The Shelby Township Historical Committee and the township maintain two historical buildings on the municipal campus at 52700 Van Dyke Ave.

One of these buildings is the Andrews Schoolhouse Museum, which houses the committee’s collection of artifacts and serves as a tool to teach our community about its past. The other structure is the Hope Chapel, which is available for weddings and other events. Adjacent to the schoolhouse is the township’s historical train display. The train is a favorite of families and photographers seeking a unique backdrop.

For more information on the Andrews Schoolhouse Museum tours, contact the committee through the Clerk's Office at 586-731-5102. For Hope Chapel rentals and information on the historic train display, contact the Parks, Recreation and Maintenance Department at 586-731-0300.

Hope Chapel

Hope Chapel was initially known as the Hope United Methodist Church of Disco on the west side of Van Dyke Ave., north of 24 Mile Road. Disco was platted in 1849. In 1850 the Disco Academy was built on the southwest corner of Van Dyke Ave. and 24 Mile Road.

The intersection of 24 Mile Road, known as Whiskey Road, and Van Dyke Ave. was once the unincorporated Village of Disco, Michigan. In 1830 the farmers who settled the New York area referred to it as "Utica Plains." By the late 1840s, they wanted a higher education facility similar to the Romeo Institute or the Rochester Academy.

In 1849, the same year the village of Disco was platted, benefactors donated 10 acres of land toward creating the Mutual Literary Institute. It was renamed the Disco Academy in 1855. Religious groups also used the building. School trustees used the lower floor, and Methodists, who organized in 1863, used the upper floor.

In 1890, the Methodist Protestant Church continued to grow, and the upper floor of the Disco Academy was not large enough to contain the flock. The church appointed a building committee, and on Sept. 13, construction started on a new church building at the cost of $1,300.

Mrs. Flora Keeler donated the land, later known as the Metz farm. Flora's parents were Mr. And Mrs. S. Preston of Prestonville. Pastor Wilber S. Ostrander of the Disco Methodist Protestant Church formally dedicated the new church building on December 20, 1890.

Electrical lines in the Utica-Disco area were installed in the early 1900s and operated by several small electrical companies. In 1916, the Edison Illuminating Company consolidated the small electrical companies. It took five more years before the church had electricity.

In 1927, the building was raised and repositioned on a basement. The congregation added a new coal furnace to heat the building. Previously, a pot-bellied stove, placed at the front of the church where the organ used to sit, was used to heat the building. The new basement housed Sunday school classes and social meetings.

In 1962, the congregation added a 15’x28’ addition to the back of the church. The addition consisted of an all-purpose room for social affairs, Sunday school and restrooms. Before the expansion, church members had used outdoor restroom facilities.

In 1979, the church's name changed from the Disco Methodist Protestant Church to Hope United Methodist Church. By this time, the word "disco" had taken on a new meaning, and most people in the area were not aware that the Village of Disco existed here and was the reason for the church's name.

In 1980, the church demolished an old house that sat on the south side of the facility for more parking spaces. The house was likely first used as a parsonage around 1895 after the church purchased it from the Keeler/Cameron family. When Rev. Simpson (1969-1973) was appointed to the Disco Church, he would not make the appointment unless the church supplied better living accommodations for him and his family, so a more modern parsonage was purchased.

In August of 1997, the committee learned that The Hope United Methodist Church members decided to build a new church. The Historical Committee recognized the significance of the old building and wanted to preserve it if possible. The church agreed to donate the building to Shelby Township if the township could move it off their property.

Township officials, Historical Committee members and volunteers, went to work to devise a plan to save the 1890 building. Thanks to the support of township officials and others who donated time, money and effort, the building was finally moved to the municipal campus in June of 2001.

Moving the building to its new location was only the first step of many to restore the structure. The township’s goal was to restore the building's appearance to the period of about 1900. However, the township had to update the entire structure to modern building codes. This process included strengthening the building where needed, repairing the roof and steeple, and updating the electrical, heating and plumbing systems. The township added new restrooms to the rear of the building.

 Following the restoration, the building became an activity center for the community. It is currently available for use as a rented chapel for weddings or other suitable social events. The building, now renamed The Hope Chapel, will continue to serve our community for years to come.

Andrews Schoolhouse Museum

In 1881, six one-room schoolhouses dotted the countryside in modern-day Shelby Township with 390 students. Schools were named for land donors or geographical and physical features. Only one structure remains today, the Andrews Schoolhouse Museum.

This small wooden building is the former one-room Andrews Schoolhouse. It dates back to the 1800s. The school was initially located at the northeast corner of 25 Mile and Mound roads and named Hiram Andrews, who owned the land. The school was moved to its present location in 1976 as part of the Shelby Township's Bicentennial project.

Abel Warren received the first land grant for an eighty-acre parcel of land on which the school was later located in 1842. He and his wife Sarah then sold a portion of the land to William and Laura Miller. Two years later, they sold 20 acres to Hiram Andrews for $300.

In 1844, Hiram Andrews, Jeremiah Curtis and Alanson Arnold were district board members for School District #4 of Shelby Township. During this time, Hiram Andrews' land was leased "for the sole purpose of a Schoolhouse and no other."

On Sept. 8, 1864, the land was once again leased for a period not "less than 50 years" to the "Fractional School District #4 of Shelby and Washington".

Documents imply that the schoolhouse was not built until sometime after Sept. 8, 1864. In his recorded deed of that date, Hiram Andrews made the following provision, "That said District shall build a schoolhouse on the aforesaid premises and use the same for School purposes for the consideration of which I receive $12.”

The schoolhouse was built at least by 1871, as records dated that year refer to "5/8ths of one acre with schoolhouse thereon." At this time, Hiram's son, Chester Andrews, owned the land after Hiram died in 1869. Chester leased the land for 90 years to “the Fractional School District #4 or Shelby and Washington Townships at the cost of $10 provided that the said District use the same for School purposes.” This school district later became part of the Utica Community Schools.

The district periodically used the building for class into the 1950s. Shelby Township's population increase soon outgrew the schoolhouse. It was unused for a time and then had a succession of owners, who converted it into a two-family flat. Later, Amoco Oil Company purchased the land the schoolhouse occupied with plans to build a service station. To save the schoolhouse from demolition, the building was then moved.

As a Bicentennial project, Shelby Township sought to purchase, remove and restore the building. In April of 1975, the Shelby Bicentennial Committee purchased the building for $1. One of the conditions of the sale was the removal of the building within 90 days.

The original plan was to use an Army cargo helicopter from Selfridge Air National Guard Base to drop a hook and sling arrangement around the building and fly it to its new location. Officials later decided that this might crush the building. They attempted to lift it by its roof, but the roof came off.

Finally, a U.S. Army Transport crew and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers moved the building by ground to its present location.

Following the move, there were many problems. The concrete foundation didn't fit, the building was placed on the foundation backward, the roof was damaged beyond repair, the walls were weakened and wood-eating beetles moved with the building.

Master Carpenter Heinz Lambertz and three assistants were hired with federal funds to solve the problems. Crews installed a new roof weeks before the first snowfall, and an exterminator rid the building of its beetles. Workers secured wobbly walls to the foundation and braced the ceiling against the gabled roof.  Crews moved the doors and a cloakroom to make the back of the building look like the front. Workers also added insulation and new wood siding.

The bell tower and its original bell were reinstalled, adding to the charm of this one-room schoolhouse. The Andrews Schoolhouse Museum became the home of the Shelby Township Historical Committee in 1994.

Historical Train Display

The steam locomotive on display on the municipal campus was built in 1920 by the American Locomotive Company at their Cooke Works facility in Paterson, New Jersey. Initially created as an 0-4-0T switcher

, the engine only had four driving wheels in the middle and had no front pilot wheels or rear trailing wheels. The letter 'T' indicates that the locomotive once had a saddle water tank draped over the engine's top.  In its original configuration, the locomotive looked much like “Percy the Small Engine” in the children’s animated “Thomas and Friends” television series.

This locomotive switcher was built for the Singer Manufacturing Company in New Jersey and moved cars around at their facility. Singer eventually moved the locomotive to their facility in Quebec, Canada. In the 1960s, the engine was sold to Ontario's government and changed hands a few more times before it eventually reached Michigan.

The caboose on display was used by the Pere Marquette Railroad for several decades. The caboose's exact construction date is not known, but the caboose was in service until 1965. The Pere Marquette Railroad had trackage in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and the Canadian province of Ontario.

The caboose was used as part of the Pere Marquette Railroad’s weighmaster train and served as the weighmaster’s office. This caboose traveled extensively across the Pere Marquette system, where a scale test car on the train was responsible for testing and calibrating scales in the railroad freight yards.

In the 1960s, businessman and railroad enthusiast Bob Owen purchased the former Grand Trunk Railroad depot in Washington Township and moved a couple of miles northeast to Van Dyke Ave. just north of 29 Mile Road. He used the former depot to operate a sign shop.

In the mid to late 1960s, Owen purchased a locomotive, coal tender, caboose, and an interurban passenger car to make up a train display outside his sign shop.

When putting together the train display, Owen altered the original 0-4-0T switcher locomotive's appearance to make it look like a much older vintage steam locomotive.  These alterations included the construction of a wooden cab, headlight box, cowcatcher, sheet metal diamond stack, and two sets of wheels placed under the locomotive to make it look like a 2-4-2 locomotive. Owen also added the coal tender to the display.  The original switcher locomotive did not use a separate tender car.

Officials moved the locomotive, tender and caboose to the municipal grounds in 1977. The interurban passenger car reportedly went to the Michigan Transit Museum collection in Mount Clemens.  The former Washington Grand Trunk depot used by Owen for his sign shop is now a convenience store.

Former Solid Waste and Recycling Committee Chair Marietta Crabtree was instrumental in getting the locomotive and tender moved to the Shelby Township Municipal Grounds in 1977. When she discovered that Owen planned to sell the train, her company agreed to fund the locomotive and tender's purchase and relocation. The Shelby Township Lions Club was involved with the relocation and restoration of the caboose.

After the locomotive and tender were moved, crews repainted them, and black paint covered many of the details and lettering that had previously been in place. Likewise, the township covered the caboose with new wood siding and red paint. Workers removed items such as ladders and the brake wheel from the caboose during this process,  and side handrails were placed upside down when they were put back onto the caboose.

On each side of the locomotive cab, there are signs with the year 1869. These signs were most likely placed on the train by Owen. This year was significant for two reasons, as 1869 was when the Michigan Air Line Railroad came to Shelby and Washington townships. 

The same year, the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in the U.S., with the final golden spike in Promontory Summit, Utah.