Governor Charles Croswell lived in Adrian Michigan at the home located at 228 North Broad Street, which is now the home of the Lucy Wolcott Barnum Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.  The DAR chapter was founded in April 1909 and the Tecumseh connection is the Abi Evans Chapter founded in 1926/27 later merging with the Adrian chapter in April 2001.

Betty Cummings, a member of the former Abi Evans DAR Chapter and Honorary Regent of the Lucy Wolcott Barnum Chapter, will present a slide presentation on Governor Croswell who was orphaned at 7 years old and moved to Adrian in 1837 with his uncle, Daniel Hicks, and family.   This event will be held on Thursday, July 14, 2022 at 7 p.m. at the TAHS museum. 

Croswell learned the carpentry trade while helping his uncle build their home here in Adrian and studied law, later becoming the Deputy Clerk of Lenawee County.  He bought the house from his aunt after his uncle died in 1853 for the sum of $1,700. 

Charles formed a law practice with Thomas Cooley, former Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court here in Adrian, and Croswell was later elected to the House of Representatives and became Speaker of the House.  In 1876 he was elected Governor.

DAR members will also be available to discuss membership for those interested in the organization and the history of the DAR and its chapters throughout the United States.  Membership is based on lineage genealogy of soldiers who fought in the American Revolution.

   Tecumseh Area Historical Museum will be closed for Labor Day Weekend, Saturday, September 3rd, for our volunteers to enjoy this time with their families and friends.

Thank you to all the workers that keep our businesses, industries, manufacturing plants, retail stores, grocery and bakeries, and all the other types of laborers in clerical, farm, medical, legal, and political establishments going each and every day.

Saturday, October 8th from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, October 9th, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Parking Available at the Museum with donation of $5 (or more) that supports the museum operations and is greatly appreciated!

Since 1995 Autumn means it’s time for Tecumseh’s Appleumpkin Festival and Kapnicks Apple Festival.  Antique street fair and flea market, entertainment, food trucks, and crafts galore.  Bring the kids to the children’s area for the inflatables and carnival rides, or the many free make-it-take-it activities.

At Kapnick’s Apple Orchard, 4245 Rogers Highway, Britton, you’ll find more crafts, other activities, and, of course, fresh cider and apples!  It’s only 3 miles south of Tecumseh and well worth the drive!

Shuttle buses are available for different parking lot locations in town.  Lots of parking on the side streets too.  But if you want a convenient location then park at the Tecumseh Museum where you are right next to the downtown action!

Saturday, October 8th from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday, October 9th, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Parking Available at the Museum with donation of $5 (or more) that supports the museum operations and is greatly appreciated!

Since 1995 Autumn means it’s time for Tecumseh’s Appleumpkin Festival and Kapnicks Apple Festival.  Antique street fair and flea market, entertainment, food trucks, and crafts galore.  Bring the kids to the children’s area for the inflatables and carnival rides, or the many free make-it-take-it activities.

At Kapnick’s Apple Orchard, 4245 Rogers Highway, Britton, you’ll find more crafts, other activities, and, of course, fresh cider and apples!  It’s only 3 miles south of Tecumseh and well worth the drive!

Shuttle buses are available for different parking lot locations in town.  Lots of parking on the side streets too.  But if you want a convenient location then park at the Tecumseh Museum where you are right next to the downtown action!

Get ready for the holidays in Tecumseh and at the Tecumseh Museum!   Make a stop at the museum to see our holiday finery and the wonderful displays of Tecumseh history!  The museum has several historical books, T-shirts, and mugs that will satisfy your gift giving list.

Tecumseh’s Holiday Open House/Streetscape Lighting Ceremony 

Check out our fabulous stores with festive flair.

              November 11th and 12th, 2020
Downtown Open House Hours: Friday 10 am – 9 pm
      Candlelight Shopping: Friday 6 – 9 pm
      Downtown Streetscape Lighting at 7:00 pm
Downtown Open House Hours: Saturday 10 am – 5 pm

Revel in the spirit of the holiday season as your favorite Tecumseh stores kick off a holiday tradition, during our annual Holiday Open House. Join our merchants as they unveil their holiday finery with your gift giving in mind. Choose from a fantastic selection of specials and savings, as every shop prepares for the holiday season.

Get ready for the holidays in Tecumseh and at the Tecumseh Museum!   Make a stop at the museum to see our holiday finery and the wonderful displays of Tecumseh history!  The museum has several historical books, T-shirts, and mugs that will satisfy your gift giving list.

Tecumseh’s Holiday Open House/Streetscape Lighting Ceremony 

Check out our fabulous stores with festive flair.

              November 11th and 12th, 2020
Downtown Open House Hours: Friday 10 am – 9 pm
      Candlelight Shopping: Friday 6 – 9 pm
      Downtown Streetscape Lighting at 7:00 pm
Downtown Open House Hours: Saturday 10 am – 5 pm

Revel in the spirit of the holiday season as your favorite Tecumseh stores kick off a holiday tradition, during our annual Holiday Open House. Join our merchants as they unveil their holiday finery with your gift giving in mind. Choose from a fantastic selection of specials and savings, as every shop prepares for the holiday season.

Veteran’s Day Recognition at Brookside Cemetery at 11 a.m. organized by American Legion Underwood-Orr Post 34 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall-Slater Post 4187.

Veteran’s Day Concert at Tecumseh Center for the Arts at 4 p.m.

SUPPORT YOUR MUSEUM!!  Your donation goes a long way to keeping the history of Tecumseh and its surrounding areas preserved for others.  Supporting History is one of the best ways to celebrate Giving Tuesday after Thanksgiving and all the shopping from the weekend.

Visit our Support Page and Donate today.  Visit us on Facebook where there is a donation link that will take allow you to make donations direct to TAHS.  Donations are also accepted by mail to our address:  TAHS, P.O. Box 26, Tecumseh, MI  49286.

We thank you.  Your donations are greatly appreciated.

Tecumseh Area Historical Museum will be closed starting Sunday, December 18 through March 2023.  Last OPEN DAY is Saturday, December 17, 2022 from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Thank you so much for visiting with us at the Tecumseh Museum.  We appreciate the time you spend with us.

December 18 through the end of March the museum will be closed so that during this time, our volunteers do a lot of cleaning, rearranging, and working with our archives.  It’s a big job with all the donations received during the year, as well as all the displays that need to be changed out.

If you email us in advance, when you might be in the area, we can try to arrange with a volunteer to meet you and open the museum if it’s not in disarray!.  Please give us time to get back with you, as we are all volunteers and are not always at the museum to answer the phone so if you’d email that would be better!.  Email at historictecumseh@gmail.com.

REOPEN ON SATURDAY, APRIL 1ST, 2023.

Join in the May Day Celebration!  Order your May Day Baskets to be delivered to neighbors, friends, co-workers, or that special someone!  Special Delivery options or pick up the basket at the museum!  See our May Day Basket under the Events page for all the details and form.  You can also call the office to leave a message or email historictecumseh@gmail.com us so we can talk with you about your order.

With a long and varied history dating back to before the Druids of the British Isles and the Romans, the most common acceptance of May Day is the welcoming in a change of the season–winter to spring.  The Romans celebration of Floralia, a devotion to their goddess of flowers, combined with the British celebration of Beltane, a festival between the light and dark periods of the year, another addition to this event was the maypole.  Tracing back to Medieval times, villagers would enter the woods to find a tree that would be cleaned and set up in the village centers to dance around as part of a fertility ritual.  However in the United States, May Day celebrations were discouraged by the Puritans. The May Basket, during the 19th and 20th century instead was celebrated, and were created with flowers, candies, and other treats and hung on the doors of friends, neighbors and loved ones on May 1st.

In an attempt to end inhumane working conditions in the United States, May Day is associated with the labor rights strike that began with the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, later known as the American Federation of Labor, who held a convention in Chicago in 1884, proclaiming “eight hours shall constitute a legal day’s labor from and after May 1, 1886.”  However, strikes, demonstrations and protests in 1886, along with prison and death sentences, hanging, suicide in America, and riots in the socialist and labor parties of Europe marred the history of May Day.  While recognized in many European countries, this labor event is ironically rarely recognized in the United States, and in President Grover Cleveland moved the US celebration of Labor Day to the first Monday in September.  President Dwight Eisenhower, in 1958, declared May 1st as “Law Day” celebrating this aspect in the creation of the United States.

At the Tecumseh Museum, we want you to enjoy May 1st as the celebration of spring time with our “May Basket” filled with goodies. Contact us with your order and surprise someone special or enjoy the basket for yourself.  Happy May Day!