Click above images to enlarge Orchard Lake Schools Historic District North shore of Orchard Lake between Commerce and Orchard Lake Roads, Orchard Lake - Oakland County Other Names St. Mary's College SS Cyril & Methodius Seminary St. Mary's Prep School Property Type campus Historic Use DEFENSE/military facility EDUCATION/school Current Use RELIGION/church school Style Gothic Revival Late Victorian Tudor Revival Significant Person Joseph Sumner Rogers Joseph Tarr Copeland Narrative Description Orchard Lake Schools are located in the village of Orchard Lake in central Oakland County, about 25 miles northwest of Detroit. The campus occupies 120 wooded, grassy acres on the north shore of Orchard Lake between Commerce and Orchard Lake Roads. Only about fifteen acres of the central campus are included in this nomination. The historic district includes eleven structures arranged around an elongated landscaped quadrangle overlooking the lake. All of the buildings are red brick structures of Romanesque or Tudor design with the exception of the former Riding Hall, which is a functional, buttressed, gable-roofed, exhibition type structure of indeterminate style. The elaborate, Gothic Revival Copeland House, built in 1858, is the oldest building in the district. The district includes the following structures: Copeland House, barracks, class building gymnasium, heating plant, administration building, dining hall, high school dormitory, seminary building, riding hall and faculty residence. Statement of Significance The Orchard Lake Schools are a unified complex of Victorian Romanesque institutional buildings arranged in a quadrangle. The buildings are historically significant for their association with Joseph Tarr Copeland, an early Michigan entrepreneur and politician; for their connection with the Michigan Military Academy and the Orchard Lake Schools. In 1877 Joseph Sumner Rogers purchased the estate of Joseph Tarr Copeland and established the Michigan Military Academy. Closely modeled after the military academy at West Point, the school attained national prominence, attracting students from throughout the region and the nation. Between 1880 and 1900 nine buildings were constructed in a quadrangle behind the Copeland house. After Rogers's death in 1902 the school faded in importance and finally closed in 1909. That year the entire property was sold to the Saints Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Detroit, the first Polish seminary in the U.S. The Orchard Lake Schools consists of three educational institutions: Saints Cyril and Methodius Seminary, Saint Mary's College, and Saint Mary's Preparatory School. The complex is one of the major centers for Polish Catholic culture in the nation. Marker Name Orchard Lake Schools Marker Text ORCHARD LAKE SCHOOLS Orchard Lake School 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 Sumner Rogers, 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 Saints 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. JOSEPH TARR COPELAND Maine native Joseph Tarr Copeland (1813-1893) graduated from Harvard College and studied law before coming to Michigan during the 1840s. In 1851 he was elected circuit judge, serving concurrently on the Michigan Supreme Court. Upon his retirement from the bench in 1858, he built this house. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 he was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the First Michigan Cavalry. Within a year he rose to brigadier general. Copeland retired to his home in 1865. With a group of Pontiac investors Copeland enlarged the house, creating the Orchard Lake Hotel. From this site tourists boarded the Pride of the Lake and traveled to Apple Island. The panic of 1873 ruined the venture. Copeland sold the property in 1877 to Colonel Joseph Sumner Rogers who established the Michigan Military Academy on this site. Period of Significance 1858-1928 Significant Date(s) 1858, 1928 Registry Type(s) 04/05/1995 Marker erected 03/19/1982 National Register listed 07/26/1974 State Register listed Site ID# P225