We recently joined about 150 people strolling along a re-created late-nineteenth-century street near downtown Plymouth, Michigan.
The occasion? A reception for public historians and history enthusiasts attending a local history conference hosted by the Historical Society of Michigan and a chance to learn about the history of a Michigan town whose beginnings predate Michigan's designation as a state in 1837.
We regularly drive out to Plymouth to see Whalers hockey games, but this was our first time visiting this museum about 25 miles west of downtown Detroit.
I discovered that downtown Plymouth escaped the fate of going through time as Podunk, the name the area's original settlers' used for what is now Plymouth's charming little downtown. They called the north end of town Joppa, but met in 1827 to consider a new name for the area.
There was a strong interest in China among many people in the area during the 1820s , so t he group considered calling the town Peking (which explains the name of the nearby city of Canton, Michigan). The name LeRoy was the group's the first choice, but another Michigan town already claimed that name. The second-choice name of Plymouth became the town's new name, honoring the ancestry of many of settlers who immigrated to the area from Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Cigar making and automobile manufacturing were among industries that operated in Plymouth during the early 1900s-- industries that also flourished in many other Michigan towns at the time.
Other notable industries fueling Plymouth's development included the Phoenix Mill, a plant manufacturing parts for Ford's River Rouge Plant in Detroit that operated from 1922 until 1948, and the Daisy Air Rifle Company, which opened during the 1880s and established Plymouth as the "BB Gun Capital of the World".
The museum dedicates permanent exhibits to these companies.
A placard at the Phoenix Mill exhibit says that it was one of a group of manufacturing plants that Henry Ford established at former mill sites along on the Rouge River to use water power to produce car parts. Phoenix Mill was unique because it only employed women. The women earned the same $5 per day that Ford offered male workers at the Ford Motor Company, but they had stricter rules that they must be singles and required them to wear dresses, stockings and high heels to work.
Daisy Company began as the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company began giving away BB guns as a premium to customers purchasing windmills during the 1880s. It was also home to the fictional Red Ryder BB gun model that Ralphie repeatedly asked for during the movie, A Christmas Story. Daisy moved to Arkansas in 1958. A condominium complex now sits at the site of the former factory.
The museum also has a notable collection of memorabilia relating to President Abraham Lincoln. The collection includes wax figures of the president and his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, as well as items like a bearded life mask of Lincoln, a lock of his hair and a large banner for the 1860 presidential campaign.
The Plymouth Historical Society organized in 1948 and established a small museum.
In 1971, Margaret Dunning donated $100,000 to finance a 15,000-square-foot building when the museum needed larger quarters.
Dunning donated $1 million in 1998 to build a 9,800-square-foot two-story addition to the museum.
Dunning is a fascinating woman according to what I read online. She grew up on her family's potato farm as a neighbor to Henry Ford in nearby Redford. The family moved to Plymouth after the death of Margaret's father.
Dunning worked briefly at the Phoenix Mill plant as a young woman, drove a Red Cross motor pool truck during World War II and returned to Plymouth after the war for a career in banking and as the owner of a local department store.
She still lives in the home in Plymouth where she moved at the age of 13.
Dunning, a life-long car buff, owns the 1930 Packard 740 roadster she bought in 1949 and still occasionally drives the car. Changing the car's oil and spark plugs? Dunning still reportedly does that as well!
Museum hours are 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for students ages 6 to 17.
Want to learn more about Plymouth, Michigan? Check out Plymouth's First Century: Innovators and Industry by Elizabeth Kerstens, Plymouth (Then and Now) by Brian Vincent Hill and the Plymouth Historical Society or Legendary Locals of Plymouth by Leis Dauzet-Miller.
© Dominique King 2013 All rights reserved
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