The Departed Historic Buildings of the Botsford Inn

During the early pioneering days in Farmington Township, the primary travel routes were the existing Indian Trails, since no formal roads had yet been built.

Of the three trails that passed through the area, the greatest of them was the Grand River Indian Trail. Located on this trail, between present day Inkster and Middlebelt Roads, was a small Indian Village called Pojomoka, and this became a stop-over point for the early pioneer settlers. The Westons built an inn there in 1836, which became the nucleus of the white settlement which took root there. This inn was bought by Stephen Jennings in 1841 and expanded to include a Tavern.

Stephen Jennings built a Greek Revival frame house for himself immediately to the east of the inn also about 1841. When his daughter Jane married Eber Durham in 1845, Stephen built a nice framed Greek Revival house for her as a wedding gift. The Durham house was located immediately west of a small pond that was on the west side of the inn.

By the 20th century, the Indian Trail became known as the Grand River Road, the inn was renamed the Botsford Inn, and Pojomoka was called Clarenceville. The great success of the automobile resulted in increased traffic, and by 1924, Grand River was scheduled to be widened into a boulevard road, threatening the very existence of the old Botsford Inn.

A number of close friends and working associates of Henry Ford (Lumen Goodenough, David Gray, Marcus Burrowes, and Kirby White) had already settled in Farmington and no doubt told him of the plight of the old inn. After all, Ford had just rescued the historic Wayside Inn in Massachusetts in 1923.

Ford was convinced, and he purchased the inn and its surrounding acreage in 1924, moved the inn back away from the road and performed a museum quality restoration. As part of the site plan, both the Stephen Jennings house and the Eber Durham house were relocated and fully restored. The Eber Durham house became the residence of Ford’s on-site caretakers, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Shaw, and the Jennings house was used to house some of Ford’s workers.

Ford also located an appropriate 1840 vintage barn and moved it to the inn site as well. He also constructed a reproduction Greek Revival four stall carriage barn in the 1840s style near the inn. Both the Botsford Inn and the Wayside Inn remained in Ford’s hands through the mid-1940s.

By the early 1980s, the outlying land around the inn had been sold to what is now the . They wanted to use the land for the Hospital and they graciously worked with the late Jean Fox of the Farmington Hills Historic District Commission to find historic-minded citizens who would adopt and restore the buildings and move them to sites within the City.

The two houses were the first to move, both in 1983. The Stephen Jennings house was relocated to the west side of Drake Road just south of Sleepy Hollow, between 11 and 12 Mile Roads, and the Eber Durham house was moved to the south side of 13 Mile Road between Drake and Halsted roads, in what is now known as the “Thirteen Mile Historic Area”.

The next to leave was the 1924-built, four-stall carriage barn reproduction building. It was also placed on 13 Mile Road near the Eber Durham house (but on the north side of the road and further east) in 1986, at the same time 13 Mile Road was being paved. Finally, after long years of planning, negotiation, and revision, the old Botsford Barn was relocated next to the Eber Durham house in 2007.

When it was part of the Botsford Inn, it had been called the “Coach House” and used for special events. It was built into the surrounding buildings so as to hardly be noticed, but now stands proudly on its own once again.