Dexter Area Historical Society Awarded $491K Grant for Gordon Hall Restoration

The Dexter Area Historical Society received a $491,200 state grant to help restore Gordon Hall, a historic 1843 mansion built by Judge Samuel Dexter. The project aims to restore the original floorplan and central hall.

Community News

Dexter Area Historical Society (DAHS) has received a grant for $491,200 to help restore Gordon Hall, Dexter’s premier historic home.

The award to DAHS was announced by the Community Museums Grant Program, a competitive grant opportunity offered by the State of Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth (LEO).

DAHS’s overall goal is to restore Gordon Hall to its configuration in the early 1860s, and this is being accomplished in multiple phases over a number of years. Many smaller projects have already been completed, and DAHS has raised and spent more than $2,400,000 since 2006 on the purchase and restoration of Gordon Hall. 

The overall cost is estimated to be about $5.5 million, including the purchase price. In the next phase of restoration, scheduled to begin this summer, the goal is to restore the original floorplan of Gordon Hall at a roughed-in level, add an ADA-compliant lift, and recreate the inside of the central hall at a finished level, all at an estimated cost of about $1 million.

DAHS President, Caryl Burke, said, “The finished grand central hall will act as a showplace and the original floorplan partitions will help our community and supporters better visualize what the fully restored mansion will look like.”  

Gordon Hall was built in 1843 by Judge Samuel Dexter, founder of the town and key to the development of Washtenaw County, the town of Dexter, and other areas around the State. There is evidence that he and Gordon Hall were associated with the Underground Railroad. Judge Dexter’s granddaughter Katharine Dexter McCormick, a nationally significant figure in women’s rights, including voting and reproductive health, was born at Gordon Hall in 1875. She was a founder of the League of Women Voters and Planned Parenthood and is memorialized in both the National and Michigan Women’s Halls of Fame.

For more information about Gordon Hall and the Dexter Area Historical Society, visit www.dexterhistory.org.