Byron Township Hall / Byron Township Hall

Byron Township Hall was built in 1876. Byron Center had been platted four years earlier from the Samuel S. Towner farm, which was located in the geographic center of the township. The hall housed the township library until 1963 and continued to house government offices until 1986. The International Order of Odd Fellows held a ninety-nine-year lease on the second story of the building beginning in 1877. The Byron Center Historical Society purchased and restored the building in 1986. In 1896 William Jennings Bryan, the “silver-tongued orator,” spoke here while stumping the country as the Democratic presidential candidate. Gerald R. Ford often met here with his constituents during his thirteen terms as Michigan’s Fifth District Congressman. The Byron Township Hall served as a forum for political speeches and provided space for community activities such as dances, weddings, meetings, and church services. It became the Byron Township Historical Museum in 1987.