A history of Dexter,
since 1824
Postcards, papers and photographs of Dexter from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The area that became Dexter was settled in 1824 by land speculator and lawyer Samuel W. Dexter, who purchased a tract of land at the confluence of Mill Creek and the Huron River. Prior to white settlement, the area was home to members of the Potawatomi tribe. Dexter was the village's first postmaster and became the first chief justice of Washtenaw County when it was formally organized in 1826, earning the nickname "Judge Dexter" for the rest of his life. The settlement, originally known as the Mill Creek Settlement, was officially platted in 1830 and renamed Dexter in honor of Dexter's father, Samuel Dexter, a former U.S. senator and cabinet member under President John Adams.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Dexter’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewSamuel W, c. 1860: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Dexter, decade by decade
1920s
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Samuel W (c. 1860) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15From Wikimedia Commons (5) and the Library of Congress (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.