America 250 Series: Roads, Railroads and Industry in Dexter 

Editor’s Note: As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, the Dexter Area Historical Society presents a series exploring Dexter’s history within the broader context of state and national events. The third article documents the birth of industry in the area, the history of the railroad, and historical information on area roads.

Industry and Agriculture

In the early and mid-1800s, as interest grew in Samual Dexter’s settlement along the Huron River, his efforts to attract settlers to the area increased. Settlement meant an increase in goods and services, which was needed to turn the area into a thriving economic center.  Early industry was strictly tied to the river, which provided energy for machinery.  Judge Dexter built a dam across Mill Creek and built a sawmill and grist mill on opposite banks.  As the town grew, a woolen mill and the cider mill were erected nearby. Built in 1886, the Dexter Cider Mill is a favorite fall weekend destination and is the oldest operating cider mill in Michigan.

Hudson Mills, a well-known Metropark near Dexter on Huron River Drive, has an historical marker which states: 

This hamlet developed around the mills which were located here to utilize the great water power of the Huron River.  Cornelius Osterhout built a sawmill here about 1827, followed in 1846 by a gristmill in which three men produced six thousand barrels of flour a year.  Later a cider mill and plaster mill became part of the complex.  In 1882 a wood pulp producer, the Birkett Manufacturing Co., acquired the mill property.  Across the Huron the remains of the Birkett mill and dam are still visible.

In the mid-1800s, the area was beginning to transition to more varied agricultural interests including wheat, orchards, and livestock.  Sheep produced wool, which became a leading export for this county.  Cattle produced enough meat and dairy products to amply supply the thriving town, with excess available to transport to markets in Detroit and east, first by farm cart, later by railroad.

According to the 1860 Federal census for Dexter, a sample of the agricultural occupations listed included an abundance of farmers and farm laborers, as well as butchers, blacksmiths, and carriage makers. Coopers produced the barrels needed to hold all the various agricultural products to be shipped.

Railroad Arrives

Samuel Dexter was an early proponent of the railroad coming through Dexter and authored an article about the Transcontinental Railroad in the Western Emigrant newspaper in the early 1830s.  He also addressed a meeting of Detroit and St. Joseph Rail Road stockholders in December of 1835, which supported a resolution by the assembly to have the rail line run through Dexter if surveys proved it feasible.

The opening of the Michigan Central Railroad in Dexter on July 4, 1841, created easy access to this area and to major markets east of Dexter.  It allowed for the import and export of goods to areas beyond a day’s ride away.  Judge Dexter provided the land by ceding all the land needed, including a part of his pear and apple orchards on Huron St. so the rail line could come directly through the village.  

Interestingly, the proximity of the noisy, smokey rail line close to his home led the Judge to build Gordon Hall in 1843 just out of town and 100-yards away from the tracks, which are visible from the front porch.  

The passenger depot we see today at the corner of Broad and Third was built in 1887 and closed in 1953.  A short walk from downtown, the train station was a gathering place for locals. Townspeople could get the latest news from the east, conduct business, examine the goods being delivered and socialize.  A hand-cranked pit turntable turned the locomotive around when it reached Dexter if it was needed. Today it is a Michigan State Historic Site and currently houses the Ann Arbor Model Railroad Club. 

Roads

There were four main routes that fed Dexter’s early settlement, now known as North Territorial, Joy Rd., Dexter-Ann Arbor Rd., and Huron River Drive.  These routes were originally Native American paths and animal trails on high, dry ground that over time became established wagon roads. 

North Territorial added the word “North” to its name to differentiate it from the two territorial roads south of it, namely Ann Arbor-Plymouth Road and Geddes Road, also known as “Territorial Roads”. Joy Rd. was an east-west road originally created to create a shortcut from Detroit to Washtenaw County.  There is some debate about the naming of Joy Rd.; it was named to honor James F. Joy, a 19^th century railroad attorney, or Henry B. Joy, the president of the Packard Motor Car Company.

Dexter-Ann Arbor Road dates to early 1800s settlement, created to transport mail, passengers and agricultural products between Ann Arbor and Judge Dexter’s Mill Creek Settlement (later Dexter). At times it was a plank and gravel toll road (records indicate a toll house was located on South Main Street in Ann Arbor). There were early plans to make the road part of the Interurban Railroad that would come through Dexter and Chelsea.  Later, it was to become a portion of a regional transport system with connections to Chicago, but the road returned to local control in the 1960s.

 Huron River Drive is an historic scenic route that parallels the Huron River.  It was built on an ancient Native American trail to serve as a transportation artery connecting Ann Arbor, Dexter and Ypsilanti. Not only a long-time contemporary favorite for traveling to Dexter from Ann Arbor to visit the Cider Mill in the fall, this route also connected early industrial sites and recreational parks east from Ann Arbor down to Lake Erie.  In its earliest form, this trail stopped just past Zeeb Road.  Reaching Dexter required a jog north on Zeeb to Joy Road, then across to Mast Road.  The road we travel today was in place by the early 1920s.

Fun Fact: The streets in the village of Dexter, platted by Judge Dexter in 1830, were originally named A, B, C, D and E street, and in 1957 were changed to the names we now recognize – Alpine, Broad, Central, Dover and Edison.  Later additions to the village were F, G, H, I, J and K; now known as Forest, Grand, Hudson Inverness, Jeffords, and Kensington.