Orchard Lake Schools
Orchard Lake Schools Historic District comprises eleven buildings constructed between 1858 and 1924. The oldest, a massive Romanesque Revival house resembling a Norman Castle, was built in 1858 by one-time Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joseph Tarr Copeland. In 1877 Copeland sold the property to Joseph Summer Rodgers, who established the Michigan Military Academy on the site. Six of nine structures built in a quadrangle reflect the Romanesque Revival style. In 1909 the school once considered "the leading military institution in the country, outside of West Point." closed. The site was sold to Saint Cyril and Methodius Seminary, the nation's first Polish seminary. Father Joseph Dabrowski founded the seminary in 1885 in Detroit. The present complex, evolved from the seminary, includes Saint Mary's Preparatory School and Saint Mary's College.