At 312 South Division Street rises a house known by two names, the Henry Bennett House and the Reuben Kempf House, its Ann Arbor museum doors open to your visit. Imagine the year 1853, when Henry DeWitt Bennet — postmaster of Ann Arbor through most of the 1850s and later secretary and steward of the University of Michigan — had this house built as a single-family home. In 1886 Bennet retired and moved to California, selling to a neighbor who rented it for a few years before, in 1890, selling to Reuben and Pauline Kempf.
The Kempfs, both musicians, transformed this house into a local center for the musical arts. They hosted visiting figures such as Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Victor Herbert, and Ernestine Schumann-Heink, and remained here until Reuben’s death in 1945 and Pauline’s in 1953. That same year Mr. and Mrs. Earl V. Parker purchased the house; when Earl Parker died in 1969 the city of Ann Arbor acquired the property and turned it into a historic museum. The house has been restored and now invites you to listen to its story.
Paderewski, Victor Herbert and Ernestine Schumann-Heink were once guests in the rooms behind this restored facade.