As a fan of history, you may want to know more about your Ferndale home. Unfortunately many city records related to home construction were lost due to past city office floods. But all is not lost! The museum has several resources to help you research your home!

 

BINDER ARCHIVES: Collection of binders documenting owners and history of Ferndale buildings by street address. This documentation effort was started in 1995 by Diane O’Neill and is updated often with sales history. There is a page for each Ferndale residence. Many have a photo with history attached. Some are blank waiting for the story to be written. Current homeowners are welcomed to add history, photos, wallpaper swatches, etc., to share with future homeowners!

Fulton Cabin 1850s East of Woodward, North of 8 Mile

 

 

R.L. POLK BOOKS (1920s-1950s): These fragile books provide a glimpse of who lived at a street address in the past. They list addresses with names (reverse of phonebook listing we are familiar with) and often include family members at that address. They also list name with address and businesses (like a phonebook). Due to their fragility access is limited - but museum staff will be available to help. A few such books are also available on Ancestry.com, local museums, and libraries (a list is HERE).

 

 

Silman Home Built in 1879 at Woodward & Silman

 

FERNDALE GAZETTE (1927-1979): The weekly Ferndale newspaper is searchable and can yield some interesting results at your address! This may include notes about births, baby showers, weddings, celebrations, deaths, building permits, and legal notices. The search is computerized, but it can take a long time to search 6 decades of history! This resource is not online please contact the museum for research inquiries.

 

 

Ferndale Family 1910s

 

ABSTRACTS AND FILES: Abstracts were the legal definition of properties used in the past (rarely used today). The museum has files for a few homes along with other documentation. Unfortunately there are almost no building permits or blueprints available.

 

505 East Chesterfield Built in 1903

 

NEWSLETTERS: The Museum maintains its past newsletters and those available from neighborhood associations. These can be searched for names and addresses related to your home.

 

VIDEO: Copies of public access TV shows are kept on DVDs in an offsite vault. Highlights are on the Museum’s website HERE. Although sometimes hard to see and hear, there are some interesting interviews by the Garden Club of past homeowners explaining the history of their trees and gardens.

 

U.S. CENSUS RECORDS & FAMILY HISTORY: These offer an interesting history of who lived in your home. It can sometimes be tedious to find specific info and hard to read old hand-written records, but usually worth the search! Data are delayed 72 years to protect living individuals. These are available in the museum, and many places online (Ancestry.com and official Census site HERE). Extensive family history, and census records, are available for free at the Church of Latter-day Saints' recently improved website HERE.

 

 

YEARBOOKS: Once you know the names of prior homeowners, it is fun to see their faces in school yearbooks! The museum has a complete collection of yearbooks (highlights are online in the Members Area HERE)

 

1906 Pinecrest - Sears 1926 Catalog of Houses Page 42-1

 

PROPERTY TAX RECORDS: Recent data (about the last 15 years worth) are available on the "BS&A Online" website. You can see property tax history, building permits/inspections/issues, legal description, names, and even water bills. Click the link HERE and enter one of the values. You can enter an exact address to see that property, or just a street name to see all properties on that street. Many communities in Michigan and elsewhere use this same system.

 

OAKLAND COUNTY CLERK/REGISTRAR OF DEEDS: This is not part of our museum, but is a valuable source of your home’s history! Deeds and mortgage documents are online HERE since the late 1960s for a small fee.

If you want to explore older records, those are kept in the basement of the county office. There are people to help you research (no fee) but there is a small fee for copies. Contact them ahead of time to confirm access.

NOTE: As of Jan 2023 the county has stopped offering access to the archive of older documents. We are asking the county for options to access this important history and will update this site if/when progress is made.

 

467 West Drayton Stone Home

 

KIT HOMES: Do you live in a kit home? During the 1920 building boom, kit homes could be purchased from sources such as Sears, Montgomery Ward, or Aladdin (based in Bay City). These were popular with Ferndale residents intent on economically erecting their own dream house. One clue is if structural members of your home have numbers stamped or stenciled onto them. Such numbers indicate how they were fit into your home. The museum has catalogs and other information about kit homes - stop by!

 

VINTAGE HOME FEATURES: Be sure to visit our list of vintage home features HERE that you might find in your home.

 

STREET NAMES: On March 18, 1920 dozens of streets in Ferndale were renamed to reduce mailing confusion with other communities. For example Plum Street became East Cambourne and Woodle Street became West Saratoga. A few street names were also changed in later years. This can create confusion when tracking down area history. Fortunately the museum has a list of street name changes, plus a curious "blueprint map" created just before the name change, to help solve mysteries!

 

 

MAPS & OTHER RESOURCES: View our resource web page HERE

 

 

HISTORIC HOMES & ARCHITECTURE Want to learn more and spend years exploring home and architecture resources? Millions of pages to explore for free....

USModernist HERE

Old home plans & catalogs OldHouseGuy HERE

Is that real Pewabic tile? HERE

 

 

PAST OWNERS: One of the best resources would be to meet past owners. Recently there was a post on a Ferndale Facebook forum where a prior homeowner, celebrating her 75th birthday, pulled up to her childhood home in Ferndale. The current owners invited her in for a tour and shared sweet memories. That post received over 840 likes in a few days! People added over 60 comments about similar experiences and their wish to learn more about Ferndale homes.

 

SUBDIVISION HISTORY: It can be fun to look back on the history of your home's subdivision. The map below shows the original and current subdivisions that make-up Ferndale. If you are not sure what subdivision your home is in, use the BSA property tax records above and look at the description. The descriptions usually include the subdivision name and lot number. We gathered some interesting advertising in a file HERE about the booming developments in what would become Ferndale!

 

FACEBOOK GROUPS: Two Facebook groups to consider joining for historical local research are the "Ferndale Forum" and "Memories of Ferndale Michigan". A Facebook group with fascinating Detroit area architectural expertise is Historical Detroit Area Architecture.

 

IS YOUR HOME 100+ YEARS OLD? If so, the Historical Society of Michigan sells a plaque saying so! A Free Press story on the topic is HERE. This is similar to their centennial farm program here. For more information visit their site: https://www.hsmichigan.org/awards/michigan-heritage-home

 

 

If you have a story to tell about your life in a Ferndale home, meeting a past resident of your home, or how you documented the history of your home please consider sharing. We would welcome your story, add it to the history of your home on file, and possibly include it in a future newsletter!

Need help or want to share a story please contact: info@ferndalehistoricalsociety.org

 

Buy Your Plaque From the Museum or Online HERE