DNR - Walker Tavern History at a Glance

Walker Tavern History at a Glance

1825	The Chicago Road is laid out.
1835	La Plaisance Bay Road intersects with the Chicago Road at Cambridge Junction.
1835	Michigan declares statehood.
1835	Toledo War
1836	Cambridge Township is organized.
1836	A frame structure is built at Cambridge Junction known as Snell's Tavern.
1837	Michigan becomes the 26th state.
1838	Sylvester Walker buys land in Cambridge Township with an interest in the Cambridge junction tavern.
1843	Walker buys Snell's Tavern. The name of the tavern changes to Walker's Tavern.
1852	Several railroads are completed through southern Michigan.
1853	Walker builds a new three-story brick building across the road from his old tavern. The old tavern becomes his private residence.
1865	Soon after Walker's death the property is purchased by Francis Dewey, a former stagecoach driver and prosperous farmer. Dewey and his family own almost the entire section of land around Cambridge Junction by 1874. The land stays in the Dewey family at least through 1916.
1920s	The Irish Hills region becomes a tourist area and vacation spot.
1922	The Rev. Frederick Hewitt (a personal friend of Henry Ford) buys both taverns, restores them and opens them as a tourist attraction and antique shop. Hewitt also builds a private home on the west end of the property. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in Adrian mark the site as historic with a plaque in 1922.
1940s- 1950s	The Michigan Department of Natural Resources looks for land in the Irish Hills to create a recreational area and considers Walker Tavern as a key historic site.
1958	The site is placed on the State Register of Historic Places.
1959	A Michigan Historical Marker is installed at the site.
1965	The Michigan Department of Conservation (now Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment) purchases older tavern and its surrounding farm land. The tavern is restored and converted into a museum at the "Cambridge State Historical Park."
1967	The barn on the site is reconstructed.
1968	Wayne State University conducts an archaeological dig at the site.
1971	The site is placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
1973	The house behind the older tavern is removed.
1974	Walker Tavern becomes part of the Michigan Historical Museum System.
1974- 1977	The old tavern building and the Hewitt house are remodeled. New exhibits are installed.
1980s	Growth seen in the museum system and also at the Michigan Speedway, whose property adjoins the old tavern site.
1993	Michigan Historical Museum staff install new exhibits in tavern; all other exhibits on the site remain the same.
1998	A study is conducted on the condition of the site.
1999	Walker Tavern celebrates its 25th anniversary as a Michigan Historical Museum System site.
2004	Governor Jennifer M. Granholm visits Walker Tavern on June 9 to dedicate U.S. 12 as a U.S. Heritage Trail.
2006	Dedication of historic trail and rededication of 1922 DAR marker.

Contact Walker Tavern Historic Site.

Updated 01/19/2010