Downtown Milan
The Main Street blocks of a village that waited until 1967 to become a city — listed on the National Register in 1999
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About Downtown Milan
Downtown Milan is the commercial heart of a small city on the Washtenaw–Monroe county line, and its Main Street Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. The district covers 3–153 East Main Street, 1–41 West Main Street and 8 Park Lane — a compact run of commercial buildings rather than a sprawling district, which is exactly right for a place that had about six thousand people at the 2020 census.
Milan was settled as early as 1831 and incorporated as a village in 1885, but did not become a city until 1967. Eighty-two years as a village is what downtown looks like: built at village scale, for people who walked to it.
- —A National Register commercial district since 1999
- —The Friend–Hack House of 1888, listed separately in 1991, now a museum
- —Walkable at village scale in a city of about six thousand
- —US-23 on the eastern edge, Ann Arbor fifteen minutes north
- —The county line runs through the city, so the deed and the tax bill depend on the parcel
The district
The listed district is the Main Street commercial core on both sides of the street, plus Park Lane. What it offers a buyer is the thing small Michigan downtowns mostly lost: an intact walkable center in a city small enough to cross on foot.
The Friend–Hack House is a short way off at 775 County Street — an 1888 house in the Stick and Eastlake manner, listed on the National Register separately in 1991, and since 1980 a museum kept by the Milan Area Historical Society. It is the best single record of what the village was.
Which county you are in
Milan straddles the county line: part of the city is in Washtenaw County and part is in Monroe County. That decides which county holds the deed and which treasurer bills the taxes, and the answer changes within the city rather than at its edge. Settle it for the specific parcel at the start of a search, not at closing.
Milan Area Schools serves the city from six buildings and crosses the same line the city does, so the school district does not sort addresses by county either.
Getting around
US-23 runs south to north along the eastern edge of the city as a four-lane freeway. Ann Arbor is about fifteen minutes north and Toledo is a straight run south, which is most of the reason people looking around Ann Arbor end up looking here.
Community details reflect public records and local knowledge and can change — always verify what matters to your purchase. Explore more of Milan's neighborhoods, or browse active listings.