National Register of Historic Places
Owosso Downtown Historic District
Owosso, Shiawassee County, Michigan
The record
- Listed
- April 7, 2014
- Type
- Historic district
- Address
- Roughly bounded by Shiawassee R., Comstock, Water, Park and Mason Sts., Owosso
- County
- Shiawassee
- State
- Michigan
- Contributing resources
- 91 buildings
- Coordinates
- 42.91933, -84.17443
- Reference number
- 14000126
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
The outline is the area recorded for this listing in National Park Service map data, drawn approximately.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDigital Commonwealth, Boston Public LibraryDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesUSGS Historical Topographic Map Collection
The story
Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com
The Owosso Downtown Historic District is a commercial historic district in Owosso, Shiawassee County, roughly bounded by the Shiawassee River and Comstock, Water, Park and Mason Streets. It was listed in the National Register in 2014; its 91 contributing buildings range in style from Italianate to Mid-Century Modern.
Why it's listed
It was listed under criterion A, with local-level significance in social history, entertainment and recreation, military history and architecture. The nomination gives its period of significance as the 1830s.
Physical character
Most buildings are brick in shades of red, yellow-buff and beige, on limestone or fieldstone foundations, with some faced in clapboard, concrete block or terra cotta. Many facades carry corbelled brick bands, brick quoins, dentil bands, pressed metal cornices and round or pointed-arch windows, along with wrought-iron balustrades. A fire destroyed one building in 1898; it was rebuilt by 1900, and a 1911 tornado tore the octagonal belfry and spire off another building.
Historical context
One building began in 1871 as a brick livery stable and closed by 1915. Downtown buildings also housed the Coliseum Theatre in 1910 and the Family Theater in 1915, and Foresters' Hall met there from 1907 to 1913. One storefront was a dental office for decades: Dr. Gaylord Finch practiced there in 1948, Dr. Hartley Hermanson from 1955 to 1970, and Dr. Terrence W. Ryckman from 1975 to 2010.