Historic Harrison Walking Tour

Look for free Historic Harrison self-guided walking tour maps at local businesses, Harrison Library, and at the Crane House Museum. The walking tour includes twenty-nine buildings and fourteen waterfront mill and factory sites significant to Harrison's history. They were built between 1891 and 1965. Nine are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Harrison's Historic District was developed after the devastating fire of 1917. The district is an intact commercial streetscape from the late 1910s and represents architectural styles typical in small towns of that era. In addition to existing buildings, the tour includes sites where there are currently no structures, such as the City Park, Hotel Harrison site, and former mills and factories that lined the lakeshore.

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In vernacular design, the brick-front store was the most popular commercial style of the first half of the 20th century. Such buildings varied in height from one to three stories, but their plans were quite similar. Two and three story structures had ground level store facilities, with offices, meeting halls, living space, or storage on the upper floors.

The buildings are simple and directly functional with minimal decorations. They are constructed of brick or clay tile blocks, an expression of the owners' desire to invest in fireproof buildings.