Etching of Luick Brothers Lumber Company, 1895

From 1873 to 1930 Luick Brothers lumberyard and planing factory supplied lumber, sash, doors, blinds, moldings, scrolls, and "fancy sawing" for the growing town. Nearby carriage, furniture, and farm implement factories, along with new construction, used Luick products.

Gottlob and Emmanuel Luick were two of twelve children born into a farm family of early Washtenaw County German immigrants. Gottlob twice served as Democratic alderman and was mayor of Ann Arbor from 1899 to 1901. Upon retiring in 1931, he gave the lumberyard land to the city to be used as a farmers' market. During the economic depression of the 1930s, farmers used the old lumber sheds for stalls and shelter during cold weather. From 1938 to 1940 a permanent market was built by the Works Progress Administration, a federal jobs program.

Charles McCalla purchased the Luick building in 1942 and erected a block structure next to it for his Washtenaw Farm Bureau store. He sold livestock feed ground on the premises, seeds, pet supplies, and even penny candy. Market farmers often bought supplies from him. The old Luick building was used for storage. In 1962 McCalla's children renamed the business the Washtenaw Farm and Garden Center.

Beginning in the 1970s, the buildings, including the adjacent three-story Godfrey Moving and Storage on North Fourth Avenue, were transformed into the Kerrytown shopping complex.

Frame location: West side of Fifth, near curb, just north of Detroit Street, facing northeast

Collection info: Headlight, p38

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