Botsford Inn

03 / The story of this place

What was here?

Farmer Orrin Weston built the house on the Grand River Road in 1836; it became a tavern and stagecoach stop in 1841 and took the Botsford name after Milton C. Botsford bought it in 1860. Henry Ford, who had courted Clara at dances there, bought it in 1924, moved it back from the widened Grand River Avenue and restored it, and the Ford family ran it until 1951. John Anhut then kept it going for decades as one of Michigan's oldest inns and added hotel wings after 1960. By 2000 the inn had closed; Botsford Hospital later tore down the newer wings and restored the historic core. It has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.

• Stagecoach stop from 1841
• Henry Ford courted Clara at its dances
• National Register listing since 1979

Former names

Weston House (family home) (1836–1841) · Sixteen Mile House (tavern) (from 1841) · Botsford Tavern (from 1860)

What’s there now?

The restored 1836 inn building stands on the Botsford Hospital campus; the 1960s hotel wings came down in 2007 for a cancer center.