Anson Brown put up the building you see at 1001 Broadway in 1832, the oldest surviving commercial building in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Erected in 1832 by developer Anson Brown at 1001 Broadway St. in the Lower Town area, it began life as a general store and still anchors this corner at the intersection of Swift and Broadway. Read the brick and parapet end walls and you can see the influence of Dutch architecture that shaped its design.
The building even abuts the Edward L. Fuller building beside it, a reminder of how these early commercial blocks were packed together. Since 1968 this structure has housed the St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store, and for over sixty years it belonged to the Colvin family until it was purchased from them in 1989. Two historical markers on the front commemorate the Underground Railroad and note Dr. Daniel B. Kellog, the "clairvoyant physician.
Stand close and imagine customers arriving to a general store in the 1830s; feel the layers of commerce and community embedded in the masonry. Notice the two markers on the façade, one for the Underground Railroad and one for the clairvoyant physician.