This spring, the Birmingham Museum and Baldwin Public Library will be presenting a joint lecture series program that will explore curious and forgotten aspects of Birmingham's past.  This three-part lecture series will look at how national movements that were important for their time had a lasting impact on our local story. See the series flyer.  Free to the public.

• Thursday, March 8, 2018:  “The Good Roads Movement in Michigan: How the Late 19th c. Bicycling Craze Got Farmers out of the Mud”  7:00-8:30 at the Baldwin Library (Lower Level Meeting Room)

Local author and historian Jim Craft will discuss how surprisingly, it was bicycling enthusiasts who launched the grass roots effort to improve our country's quagmire-like unimproved roads of the late industrial age. The Good Roads movement started with bicycles, but benefited the emerging auto industry. The movement led to lasting changes in road funding.  that ultimately made major roadways such as Woodward Avenue the first 'Super Highway' in the 1920s.

• Thursday, April 19, 2018:  “The American Chautauqua Movement and Birmingham's Ellsworth C. Plumstead”  7:00-8:30 at the Baldwin Library (Jean Lloyd Room)

Birmingham historian and Library Friends President Pam DeWeese will present the important role played by the part-entertainment, part-education, part-religious traveling performances known as "chautauqua" that brought out local crowds during the 19th and 20th centuries. The American chautauqua movement left lasting effects on local culture, and changed the life of local Birmingham resident Ellsworth C. Plumstead, who became nationally famous in the Chatauqua movement. 

• Thursday, May 10, 2018: “The Most Important Road: How the Saginaw Trail Became Woodward Avenue and Built Early Michigan”  7:00-8:30 at the Baldwin Public Library (Lower Level Meeting Room)

Under our very feet, the Native American Saginaw Trail (now Woodward Avenue) was once the only route into the Oakland County wilderness. Travelers had to pass by what is now Birmingham, creating a special business opportunity.  Author and Birmingham Museum Director Leslie Pielack will discuss how the trail brought Elijah Willits, John Hamilton, and John West Hunter together, and was central to the development of early Michigan and the transportation infrastructure that created the Motor City.