Remembering Don Limpert, Manchester’s own “Black Sheep”

D.E. Limpert was an icon who indelibly changed the face of Manchester’s downtown over the past 59 years.

“Families don’t build monuments to honor their black sheep. Neither do communities. Regardless of how talented, or how far-reaching their accomplishments, the renegades of society rarely get their just due in terms of public recognition.”
    — Harry Macomber, from the book, “If … the oft-times colorful life and accomplishments of Manchester’s Don Limpert, a pioneer in small town preservation.”

It is true there has been no actual monument built to honor Don Limpert in Manchester, but he has left plenty of “monuments” in the form of restored and renovated buildings in the downtown area, many of which would likely no longer exist had he not taken an interest in them in the 1960s and 70s.

Limpert, who died Feb. 18 at the age of 94, came to Manchester in the early 1960s, at a time when “urban renewal” threatened to destroy the original central business district of Manchester. At that time, downtowns across America were being displaced by off-center shopping malls located in what once were farm fields. That was not what Don Limpert wanted for himself or his family. When he “re-discovered” the village of Manchester, where his ancestors had farmed not far away, he was intrigued. He bought property out on Mahrle Road in Manchester Township and started inquiring about purchasing a single building on Main Street in the village for an office.

Most of the city fathers at the time were reluctant to sell to this young upstart from Royal Oak. Only Dick Way was willing to offer up his building at 115 E. Main Street (still known as the “Black Sheep” building, which now houses Sweet Leilani’s). This building eventually became office, antique shop, carpenter shop, furniture restoration facility, and storage for the growing number of “treasures” in the way of antiques Don and his wife Rita had collected. They moved with their family of four children into the second floor where they lived — or “camped,” as Don remembered — during construction of the house on their new farm on Mahrle Road.

While Limpert had to seek out Way to purchase his first building, as other business and building owners came to respect his work and abilities (despite his penchant for ignoring the building department’s red tags), and they began to come to him to offer their own buildings up for sale. Don’s next purchases on the south side of Main Street were at 111 E. Main, then 109 E. Main and 117 E. Main. When Herb Widmayer retired, he tried to buy the building at 103 E. Main (now the post office), but Herb’s sister-in-law Hazel vetoed the idea, saying that Don owned enough buildings already. She also had it put in her will that her own building (112 E. Main, on the north side of the street) could never be sold to D.E. Limpert.

Soon, however, Don started purchasing several other buildings on the north side of the downtown blocks, all of them with a quick turnover and a handshake. In 1971, Waldo Marx approached him to buy the building at 110 E. Main and Don quickly sealed the deal. A short time later, Dick Way offered to sell 118, 120, and 130, as he was retiring. Limpert’s last purchase was the building at 104 E. Main.

Don’s creative flair for making his buildings attractive included making apartments on the second (and in some cases, third) floors of the buildings, creating decks, installing parking areas, and generally improving the back sides of the buildings as well as the front.

Limpert also built the Mill Pond Apartments (now condominiums) at the end of Washington Street near the site of the village’s original cemetery, in the early 1970s. The eight acres along the River Raisin was a scenic, wooded spot that complemented Don’s love of old brick, barn siding, and his unique style of construction. Several years later, he built additional units that also were in high demand as apartments and, eventually after Don sold the property, condos.

In 1981, a different kind of “rehabilitation” was performed on the iconic old grist mill located at the center of downtown on the banks of the Raisin. When Don bought the property from second-generation owner Ron Mann, the mill was Michigan’s longest-operating enterprise on the same site, serving the community for almost 150 years. As farming operations changed, however, so did the purpose of the mill from a grist operation to a garden center. Don stepped in to purchase the property from Mann, with his original plan to create a site for hosting large affairs such as weddings and reunions. Unfortunately, that enterprise didn’t last long. Plan B, however, which remained a popular and sustainable business model for many years, saw the mill subdivided into small shops and offices for local businesses. Today, the Mill is one of Manchester’s unique landmarks and is a registered Historic Site, primarily thanks to the efforts of Don Limpert.

Another monument to Limpert’s legacy in Manchester would certainly be the Blacksmith Shop at 324 E. Main. For many years used by the descendants of blacksmith John Schneider for storage (or “junk, and I don’t mean antiques,” in Don’s own words), but within an hour of looking at the building in 1977, Don made the decision to buy it on the spot with a full-price cash offer. He knew that was the only way he could purchase the property, as some of said descendants were not Limpert fans.

The building and foundation were badly in need of repair, the forge was badly deteriorated, and Don also installed a bathroom, central heat, air conditioning, and electrical service. It took extensive labor on Don’s part to restore the structure to what can be seen today. In 1983, he sold it to the Manchester Area Historical Society for exactly his out-of-pocket-expense: his original $15,000 plus $7,500 in materials. He donated all of his labor and all the blacksmith tools to the Society.

The real story of Don Limpert, he insisted to me as I was writing his book, is not a story about an individual, but rather about a philosophy. It’s about the opportunities that are out there, no matter who you are. He was prepared, then and now, to let history judge what he has done and come to its own conclusions.

“That’s the message I’d like to convey,” he said. “I may have initiated it. I did a lot of the up front things, but I didn’t do it with the help of the establishment.

“I’ve been here so long, now I’m an insider; or at least I’ve outlived all my enemies. You can never be a judge of yourself; your best judge is the people who surround you.”

And by that judgment, Don Limpert did pretty well building his own monuments. Manchester certainly would not be the community it is today without his substantial influence, starting almost 60 years ago on Main Street. That influence will be sorely missed.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.