Bryant Farm

This farm has remained in the Bryant family since 1844 and retains much of its original Civil War era appearance. The ruins of stone fences erected without mortar still stand as a rare reminder of early settlement. Mary Bryant Mayo (1845-1903), Michigan’s pioneer leader in co-education, was born here. During the latter part of the nineteenth century she was very active in the Grange movement and traveled throughout the Midwest exhorting farm women to improve their lives through education. The Grange’s purpose was to show farmers that their happiness depended upon education as well as prosperity, and Mary Mayo “had the power of reaching those who dwell in the farm house.” Perry Mayo, her husband, who had gained prominence by being elected state senator in 1887-1888, encouraged her efforts. In 1900 Mary was instrumental in establishing the first women’s dormitory, the Women’s Building, on the Michigan State University campus. Thirty-one years later that university built a new women’s dormitory and named it in honor of Mary Mayo.