Tag Archives: Historic Home

1411 W. Ann Arbor Trail

29 Jul

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1411 W. Ann Arbor Trail was built in 1918 by Edward C. Hough. This was the home of Ed & Louise (Sheffield) Hough from 1918-1959. They had given their estate the name of “The Elms”. Edward Hough was the son of Lewis C. Hough who was an original founder of the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company which eventually became the Daisy Air Rifle Company. Ed joined the business in 1893 as the Treasurer for the company.  In later years, Ed’s Son Cass Hough would go on to become the President of Daisy. Both Edward & Louise Hough have been laid to rest at the Riverside Cemetery.  The Hough family played a significant role in the history of Plymouth and their legacy will continue to live on for many years to come.

This home still retains all of its original elements including the original carriage port on the West side of the home and the 2-story carriage house located behind the home. This home still has an unpaved driveway which makes it easy to look at the home and picture yourself stepping back into time and looking at the grandeur of this home as if it were still the early 1900s.

Below is a photo of the executive team that operated the Daisy Air Rifle Company in 1895. The Team included Lewis C. Hough, Edward Hough, Charles H. Bennett, George W. Hunter, and Alfred W. Chaffee

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View of Ann Arbor Trail in 1930. The Hough home sits on the right of the photo:

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169 Adams Street – Historic Conner Hardware

4 Jul

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ConnerOnMain169 Adams Street. (modern photo shown) This home appears to be simply another older home that sits in a well-established neighborhood. Well, it’s a home with a “past” unlike most houses. Back in the 1850’s Plymouth did not have an actual hardware store. Michael Conner was the first proprietor of such an establishment. Conner hardware was located on Main Street near the corner of Sutton Street (now Penniman Ave). Conner’s became a popular place for folks to gather, sit on the porch and discuss the latest news and gossip. Mr. Conner loved to discuss political matters with the townspeople and had even served as the Village President. In 1884 Michael Conner built a new store. In 1896 Michael had passed away and his son William Conner (who had served as the store manager) was now running the establishment. In 1898 William built the now iconic Conner building that sits at the North West corner of Main & Penniman (where Kilwin’s resides today). As for the old wooden structured store, the assumption was that it was razed and had become history. After doing some research at the Plymouth Historical Museum, I stumbled across some documentation showing that the hardware store was actually moved to 169 Adams Street and originally became the home of Mr & Mrs Farwell. Since the move, this structure has seen some significant changes but upon further inspection, its past becomes very apparent. So we are pleased to re-discover this great piece of Plymouth history!

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