VIEW FR Local Historic District Proposal Here
Informational Handouts:
General Property Owner Information – PDF
Residential Tax Incentives – PDF
Commerical Property Tax incentives – PDF
A few reminders and notes to consider:
–This is the PRELIMINARY Report for the proposed Flat Rock Historical District.
–There are no other Historic Districts in any of the Downriver Communities. The nearest HD is Monroe and Wyandotte has a local program only. Flat Rock will be the FIRST!
–Other communities in the state have OUTSOURCED this type of project at a cost of $30,000-$40,000. We have good qualified people here and THOUSANDS of volunteer hours went into this project. We are always looking for volunteers, if interested send us an email.
–Many hands worked on this project, and although we strived for perfection, there are notable changes in formatting, missing sections and even odd page gaps. Even compiling, we have found errors and omissions and will remedy those in the final report. If you find an error, please email us and let us know so we can update the form.
–I would recommend using FREE Adobe Acrobat to view the project. The whole project is OCR’d [which means every word searchable, try searching for a street or a surname]! Remember this is a historic record, we did not include any current info. We have added Adobe Bookmarks to help navigate this enormous file (over 3,200 pages!!!)
-Here is the Dropbox folder full of research data and maps used in this project.
DROPBOX RESEARCH FOLDER (SOURCES)
–The individual property files are all the way at the bottom of the PDF, there are 677 individual reports on properties in the district, the history of the house (or what we know). I will add breakout sections here so its not so overwhelming:
Area 1: James Ave., Ford, Ave, W. Huron River Drive, Heier Ct
Area 2: Sheeks Blvd., Wesley Ave., Gibraltar (partial)
Area 3: Van Riper St., Evergreen St,, & Walnut St.
Area 4: E. Huron River Drive (east of Garden Blvd.), Mill St. Garden Blvd.
– Where available, we tried to used FREE viewable images. All of citations with links calling out FamilySearch.org can be viewed by simply creating a FREE account on FamilySearch.com. The county records used are publicly available on the county website, and the links are included if you wish to see additional info, there are spectacular old maps on there too!
– Please keep in mind that the City of Flat Rock broke away from Brownstown Township in 1965, and so many early Flat Rock records are under Brownstown. We are fortunate to partner with the Brownstown Historical Society and Township offices to access our early records and we are working to digitize them for preservation.
– A public meeting required by statute will take place the first week in May 2026. Please don’t wait, if you want to chat, email us with your concerns and contact info and we will get back with you.
PROPERTY OWNER RESOURCES
Local Historic District Act – Public Act 169 of 1970
Preservation Brief 16 – Substitute Materials
Michigan’s State Historic Tax Credit Program
– During the photography portion of walking the neighborhoods, we encountered many property owners who came out to talk to us and ask why we were photographing their homes. All of the residents we spoke with were super excited that we were proposing a historic district. There were reasons why we extended and covered certain areas.
Thank you for considering our proposal. We are a Certified Local Government (CLG) and as such a copy of this proposal will be filed with the state historical preservation review board and the state historic commission. They only have an advisory role in this process and will give us feedback, but the decision ultimately rests with you.
Questions/Thoughts about this can be directed to: