John Almon Starr / Saginaw Trail
John Almon Starr (1828-1895) and his wife, Nancy Quick (1831-1895), built this house in 1868 from bricks fired in Almon’s tile factory. Almon and his parents had emigrated to Michigan from Richmond, New York, in 1831, the same year Nancy was born in Royal Oak Township. Almon and his father, Orson Starr, manufactured animal bells until 1866, when Almon started his brickyard and tile works at this location, later known as Starr Corners. The house was occupied by the Starr family until 1967.The Saginaw Trail, running from Detroit to Saginaw through Pontiac and Flint, was originally an Indian trail. In 1816 [the] Michigan territorial government authorized the building of a road from Detroit to Saginaw along the trail. Part of the trail in Oakland County is now Woodward Avenue and Dixie Highway. Evidence of the original Saginaw Trail’s path through Royal Oak is still visible as a depression in the ground running northwesterly across the property adjacent to the John Almon Starr House.
Plaque via Michigan History Center