Dundee Bicentennial Celebration

About the Event

Celebrating 200 Years of Dundee!

In 1824, Riley Ingersoll and George Wilcox built the first cabins in the wilderness that would become Dundee. By 1831, Samuel H. Gale and his brother owned a sawmill on the south bank of the River Raisin. In 1832, Sybrant Van Nest bought the sawmill, founded the village, and platted the land on the north side of the river. One story says that he named the village “Dundee” in honor of his friend Ebenezer Dustin, a native of Scotland.

In 1832, the wooden-planked LaPlaisance Bay Turnpike (now Michigan Highway 50) followed the Indian trail along the south bank of the river. Eventually, so many trails and roads crossed in Dundee that, 100 years later, Dundee businessman, Arthur M. Ritter, dubbed the farming community “hub of the highways.”

The town was incorporated as a village in 1855. During the Great Depression, Henry Ford saved the decrepit Old Mill by turning it into a Village Industry. Michigan’s only triangular downtown, with its 1870s brick Italianate buildings, along with the Old Mill, were placed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. While Dundee looks toward the future, it never forgets to honor its past.

Schedule:

9 am - 2.0 Mile Fun Color Run/Walk - Start at Dundee Middle School

10 am - 2 pm - Dundee Farmers Market at The Hub green space. Presented by the DDA

12 pm - 5 pm - Historical Downtown Walking Tours Showcasing The Old Pocklington Hotel (David Arthur Consultants Building) Start at Old Mill Museum

12 pm- 5 pm - One-room School House Self- Guided tours.

12 pm - 5 pm - Rock the Decades - Historical Scavenger Hunt Start at Old Mill Museum. Download the worksheet.

1 pm - 5 pm - Helicopter Rides at Cabela’s (weather permitting) $40 per person

5:30 pm - Hymn Sing at Memorial Bandstand downtown. Presented by Dundee United Methodist Church

7 pm - Time Capsule Ceremony - Old Mill Museum

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