Marshall

Settled in 1831 by Sidney Ketchum, a land speculator from New York, Marshall was chosen for its location on the Kalamazoo River and its proximity between Detroit and Chicago. The city grew over the next decade with migrants from the northeastern United States who brought popular architectural styles and town planning from that region. Greek Revival, Gothic Revival, and Italianate structures can be found throughout town.  

 

Marshall, with its National Historic Landmark District status, is home to over 800 historically significant homes and buildings. The National Park Service calls Marshall “the best virtual textbook of 19th Century American architecture in the country.”

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Like many of MiCNU's Places We Love, Marshall boasts multiple blocks of high-quality storefronts and two- to three-story mixed-use buildings all within a walkable context.  These core blocks and their related storefronts provide textbook examples of the proper use and arrangement of urban frontages.   

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Some history and facts of this place:

The city's most famous structure, the Honolulu House, is an Italianate-style building constructed in 1860 by Abner Pratt. Pratt was the chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court (1853-1857), and United States Council to Hawaii (1857-1859) under President James Buchanan.

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For more about the Honolulu House and how it got its name, click here. 

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For more about Marshall's unique history and architecture, check out the Marshall Historical Society.