In October of 1980, a group of local residents met to form the Montrose Area Historical Association to research and preserve Montrose’s past for the generations to come. Our first stop on this journey was to do research in the History of Montrose Township book, published in 1899 by Haight Bros. The in-depth information was compiled by Charles F. Haight and contained 46 pages of text about the history of Montrose Township, followed by 24 pages of photos of area buildings, churches, and businesses with accompanying text about those buildings. Those 24 pages were followed by 12 pages that had photos of different area homes in each book with the families standing in front of their homes and a brief paragraph about that family’s history. These books were an invaluable resource in publishing 153 issues of the Memory Lane Gazette from 1982 through 2018, sharing with our community the history of the people and businesses of Montrose.
The next project was acquiring Slade School on Hickory Street to use as a museum. It was first leased from Montrose Community School District and later gifted to our organization. The school had been moved from its location on the southwest corner of Vienna and Duffield Roads. It was one of 3 schools that had been moved to Hickory Street in 1948 to accommodate the growing student population. After countless hours spent by volunteers in making repairs, the renovated building opened as the Montrose Historical Museum with an open house October 23, 1983; just 3 years after the founding of the Montrose Area Historical Association. For many years, the museum was the site of many exhibits and shows, from Christmas Toy and Doll Shows to Quilts and Military Displays. Historical displays can now be seen at the Montrose Historical and Telephone Pioneer Museum at 144 E. Hickory St. along with countless items of telephone memorabilia.
In 2016, after the members raised sufficient funds to apply for a historical marker from the Michigan Historical Commission, a two-year extensive research project began. The marker was to be placed at the site of the Church on the Hill (originally, the Montrose Methodist Protestant Church) and the Montrose Cemetery. The plaque was dedicated on September 15, 2018. It is a rather unique plaque as one side denotes the history of the church while the other side tells of the history of the cemetery.
