The Remarkable Story of the Niles-Barnard House
By Rev. Richard Dalton — LookUpDetroit.com
One of the newest additions to the Troy Historic Village is also a remarkable doorway into the earliest days of Troy.
The Niles-Barnard House, now standing at the Village on West Wattles Road, has traditionally been dated to 1837. It was the home of pioneer Johnson Niles and his family. Niles is credited with naming the community of Troy, and the house became much more than a family residence. Historical and archaeological evidence indicates that the expanded building probably served as a public house or inn—a place where travelers, settlers and local residents could gather. Troy Historic Village
The story becomes even more interesting nearly a century later. Norman Barnard, who had heard stories about Johnson Niles as a young paperboy, acquired the property around 1940. He and Harriet Kyser married in its front parlor and raised six children there. The house once again became connected to Troy’s future: in 1955, while Barnard was Troy Township supervisor, a citizens committee met around the Barnards’ dining-room table to help plan Troy’s incorporation as a city. Troy Historic Village
In 2004, Harriet Barnard donated the historic home to the City of Troy with an important condition: move it to Troy Historic Village, restore it and make it available to the public. The house made its approximately two-mile journey to the Village in October 2010. After years of preservation work, the restored main floor was completed in 2021. Today it serves museum programs and has once again become a gathering place for meetings, celebrations and community events. Troy Historic Village
And now there’s another chapter. Recent dendrochronology—tree-ring dating—changed historians’ understanding of the building. Researchers studying its original timbers concluded that part of the Niles-Barnard House dates to approximately 1826–27, about a decade earlier than previously believed. Troy Historic Village reports that the finding makes it Troy’s oldest building. Troy Historic Village
There is something wonderfully appropriate about all this. A house that welcomed people nearly two centuries ago is welcoming people again. A building that helped tell the story of Troy’s beginning was rescued, moved and restored rather than lost to development.
Today the Niles-Barnard House stands at Troy Historic Village, 60 W. Wattles Road in Troy, where the Village maintains 11 historic buildings surrounding its Village Green. Troy Historic Village
The newest building at Troy Historic Village may, in fact, be Troy’s oldest.
Visit Troy Historic Village — Niles-Barnard House
