Foster Farmhouse

Facing certain demolition, The Banks-Dolbeer-Bradley-Foster Farmhouse was moved, from its original location at 999 Pontiac Trail in Walled Lake, to its new setting in Riley Park in May 1997.  Oral histories confirm that the house was a "depot" on the Underground Railroad.  In addition to its role in the abolition movement, the farmhouse is significant as the home of Dr. Sarah Banks.  A descendent of the Mayflower's Miles Standish, Dr. Banks was one of the first women to graduate from the University of Michigan College of Medicine and Surgery (1873).  Another notable feature of the Farmhouse is its architecture.  Beginning as a log cabin in the 1830's, the house was remodeled into a Greek Revival Farmhouse in the 1840's.  An Italianate addition was added in the 1850's.  Both styles are rare in the Walled Lake/Commerce Township areas.

• Woman Recalls Family Story of Underground Railroad (newspaper article)
• Rood, Judith Mendelsohn.  The Banks Homestead: The underground railroad in Walled Lake, Michigan.  Sacred History, v. 3, n. 1, Jan/Feb 2007, pp. 40-51.  Reproduced as scanned image files. 
• Meenahan, Ann Marie.  The Banks-Bradley-Foster Farm: A Discovery.  December 1, 1983. This paper was written for a graduate-level architecture course at the University of Michigan.  The copy reproduced here is in PDF format and omits the footnotes and bibliography.