The Oakland House

The Oakland House
(Formerly located in what is now Washington Square on Washington St.)

In 1888, Fred M. Clark decided to build Oxford’s premier hotel. It would be called the “Oakland House.”

The Oakland House became a principal business center where salesmen spent their nights while traveling to Ortonville, Metamora, Leonard, Thomas, Oakwood and Dryden.

In January of 1889, The Oakland House opened its doors with a festive banquet in which 400 guests enjoyed themselves with lavish food, fine wine and dancing. King & Dewey’s Orchestra entertained guest into the evening.

To observe the first anniversary of the opening of the hotel, an elaborate observance was held on January 16th, 1890. Residents from Detroit began riding the Detroit United Railway (DUR) trains out to Oxford for a famous steak dinner at the Oakland House.

Landlord Clark seemed to be successful for the short time he kept the hotel. By the spring of 1891 the local paper reported the hotel was sold to Peter Bouckhart.

Peter Bouckhart died shortly after the turn of the century. His widow married Charles Schott, and they ran the hotel successfully for several years thereafter.

By the 1920s, “The Oakland,” as it was often referred to by locals, boasted 3 methods of transportation to and from the hotel: train, horse-drawn carriage and the automobile.

According to Stub Robinson (a local Oxford Historian in 1976) The Oakland was a well-known speakeasy during the prohibition. It was even raided by federal officers a few times.

During the later years, the hotel served as an apartment building and rooming house. It sat abandoned for many years until it was torn down in May of 1971. The empty lot has been there ever since.

Today, Oxford has repurposed the vacant lot, now known as “Washington Square” for events, recreation, the farmer’s market and more.