06/21/2026
A hundred years ago, nearly every village and major crossroads in Lenawee County boasted a general store. One such store stood at the northeast corner of Munson Highway and Morenci Road at the village of Munson in Medina Township. Likely built in the 1880s, it went through several owners before its purchase by Walter Britsch in 1919. The Britsch family (Walter and later his two sons, Richard and Bert) ran the store for a grand total of 57 years, selling "everything under the sun" from groceries to farm equipment parts to coal and gasoline, as indicated by a 1948 advertisement in the Morenci Observer. It also housed the local post office which operated until 1972. After its closure as a store in 1976, the building became a craft shop owned by Bee Ott until 1987. Though the Munson store was eventually torn down in the early 2000s, the post office still survives and is now on display at Sauder Village in Archbold, Ohio.
We present here two postcard photos of the store dated 1907 (top) and 1909 (bottom). Images from the David V. Tinder Collection of Michigan Photography. William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan Library Digital Collections.
Visit the Historical Society page daily for an illustrated story of Lenawee's past.
