The House Inside The Big House (Inquiry)
A topic arose at a drinking locale yesterday with mention that there was a single family home located inside the gates of Michigan Stadium. Passing by it several times as a child and young adult, the house sat on the southwest corner of the stadium a chip shot from "the eagle" statue. The house has been razed for decades now. To me, I always thought that it was a unique feature that nobody really discussed or kept to themselves or just didn't know anything about. I truly thought Bo lived there in grammar school and when I was in junior and senior high I tried to talk my father into buying it, to no avail. The house just seemed to blend in. First guess would be a groundskeeper of sorts but who knows?
Would love to hear the history of this home and its original intended purpose(s)
August 22nd, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^
Paging WD...
(the fact that we all think this, when we read a question like this, is further argument that he needs to make a profession out of this)
August 22nd, 2019 at 2:26 PM ^
The fact that you felt the need to post this, when he's not even here... means he PWNS u...
Just sayin'
August 22nd, 2019 at 12:53 PM ^
You are indeed correct. That was the groundskeeper's/caretaker's house. It was there since the very beginning in 1927 (bottom left)
Pictured below towards in the bottom of the photo in this 1957 aerial of the Michigan-Iowa game.
It was around for many years. Despite the field going to Tartan Turf/All-Pro Turf when Bo arrived, the groundskeeper still got to keep his house. Here's a photo from 1984. Check out how much the trees around it grew in 30 years time.
August 22nd, 2019 at 12:55 PM ^
Fuckin-eh man.
August 22nd, 2019 at 1:38 PM ^
The empty end-zone in the first picture must be the Student Section.
August 22nd, 2019 at 1:42 PM ^
Michigan Stadium stands on what was once the Miller Family Farm. When John Miller, Sr. died in 1908 his son John, Jr. inherited it. It was sold to Director Fielding H. Yost in 1924.
There were multiple houses on the farm land. The Miller Family used the $35,000 from the sale of the farm to build multiple new homes on the other side of Main St. Most of the farm houses were demolished.......except one. That house belonged to John Jr.'s son Robert who also moved across Main into a new house.
The house that was not demolished became the Michigan Stadium groundskeeper's house. Here is what appears to be a photo of the house in 1902 when the Miller Family Farm was still around on the land The Big House sits on today-
August 22nd, 2019 at 1:52 PM ^
We are interneting in the presence of greatness. WD - wow man, wow
August 22nd, 2019 at 10:15 PM ^
Michigan Stadium literally sits on a former farm, but they couldn't make the agriculture school thing work. What a shame, would have saved a lot of people a lot of headaches.
August 22nd, 2019 at 2:02 PM ^
i look at that picture of the 1957 iowa game and am outraged by the lack of student support in the stands. kids those days, they were soft, weak, worthless.
on a serious note, great post WD. love the old pics and the story.
August 22nd, 2019 at 2:32 PM ^
Joking right?
Heard a recent survey on Bloomberg radio broadcast that compared results from baby boomers to millennials... baby boomers were concerned about debt, living from paycheck to paycheck, retirement, cuban missle crisis... millennials stress about where they can charge their f'ing iphone (no joke).
Most of the kids back in those days (WWI WWII Gen) were probably more worried about getting an education, paying bills, and working to pay off student loans. Priorities bro
GO FISH...
August 22nd, 2019 at 2:39 PM ^
XM is most definitely joking...Hence the sentence that begins with the words "on a serious note..."
August 22nd, 2019 at 10:02 PM ^
We don't worry about debt because for most of us it's impossible to go to college without obtaining it, and we don't worry about retirement because we're never going to be able to retire.
August 22nd, 2019 at 4:00 PM ^
There were over 90K at the Iowa game in '57—the only games with larger attendance that season were MSU and OSU.
August 22nd, 2019 at 2:16 PM ^
good stuff man, very cool history
August 22nd, 2019 at 3:06 PM ^
In WD we trust.
August 22nd, 2019 at 3:16 PM ^
Pics are awesome. Is there a book about the Big House through the years? If not, you should write one.
I would buy that in a heartbeat.
August 23rd, 2019 at 10:00 PM ^
Awesome post WD... not sure there’s anyone else as knowledgeable as you when it comes to M history. Very cool!
August 22nd, 2019 at 12:59 PM ^
Anyone know if that harbaugh SEC cheating thing is real. Idk what to believe in today’s media.
August 22nd, 2019 at 3:18 PM ^
Nah, those schools are totally clean.
They don't cheat and there is no such thing as SEC bagmen. The NCAA and other conferences are constantly framing SEC schools for violations that were never committed.
August 22nd, 2019 at 1:01 PM ^
The final inhabitant of that house was a wonderful man named Leon Tweedy. He had a thick southern accent and was always gracious when talking about people knocking on the door asking to use the bathroom, throwing up in his lawn, etc during the home games. He loved living there but consented to moving to a home that was located just up Main on the edge U of M's golf course when the Athletic Department decided to remove the home from the Stadium. He and his wife were great folks. His Mom also lived in Ann Arbor, near Pine Valley.
Also, the house wasn't torn down, it was moved. I don't know where, but we saw it on beams ready for the move when we drove past the Big House one day.
August 22nd, 2019 at 1:42 PM ^
Here is a John U Bacon article in Michigan Today that mentions Leon Tweedy. You might enjoy the end of the article where he talks about the Fifty-Yard-Line Club.
August 22nd, 2019 at 1:02 PM ^
They should've auctioned off for charity for people to come there on a Friday night and throw a Kegger in it
August 22nd, 2019 at 1:02 PM ^
Apparently, the house belonged to the Miller family who owned a farm on the site before the stadium was built. John Miller, who grew up in the house, later became the stadium caretaker and lived in the house for years. Eventually, it was torn down in 1998 when they were remodeling the plaza area. Here is a picture and post where this info. came from:
August 22nd, 2019 at 1:13 PM ^
Not sure how correct that account is since this 1995 aerial shows the house no longer on the plot of grass it once was on.
August 22nd, 2019 at 1:20 PM ^
Pretty sure I see a house nestled back in the trees, but certainly not up near the fence, where it was in earlier photos. Not sure how to explain that. Maybe the ghost of the groundskeeper moved it back to avoid some vomit stains?
August 22nd, 2019 at 7:04 PM ^
I think what you're seeing are concession trailers.
August 22nd, 2019 at 1:36 PM ^
Yeah my first game was in 96 and I don't remember a house. Then again, that was a long time ago and I was entering through the north gates with all the rest of the students
August 22nd, 2019 at 1:44 PM ^
Thanks for clearing that up WD....
That should put an end to the widespread rumor that the poor family was evicted and the historic home was razed by Brandon because they wouldn't pay him steep daily parking fees......
August 22nd, 2019 at 8:56 PM ^
It wasn’t there in 1997, the year the halo was installed, so I am fairly sure the message board post linked is incorrect.
August 22nd, 2019 at 3:07 PM ^
Well damn, I never knew about this. Thanks for the history lesson this afternoon guys.
August 22nd, 2019 at 3:53 PM ^
My wife Sue lived in the house with her family from ‘81 until ‘88. Unfortunately, Leon passed in 2015. We miss him dearly. She loved practicing her clarinet in the stadium during practice and having Bo yell at her to “shut that thing up!”
August 22nd, 2019 at 4:16 PM ^
We miss him too. He was a perfect gentleman. In the mid 1980's we drove our Corvette to the stadium to look around to see exactly where would like to request our season tickets to be changed to. Back in those times you could usually walk into the stadium, but that day the gates were wide open. I pulled right up to the opening of sec 34 and we went inside the stadium. When we came out, of course the car wouldn't start. I had no idea what to do and I knew that I was probably in a place that I shouldn't be. As we were standing there looking at each other, guess who rolls up in a pickup truck out of nowhere? Leon Tweedy. He quickly jump started the Corvette and sat and talked for quite a while about Michigan football and other important parts of life in general. I'll never forget it and will always be grateful for our meeting in such an unusual fashion. We were friends ever since. We really miss him.
He was a great Euchre player too. So was his wife. They were a great team. I'm so glad to hear that you new him too. Thanks for posting.
February 27th, 2021 at 4:05 AM ^
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