Area less than one acre Architectural style Gothic | Built 1886 NRHP Reference # 81000314 | |
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Location 205 W. Livingston Rd., Highland, Michigan Built by Lester and George St. John | ||
Highland United Methodist Church (also known as Highland Station House) is a historic Victorian Gothic church building and library at 205 West Livingston Road in Highland, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.
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History
The Methodist congregation in Highland was first organized in 1865, and met in the Hickory Ridge School. They continued to meet in the school house until 1886, when they had raised enough funds to build this structure. The church was built by local carpenters George and Lester St. John on three lots in Highland, donated by J. B. and Betsey Crouse, and was completed in late 1886. In 1946, the Hickory Ridge School (built in 1835) was moved to the site of the church and connected to serve as a parish hall. Another portion was added to the rear of the structure in 1957.
In 1980, the building was purchased by Highland Township, renovated and expanded, and put into use as a library in 1982. The library moved into a new building in 2002. The structure is currently known as the Highland Station House and houses the Huron Valley Council for the Arts.
Description
The Highland United Methodist Church is a rectangular Victorian Gothic structure with a gable roof, clapboard siding, and a projecting square tower at one corner, topped with a belfrey and spire. The windows are tall and narrow, with original wooden louvered blinds on the exterior. Scrollsaw filigree decorates the window heads, the front gable, and the tower. A double-door entrance is on the base of the tower, and is sheltered by a hood.
The adjoining addition, originally the 1835 Hickory Ridge School, is a single-story, gable-roofed, wood frane structure.