Chelsea Commercial Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

From the record

“The Chelsea Commercial Historic District is a historic district located along both sides of Main Street from Orchard to North Street in Chelsea, Michigan; the district also includes the adjacent 100 blocks of Jackson, East Middle, and West Middle Streets, as well as structures on Park, East, and Orchard Streets. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.”
Wikipedia article Chelsea Commercial Historic District, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 87 National Register listings published here for Washtenaw County · listed in 2011 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. Main St and adjacent sections of Middle, Park, Jackson, East, and Orchard Sts, Chelsea, 48118
When was it listed? February 2011
Category. district
City. Chelsea city
National Register reference number. 11000046 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

16 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 16 fires within 5 miles of Chelsea Commercial Historic District between 2018 and 2020, burning about 16 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	14
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Natural	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
18 July 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	CHELSEA AREA FIRE AUTHORITY 191037 - 2019
9 June 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	DEXTER AREA FD 1900610 - 2019
9 June 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	CHELSEA AREA FIRE AUTHORITY 190826 - 2019
23 June 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	CHELSEA AREA FIRE AUTHORITY 0000624 - 2018
19 May 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	2.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	CHELSEA AREA FIRE AUTHORITY 190721 - 2019
7 April 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	CHELSEA AREA FIRE AUTHORITY 190490 - 2019
4 April 2019	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	DEXTER AREA FD 1900360 - 2019
23 April 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Michigan Department of Natural Resources	CHELSEA AREA FIRE AUTHORITY 0000434 - 2018

Every fire recorded in Washtenaw County

Mines and quarries near this property

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Chelsea Commercial Historic District: 2 producers, 2 past producers. 2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Emery, Fire Clay (Refractory). Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Detroit Abrasives Co--Chelsea, Mi.	Emery	Producer
State Portland Cement Plnt Clay Pit	Fire Clay (Refractory)	Past Producer
O E Gooding & Co. Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Washtenaw County Road Comm. Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Washtenaw County

Storms near this property

52 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Chelsea, the town this property stands in, in 52 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 29 thunderstorm wind, 19 hail, 2 lightning, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 2007	Flood	Chelsea	$50,000	A local newspaper reported basement flooding around a few of the inland lakes in extreme northwest Washtenaw County. Four to six inches of rain fell in just a few short hours on Sunday June 3rd. Inland lake levels slowly rose during the week, and eventually led to some minor flooding by mid-week. Total property damages were estimated at roughly $50K.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	$25,000	The local newspaper reported significant damage on the south side of the North Lake area. Numerous large trees and power lines were down within a tight area along Lakeshore Drive and North Territorial and Stofer Roads. Several homes suffered from wind damage. There were also reports of windows blown out. The winds also knocked a transformer and pole into the lake. The local newspaper estimated that the damages would be measured in tens of thousands of dollars.
May 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	$25,000	no account filed
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	$22,000	no account filed
July 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	$20,000	A large tree fell onto a house.
July 2000	Flash Flood	Chelsea	$20,000	no account filed
June 1998	Lightning	Chelsea	$20,000	no account filed
May 2003	Lightning	Chelsea	$15,000	Lightning struck the roof of a two-story home. This caused the roof and a bedroom above an attached garage to catch on fire.
July 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	$9,000	no account filed
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	$5,000	Several power lines reported down.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	$2,000	no account filed
March 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	$500	Law enforcement reported that thunderstorm winds blew over a power pole.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	Tree reported down on the road.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	A large tree limb was reported down.
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	A large tree fell onto a car.
July 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	Emergency manager estimated a 65 mph thunderstorm wind gust.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	A trained spotter estimated a 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	A spotter measured a 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	Law enforcement reported a tree ten inches in diameter down.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	A trained spotter reported limbs 6 to 7 inches in diameter down.
August 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	A trained spotter reported numerous tree branches 3 inches in diameter down.
June 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	A trained spotter reported numerous large tree limbs blown down.
June 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	A trained weather spotter estimated a 60 mph thunderstorm wind gust.
June 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	Three foot diameter trees were reported blown down.
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	A person from the general public estimated a 65 mph thunderstorm wind gust.
March 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	A trained spotter measured a 60 MPH wind gust in a thunderstorm.
April 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	Spotters reported that 8 to 10 inch diameter tree limbs were blown down in thunderstorm winds.
August 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	Spotters reported a 4 inch diameter tree blown down.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	A trained spotter reported numerous trees down.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	The Fire Department reported large trees and power lines down.
September 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	Spotters reported that three large trees were blown down onto power lines.
September 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	Large 2 feet diameter trees blown down.
July 2021	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
April 2020	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
August 2014	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
March 2012	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
March 2012	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
June 2009	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
June 2009	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
April 2004	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
May 2003	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
May 2003	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
June 2003	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
July 2001	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
July 2001	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
March 2000	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
May 2000	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
June 1998	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
June 1998	Hail	Chelsea	-	no account filed
September 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Chelsea	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Washtenaw County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

5 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Michigan Central Railroad Chelsea Depot	under 500 feet	1987
George W. Palmer House	under 500 feet	1996
Saint Mary's School	0.3 miles	2010
Gordon Hall	6.4 miles	1972
James Litchfield House	7.2 miles	1984

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 11000046 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Washtenaw County	All 87 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.