One of the things I was doing on this blog for a while was traveling the various state highways and taking pictures of them as I went along. I haven't done that in a while and I want to start it again. I figured M-52 would be an easy highway to trace since it's not that long.
M-52 was first designated a state highway on July 1, 1919. Originally it started at the Ohio Border at the end of Ohio Route 109 and went through Adrian. At M-50, it turned east towards Tecumseh and then turned north to Clinton where it ended. In 1960, M-92 was extended to Clinton and M-52 was extended north to Manchester. In 1969, it was extended all the way to its current end.
And since we were entering Michigan, we were greeting with the Pure Michigan sign.
Adrian was founded on June 18, 1826 by Addison Comstock who was a promoter of the Erie and Kalamazoo Railroad. Originally it was named Logan. In 1828, it was renamed Adrian after the Emperor Hadrian by Comstock's wife. Throughout the late 1800's and early 1900's, Adrian was known as the fence capital of the world after the invention of the wire fence by Wallace Page. In this time, Adrian was one of the first fence manufacturers in the world and would ship fences around the world.
Between 1900 and 1912, Adrian was shaping to be a motor capital of the world as it had a couple of car companies. The first was the Church Manufacturing Company and they produced the Murray and the Lenawee Car. Both were popular but due to bad financial decisions, Church went out of business. Another was the Lion but that factory caught fire and ended the company.
Adrian is the County Seat of Lenawee County and has about 21,000 people. This is the County Courthouse. I'd swear this looks like every other county courthouse in Michigan.
In 1824, the land around Manchester was surveyed by John Mack and it was noted as being a good seat for a grist mill. John Gilbert, who was originally from upstate New York, moved to Ypsilanti. In 1832, he decided to look at the land he held in the area. He decided to build a grist mill along the River Raisin. In 1835, the village of Manchester was established.
I'm not sure if this is the site of the original mill but it works. Currently, 2,091 people live in Manchester.
At it's heart, Chelsea is an agricultural community. Just outside of
town are a number of farms and in town are some things that come about
as a result of those farms. It was first settled in 1820 by Cyrus
Beckwith along with the brothers Elisha and James Congdon. It was named
after Elisha's home town of Chelsea, Massachusetts.
Chelsea is also home to the Jiffy Mix Company.
Stockbridge doesn't look all that much different from many of the other
towns along the way. Its first settlers arrived in 1835. The town was
planned by Elijah Smith and he was going to name it Pekin. Before he
could register the town, he was bought out by Silas Beebe. Mr. Beebe
thought the railroad would be passing through and Mr. Smith knew that
wasn't going to happen immediately. The railroad wouldn't arrive until
1883.
I will admit that it was this building that caught my eye. This is the
Stockbridge Town Hall. It was designed by Elijah Myers and constructed
in 1892. It is a Romanesque structure and not only does it house the
local government, it also was host to many cultural events. It was
added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. It was
restored in 1982 with the assistance of Federal Grant money.
The only problem with these trips is that the towns start to blend.
One of many barns on M-52.
A post office was established in Perry in 1850. It is named after Oliver Hazard Perry, the famous Naval Commander who won the Battle of Lake Erie. It was officially incorporated in 1893.
The first settlers in Owosso were Alfred L. and Benjamin O. Williams. They were followed by Elias Comstock who built the first permanent home there. It was incorporated as a city in 1850. Currently there are around 15,000 people that live there. One of Owosso's most famous residents was Thomas E. Dewey. He was the Dewey part of the "Dewey defeats Truman" headline. Owosso was also home to Mel Schacher, who was a member of Grand Funk Railroad. It was also home of Alvin Bentley, whose wife gave a large donation to the University of Michigan which enabled the Bentley Historical Library.
Owosso is also home to the Curwood Castle. This belonged to James Oliver Curwood who was an American Action-Adventure writer and conservationist. His books were amongst the top ten best sellers in the 1920s. At least 18 movies were based on his works. At the time of his death, he was one of the top paid authors in the world.
His statue.
A bridge near the castle.
This is the house that was built by Elias Comstock.
M-52 ends somewhere north of St. Charles, Michigan. I couldn't go any further along M-52 proper because it was under construction. St. Charles is roughly in the middle of Saginaw County. This does not look like a typical Midwestern town though. It almost looks like they couldn't decide the look they were going for.
However, it seems like this clock is fairly standard these days.
One of the things I like about taking these rides is that they give me a chance to learn little tidbits about my state. I'm not sure what highway I'll do next though.
