The McFadden-Ross House at 915 S Brady was built in 1839 to be the powder magazine for the Detroit Arsenal at Dearbornville. Located several blocks from the main Arsenal campus as a safety measure, the original structure was a relatively basic building with thick walls that can still be seen today.
Following the closure of the Arsenal in 1875, the powder magazine building was sold to Nathaniel Ross. In 1882-1883, he began converting the structure into a farm house and homestead for his family. Nearly 70 years later in 1950, the house’s last inhabitant Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Ross, willed the house to the City of Dearborn to become a museum. After substantial renovations, the McFadden-Ross House officially opened as a Museum in 1956.
Today, the McFadden-Ross House serves many purposes for the Dearborn Historical Museum. It is open to the public for tours and has several rotating exhibit spaces. It also acts as the Museum’s primary event space with a large meeting area. A schoolhouse room in the basement is featured in the Museum’s Pioneer School Program for local second graders. Additionally, the Museum’s gift shop is located in the McFadden-Ross House and the upper floor contains the Museum’s archives for the City of Dearborn.
For more information on the Detroit Arsenal in Dearborn, click here.
The McFadden-Ross Family History
Images of Elizabeth Wilson McFadden & Nathaniel Ross (Show Above)
Elizabeth Wilson McFadden came to America to live with her uncle and aunt who owned a general store in Dearbornville. There she would meet her future husband Nathaniel Ross who worked as a farmer on her uncle’s farm. The couple lived on her uncle’s farm until the 1880’s when they would eventually purchase what is known as the Dearborn Historical Museum today on January 20th, 1883.
McFadden’s Convenience Store (Shown Above)
Uncle Michael McFadden
Michael McFadden was born in Ireland and later came to America with his wife Elizabeth in the 1850’s. Together, the couple ran a small general store, saving money up over time to buy a 120 acre farm near Michigan Ave. and Telegraph road. In the 1850’s, Michael’s niece Elizabeth Wilson McFadden came from Ireland to live with them. In 1863, they sold their general store and farmed full-time.
Nathaniel Ross
Nathaniel Ross was born in Ireland in 1825. He and his brother immigrated to America in the 1850’s where he would soon meet Elizabeth Wilson McFadden and marry her in 1859. Nathaniel Ross was a tall man with a long flowing beard, a cane, and the inability to approach a conversation with negativity. He passed away at the age of 93 in 1918.
Elizabeth Wilson McFadden Ross
Elizabeth was born in Ireland in 1837, she was orphaned at a young age and eventually went to live with her uncle, Michael McFadden, in her teens. After marrying Nathaniel Ross, the couple went on to have seven children. She would later pass away at the age of 63 in the year 1900.
Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Ross
Lizzie Ross was born July 24th, 1866 and was the fourth child of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Ross. After her mother’s death, Lizzie managed the Ross properties and partly made a living by selling excess real estate including a portion of their farmland in 1906.
While Lizzie could be strong-willed and fierce at times, she also showed a lighter side when tending to her beloved white lilies and mums. This, she kept as her own little joy. She also had many animals that she took care of including her collie dogs, 10 cats, and a 700 pound pig. When she wasn’t looking after her animals she also enjoyed baking sugar cookies and making peanut brittle.
When the time came to decide what to do with the property, she stated she,
“wanted to do something useful with it.”
Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Ross
James Lytle
Born December 4th, 1863, James Lytle was the brother of Lizzie. He grew up farming with his father on their property. He would later marry Mary Eliza Long in 1893. Unfortunately, tragedy would strike leaving him both wife and childless. Their death resulting in his return to live with Lizzie, where Lytle resided until his death on December 3rd, 1947.
In his life, he raised numerous animals such as pigs, pheasants, chickens, horses and even had a garden. He enjoyed a drink every now and then and even had a secret stash of hard cider in the basement.
Life With The Ross Family
The Ross family proved obstinate to some. In one particular instance, Nathaniel Ross would develop a feud with Henry Ford over their property, land that Ford very much wanted to purchase. Nathaniel, unsatisfied by the price that was offered, refused to sell resulting in the eventual nicknaming of their house as the one “House That Henry Ford Couldn’t Buy.”
In other confrontations, the Rosses employed lawyers to block the extension of Garrison Street on their property and used a shotgun to stop the building of a sewer. To build a gas station on Michigan Ave, they charged the owner rent and then later struck a deal that in case of an emergency or for friendly company, Lizzie would signal the gas station through a light in her parlor.
Lizzie and her brother Lytle were both known to be irritable in their older age but both were said to be devoted and kind to those who were on their good side.
The Powder Magazine Origins
The Powder Magazine plans for the right side (Shown Above)
The Detroit Arsenal at Dearbornville was built between 1833 and 1837 in the center of what is today known as downtown Dearborn.
The Powder magazine was already under construction in August of 1839. Built with wood from Detroit and bricks that were made onsite by Titus Dort, it began housing powder in August of 1842. After the Civil War, the building was also used to store returned weapons and powder from returning troops. In 1869, two hundred hand grenades from the Civil War were returned and stored here.
The Arsenal had buildings for troop barracks, officers lodgings, repair shops and storage buildings for guns and cannons. Unfortunately, however, lacked a proper storage building for explosive gunpowder that was essential to operate.
The structure itself was roughly 60 x 22 ft., with walls two and a half inches thick. It had brick barrel vaulted ceilings and large copper sheathed doors at each end of the arsenal.
Gunpowder was stored in wooden kegs that ranged in size from eight inches to 3ft. tall.
The Powder Keg original design when it was first constructed (Shown Above)
The Powder Magazine’s Closure
After the Civil War, the federal government cut back on funding, maintenance, and repair. Rumors soon began to fly, inferring the Arsenal’s closure. On March 3, 1875 those rumors would become true and the Dearbornville Arsenal would close.
Several artifacts were saved from the building by the Ross family when they eventually moved in, including vent grates, bricks, and both original copper doors that can be seen in the images above.
The Ross Family Moves In
After the Ross family purchased the former powder magazine, they remodeled it by adding windows, doors, and walls. After completion, they were officially moved in by 1884. However, from 1921-1924, the family decided to add in bedrooms, bathrooms, a kitchen, a basement, three porches, and some dormers on the roof.
The 1920’s floor plans for the house (Shown Above)
Dearborn Historical Museum
The floor plan for the Dearborn Historical Museum (Shown Above)
In 1950, the house would be donated to the city where more renovations would occur, transforming it into what is now. The Dearborn Historical Museum opened to the public in 1956.
Dearborn Historical Museum 