Remembering Reading

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United States
Flat Rock, MI
Remembering Reading

A historic preservation nonprofit created in memory of the demolished 1911 Reading School.

Our mission is to honor our city’s past through the saving and renovation of historic structures, inspiring thoughtful development and community connection. Remembering Reading is a nonprofit organization formed with the mission of safeguarding the tangible narratives of our past; the historical sites, artifacts and heritage, that stand as a testament to bygone eras, and to sharing, promoting and educating all generations about the richness of our Flat Rock community.

03/24/2026

Good afternoon family and friends of Reading! The latest and greatest updates from our historic renovation of The Stoup-Littlefield Home in downtown Flat Rock.

The kitchen foundation dig continues to take place and more artifacts uncovered, while full demolition, down to the studs, continues on the second floor to run mechanicals throughout.

Next week we submit our proposal for a T Mobile Hometown Hero grant of $50,000 to sponsor and rebuild the beautiful Italianate-inspired front porch. Huge shout out and sincere thank you to all of the letter's of recommendation we received in support of this request! It's a great program they offer to rural communities working to revitalize their towns and villages, build community and will shine a sweet little spotlight on the level pebble

More good news to share, our corporation received a private donation in the amount of $10,000 and we will be using this money, with gratitude, to apply for matching funds to renovate the garage and start our landscape/hardscape plans around the perimeter of the property. It's been our number one priority to get the outside looking pristine first and generate interest and intrigue of what's going on inside.

Lastly, our nonprofit has been presented with an exciting opportunity to save another rare, historic home in the proposed Historic District and make it great again. Perhaps a future lease to a start up at a very neighborly, nonprofit rate? However it would most definitely take a village to make happen. If anyone knows of a vacant lot they would be interested in selling along Gibraltar or Huron River Drive, please message us. And please share this post with all our Flat Rock pages. Appreciate it very much. This is precisely why we created this corporation - to do everything we can to keep threading a cohesive, historic needle throughout downtown.

Thank you all for following along and cheering us on. We can't wait to welcome you all over when it's safe for visitors and volunteers. Shooting for an open house this fall. xoxo

02/25/2026

Good afternoon from your friends and neighbors at the Remembering Reading Corporation! Here is a summary update regarding the historic renovation of the 1860 Stoup-Littlefield Home on Gibraltar Road, one of the oldest surviving residences in our community, that we are carefully taking apart and putting back together in its original historic state.

The home sat vacant for many years and was in jeopardy of being demolished. We are grateful for all involved that played a role in helping us save this time capsule gem! Barely visible beneath years of overgrown brush, we replaced all the roofing on both the main section of the home and garage immediately with the gracious donations we collected to preserve The Reading School. This past fall, we completed the final removal of all modern modifications from its previous life as a medical office, including a 8 by 16 addition that was failing on the east side.

It’s important to note this isn’t your typical “flip” home renovation and includes a lot of historical research and digging with each passing section. We have discovered items that date back to the mid-1800s and will be displayed in the history wing of the home. Most recently we discovered a second well, in addition to the one located in the backyard. The demolition phase has been very time consuming as we look for artifacts that may tie the home to the Civil War and possibly the Underground Railroad.

We are also documenting the building construction and techniques used, including locally-sourced limestone foundation and complete retention of the original clapboard siding. All nails were cut nails consistent with the mid-1800s.

The home’s sections evolved over the decades with perhaps just the upright originally, then a one story wing was added. Once the home was sold from Charles Stoup to Wesley Littlefield, that small wing addition was extended and a second story was added above. In the early 1900s, with the onset of modern plumbing, a kitchen and full bath wing was added to the back of the home.

The entire foundation of the kitchen wing was failing and has since been removed and more digging has been taking place, yielding more exciting artifacts. We are now in the process of rebuilding the foundation and roof of the kitchen wing this winter season, along with the demolition of all the walls in the second story, to make way for all new mechanicals. Come Spring we will start construction of the front porch and continue with paint, trim, fencing and landscaping this summer.

Once completed, the home will serve as a history house museum and event center. Up until a few months ago, private donations and volunteers have been responsible for its improvement, upkeep and taxes. Now that the corporation has received their nonprofit status, repairs and renovations will start to accelerate with tax deductible donations, historical grants and corporate sponsorships.

The interiors will be inspired by late-19th-century furnishings and historically appropriate details, interpreted through a contemporary design lens. Once complete, the home will include it's original formal parlor, a grand dining room with seating up to 18, a gourmet kitchen, two half bathrooms and two additional exterior porches along the East side and rear of the home. The west side original bay window area will be added back and serve as the perfect backdrop for the Christmas tree during the historic holiday home tours envisioned for the space. The second floor will consist of two bedrooms and a large history room with vaulted ceilings telling the story of the “Grand Old Lady”, the wonderful families who inhabited it and the surrounding community leaders and founders.

01/04/2026

This Christmas season we are reminded that preserving history is ultimately about preserving connection- between generations, communities, and the places we call home.

Wishing our supporters, partners, and friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you for standing with us as we honor the past and steward it forward for future generations.

We are grateful to share an exciting milestone this year: The Remembering Reading Corporation officially solidified its nonprofit status 💫

With this important step, we are energized to continue cultivating meaningful preservation initiatives at the Stoup-Littlefield Home, expanding community outreach, and helping revitalize our community in thoughtful and lasting ways.

Our work is rooted in creating connection, purpose, and pride - preserving the past while strengthening the community we share today. We are excited for what lies ahead and grateful for the support that makes this work possible.

As we look ahead, we invite you to follow along as we become more active in sharing renovation updates, preservation efforts, and future community outreach programs. Those interested in supporting our mission can do so through volunteering, sharing our story, or contributing financially, which all help advance our preservation efforts.

With gratitude,
The Remembering Reading Corporation and our incredible volunteers

05/30/2025

DIGGING UP HISTORY AT THE STOUP-LITTLEFIELD HOME HISTORIC RENOVATION.

Happy Summertime! It was a very busy Winter season for the Remembering Reading Foundation (RRF). So much good news to share, so welcome back and buckle in.

It is a great honor to share our architectural elevation drawing of an 1890s home by Jane Garelli. We are using all the old photos and drawings of Flat Rock homes from this era to complete the look. Notice it is black and white. Next big step will be the color palette. We've ordered a lot of samples ;-). Because the home has so much wonderful trim detail, we thought of a contrasting color on the body to exemplify, while taking into consideration all the colors of the homes around us. How best will we gel in our streetscape? To be continued.

We have new membership forms! Soon we will start collecting in our bougie new mailbox, fitting for the era and genre. Love the feedback section of the form and how we can help. Also, excited to showcase the first operable gas lanterns in the city, along with the only wishing well. What a gem we saved. This Grand Lady had a wrecking ball breathing down her back. Just wait.

All Winter long, the team worked very hard, demoing the entire first floor and started digging up the 1930s kitchen wing of the home to uncover the original footprint/foundation. Once the new floor and temporary walls are up, we can finally tear off that portion of the home that looks like it belongs in a Texas Chainsaw movie. We are taking liberty and inspiration from the old homes, many no longer with us, to design the back elevations of the home with additional covered porches, windows and doors.

This Summer the front porch will start to take shape back to its original roots. We've been out sourcing the posts and trim while waiting to hear if we can get an exception for the height of the railing. If you look close at the posts, it would be a challenge to tie in, while keeping it authentic.

Saved the best news for last! We are patiently awaiting our 501c3 nonprofit status that was finalized and submitted. No small feat and we want to thank Char Coulson, Larry Dishaw and others who worked so diligently on this. It will be a banner day when we get the good word. The sky's the limit with this crew! Everyone on our team wants the best for you and Flat Rock. Everyone has their own idea of how they will use this home for good. We are always thinking about the big and small ways we can contribute.

Which brings me to my last point, this team works really hard on this renovation but will put it all aside when the Historic District Commission and/or the Flat Rock Historical Society need support. It's a real blessing to be a part of. If you had told me in 7th grade, I would someday be saving homes and starting nonprofits with my beautiful English teacher (and her perfect chalk board penmanship) back in my hometown, I'd be speechless, rare for a 7th grader. Moral of the story, I highly encourage any one with a heart and mind for service, history and helping their neighbors to stick around, keep reading and consider joining one of these organizations when the time is right. Cheers and God bless!

12/31/2024

What an honor and privilege it is to be your neighbor this year and every year. The best is yet to come! From all of us at the Remembering Reading Foundation, we wish you a heartfelt, healthy and prosperous new year!

Please let us know how we can be of continued service to you and our community in 2025. Much love, cheers and peace to all!

12/09/2024

A beautiful and creative way to display and pay homage to the Reading Building with our bittersweet pile of bricks ❤️‍🩹 (image via Pinterest)

11/25/2024

Dear friends of Remembering Reading,
We are extremely blessed to be sharing all the incredible progress with you this week of Thanksgiving!

This past June, we celebrated our first year as stewards of this beautiful historic home and reflected on how far we have come in just one year.

The home was barely visible from the street, Flat Rock's very own version of "Grey Gardens". We went to work uncovering the structure from all the overgrowth, removed the chain link fence, cut down trees, replaced both roofs on the main home and garage, removed almost all of the aluminum siding to reveal the original wood planks and window trim, removed all the interior walls (from when the home was a doctor's office), started renovations on the front porch (including removing an entire concrete porch stoop and stairs) and painted the exterior siding, doors and windows of the garage to dress it up until we can renovate later to look more historic.

We named our board members, compiled our mission statement, bylaws and continue to work towards our nonprofit status we hope to commence by the end of this year or early next quarter (when the real fun begins!).

We decided as a team, to change the name to "Remembering Reading Corporation" and had two new logos designed to reflect we have included here.

It is an absolute honor and privilege to introduce our board members:

Jennifer Schoenberger - President
Lila Fedokovitz - Vice President
Charlene Coulson - Secretary
Larry Dishaw - Treasurer
Trustee Members - Bruce Chapin and Mike Sollars

The amount of time and commitment your friends and neighbors have poured into this mission is truly heartwarming! We could never thank them enough for their service to our community, historic preservation and helping make the level pebble great again. We feel a renewed sense of optimism, enthusiasm and support from the city's new Mayor, Steve Beller, and want to thank him for his support of our project, people and goals.

Once our nonprofit status is complete, we will begin recruiting more members and volunteers to our mission and mailing list. We hope you will join us!

Our mission statement:

"At the heart of our mission lies a profound commitment to safeguarding the tangible narratives of our past; the historical sites, artifacts and heritage, that stand as a testament to bygone eras, and to sharing, promoting, and educating present and future generations about the richness of our community."

Also, very excited to share with you soon some beautiful renderings we have commissioned of the final, future exterior elevations and color palettes we are contemplating.

Once the exterior home, landscaping and gardens are finalized, Interior Designer Jennifer Schoenberger, along with niece and FGCU design student, Jade Hehl will design the Parlor, Dining Room, Kitchen, Bathrooms and Bedrooms for future tours, events and entertaining spaces.

The final section of the home, the history room, will document the history, evolution and artifacts of the Stoup-Littlefield Home as well as memorialize the Reading Building and share some of the rich, interesting (and very beautiful) history and homes of Flat Rock.

Thank you for your continued support and attention to this exciting project. We want to wish you and yours a very blessed and beautiful Thanksgiving holiday! We also share updates more frequently to our Instagram social media platform

Hope to hear from you there as well! xo

Flat Rock Historical Society

10/06/2024

Happy homecoming weekend from the historic Reading Building and the many generations, classmates that celebrate and respect our history, traditions, memories and buildings for future generations to enjoy. We are forever sorry we weren’t able to deliver a savior for this historic school, its students and their precious memories.

10/04/2024

Happy Homecoming weekend from your friends and neighbors at Remembering Reading.

09/19/2024

It's always such an honor and treat to attend the city of Flat Rock's Community Service Organization's monthly meetings. The CSO is a very special/unique group of the city's government, schools, businesses and churches, all coming together monthly to share events and needs of the community.

September is PACKED with all good things to share with your neighbors and several opportunities to give back, ask for help, volunteer and make a difference. Please share with anyone in Flat Rock in need of any of these amazing services and events.

We were especially grateful to see two representatives from Ford Motor Company, the government affairs rep and community outreach rep, attend and their commitment to be more accessible/involved moving forward as Flat Rock is a plant city.

According to Mayor Beller, CN Rail, another big business neighbor in town, will be joining next month. We hope to make progress to improve the LONG overdue look and feel of the railway underpass on Telegraph Road as well as the bridge and roadway over the dam at Huroc Park. It is our wish that all of the rusted chainlink, barbwire fencing be removed and ornamental lighting returned, to reflect the attached photo of better days in our city.

Thank you for reading and sharing. Have a beautiful September!

09/18/2024

After losing the Reading Building last year, the Flat Rock Historical Commission and Society submitted a grant for localized training in how to organize historic properties in the city, set up historic districts to prevent anymore local landmarks from demolition, identify historic properties which qualify for the State & National Registry and learn to apply for and use historic tax incentives. On September 28th, Flat Rock Historical Commission is hosting a day long workshop with national experts to learn about these topics and more. We have a few extra seats left for this workshop. If you own a historic home in the area, if you want to know more about protecting our local landmarks from going the way of Reading, you are welcome to attend. This workshop is covered by a federal grant so there is no cost to attend. Pre-Registration is required as space is limited. If you would like to reserve a seat, please call Lesley at the museum, 734-782-5220 to be manually added to the roster. The fine details are included in the images below.

Challenge Question: Can you identify the house on the flyer?
Hint: designed and built by a Flat Rock resident after he was wounded at Battles of Cold Harbour/Gettysburg….and she is still standing strong.

06/19/2024

For 16 years, Richard Porath and others have been restoring a 99-year-old caboose owned by Henry Ford.

Address

Gibraltar
Flat Rock, MI
48134

Website

https://rememberingreading.com/

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