Kempf House Center For Local History

I went to UM and never knew this place existed. A year after graduation imagine my surprise when during a recent and much-​needed trip to Raja Rani’s lunch buffet I passed a Greek revival house from the 1850s and noticed it was a museum! Curious, my friends and I walked up to the door and saw a sign saying it was open. We knocked on the door and were met with a tour guide who proceeded to give us a private tour of the former UM music professor’s house.
The Kempfs were a German-​American family living in Ann Arbor in the late 1800s (the house was built in 1853). The museum has many original artifacts and the tour guides explained about life in Ann Arbor in the late 1800s and early 1900s (no electricity at first!) One of the items I found really interesting was the baby grand piano in one of the rooms, which the guide explained to be the only piano UM owned at the time. Meaning if the university wanted it for a function they had to take off the legs, move it to the required location, put the legs back on and re-​tune, and do the same after the event!
The house is not terribly big and the tour was maybe half an hour, but the tour-​givers were really great, very nice and enthusiastic and willing to answer all of our questions. I thought it was super-​interesting since I love history stuff, and loved learning more about my beloved Ann Arbor before it was the town we know today. If you have some time, I definitely recommend stopping by for a tour! By the way, tours are free but of course they accept donations.