Donley Farm - Richmond, MI
N 42° 48.810 W 082° 45.310
17T E 356505 N 4741598
Marker for Donley Farm is located at the Bailey Historic Park at 36045 Park St, Richmond, Michigan 48062
Waymark Code: WM16PJZ
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 09/11/2022
Views: 0
The Donley Cabin is named after John Donley of Ballyporeen, County Tipperary, who came to New York City in 1848. He bought a farm on Irish Road, now 29 Mile Road, and built a cabin in 1853. Four generations of the Donley family lived in the cabin for 100 years. In the 1930s and 1940s, Donley's grandson and wife, Hugh Donley and Frances Gavin, along with their seven children, occupied the cabin. In 1972 the great-grandsons took the cabin apart, numbering each log and rebuilt it using the old mortar mixed in with the new. The Donley family donated the cabin to the Society in 1997 and in 1998, the cabin was moved to its current location at the corner of Park and Beebe streets in Richmond and it was dedicated to the Society on Aug. 8, 1998. Prior to being moved, the cabin was nearly destroyed by fire in the mid-1990s, but George Fealko and Norm Gibson of the Richmond Area Historical and Genealogical Society said that because the cabin was lined with barn wood, it stopped the fire from completely destroying the cabin. In addition to the new roof, a new stone fireplace was built inside after the previous one was destroyed. -
Donley Log Cabin