John Willyard. The history of the Wixom Inn. The Farmington Hills Historical Commission, 2002.
| 1 | /2 The History of The Wixom Inn "The Once-Greatest Hostelry |
| 2 | Introduction The Wixom Inn began as the Walker Tavern, a lo |
| 3 | Xr F ARMF{,GCTON COMMUNITY LIBRARY FAR;IiNGT ON HILLS BRANCH |
| 4 | Acknowledgments I would like to gratefully acknowledge my d |
| 5 | Table of Contents Opening Michigan for European Settlers... |
| 6 | THE HISTORY OF THE WIXOM INN By John Willyard Openin2 Michi |
| 7 | 1IIIIIIIIIIIIIII l I IIII III llI II I IllIII IIIIIIIIIIIII |
| 8 | The Northwest Ordinance outlined how these lands were to be |
| 9 | during hisl 831 trip through Michigan. De Tocqueville had j |
| 10 | ""The greatest expense is the clearing. If the pioneer brin |
| 11 | family assemble for their meals; on it is left an English c |
| 12 | and the second was Arthur Power's saw mill, both built in 1 |
| 13 | The Walker Inn as it Looked When Built Circa 1830 The new W |
| 14 | THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. "There had been a few irreg |
| 15 | The Enlarged Wixom Inn as it Looked in the Late 1840s 4200 |
| 16 | clerk in a Detroit department store, but returned home to l |
| 17 | made in so brief a space of time, retired to my chamber to |
| 18 | on the forest. The trees stood bare in the growing sunlight |
| 19 | dressed, and sat somewhat apart from the rest, interchangin |
| 20 | have been manufactured only this season; and it is really s |
| 21 | HERMITS OF WIXOM (October 3, 1897) TWO BROTHERS WHO LEAD A |
| 22 | THE WIXOM TAVERN. .... ...-....................... A Spot W |
| 23 | As the chance visitor passed about the lonesome place all n |
| 24 | The figure in the shadow behind the half open door cautious |
| 25 | "Don't need invite him," replied the woman, with emphasis o |
| 26 | was large enough to accommodate 200 couples. The dance, a s |
| 27 | adjusted, the neighbors started home, only to be called bac |
| 28 | said. Horace, who was the financier, next tried the bee bus |
| 29 | "I'll explain." "Wonderful! Perfectly wonderful!" he replie |
| 30 | "Albert!" called the woman, in the direction of inside tave |
| 31 | They have buried themselves in the old homestead, where the |
| 32 | when Indians and wild beasts roamed over the country which |
| 33 | l i Two Views of Brian Golden's Scale Model of the Wixom In |
| 34 | i : An Extremely Rare Image of the Wixom Inn in the 1850s f |
| 35 | Two Additional Views of Brian Golden's Model of the Wixom I |
| 36 | (Newspaper Photo courtesy of Oakland County Pioneer and His |
| 37 | tries to sleep, there his brother may sit all the night thr |
| 38 | (Newspaper Photo courtesy of Oakland County Pioneer and His |
| 39 | The Moldy Storeroom. Then out through a long, narrow hall o |
| 40 | An Abandoned Ballroom. "'Ere's where they used t' dance to |
| 41 | /ICL! DI/CK W/YXO/ / /V7zea/NfD Ti/Ddlt RUf ';r of W/xo: - |
| 42 | Up a creaking pair of stairs, deep with dust, leads the old |
| 43 | --A. (Newspaper Photo courtesy of Oakland County Pioneer an |
| 44 | The eccentric brothers do not visit as much together as one |
| 45 | Since the 1870s, ownership of the Wixom Inn and its land ha |
| 46 | were removed and reinterred in the town cemetery. Robert Wi |
| 47 | Highways, Overseers of the Poor, Constable & Collector, Pat |
| 48 | to recover such damages with cost of suit against the owner |
| 49 | : ~ ii -E m Jg,. a L S A Detail from John Farmer's 1835 Mic |
| 50 | He was an early lumber dealer in Farmington, and fought in |
| 51 | FARMINGTON TOWNSHIP MAP SHOWING PRE-CVIL WAR TAVERN/INN LOC |
| 52 | the beginning of another year." Lillian Drake Avery lived a |
| 53 | moved to Genesee County where he platted the village of Arg |
| 54 | James H. Murray purchased the site from the estate of Natha |
| 55 | . 4 D '%t^A E. L D I f L rp Fa e i -I A_,f Q VA "t " i«.''- |
| 56 | After the fire, Harrison Philbrick repurchased this 5.4 acr |
| 57 | was located on the northwest comer of modem day Farmington |
| 58 | and the most complete astonishment pervaded his countenance |
| 59 | Gale Third, an in-depth account of staying in a Chicago inn |
| 60 | in a 2x4 block fortified by six penny nails, standing like |
| 61 | each /2 Pint, Rum, Wine, or Brandy .25 " Pint, " " " .371/2 |
| 62 | entire length, and rope through the holes, tightened with t |
| 63 | long after I heard of this man in prison in Detroit, for st |
| 64 | 11. Hess, F. Map of Oakland County Michigan. S. H. Burhans, |
| 65 | The Wixom Inn as it Appeared in the 1850s, as modeled by Br |