrative Office, the Tracy Crowe Honorary Kitchen, and restrooms. The third floor is used for artifact storage and also houses our vintage textiles collection.

More information about our Carriage House is available when you visit! we’re happy to show you the original sources and photographs shown here.