Michigan Selected Sundials

Click on any photo or city name to get more sundial details and more photos.
 
Ann Arbor Michigan USA Vertical Dial 618
A painted steel on building brick vertical dial with a 6 foot gnomon. Gnomon includes decoration of two children and a gear wheel. Hour markings are Roman numerals.
 
Ann Arbor Michigan USA Armillary Dial 617
A three foot wide brass and steel armillary of complex design with many features. Gift of Albina du Bolsrouvray. Markings are in French.  Click Photo or City Name to READ MORE
 
Ann Arbor Michigan USA Horizontal Dial 616
A 6 foot square weathering steel horizontal dial with a 3 foot high thick welded steel gnomon. Hour lines are welded steel strips. No hour numerals are present.
 
Ann Arbor Michigan USA Equatorial Dial 335
Large equatorial dial, with gnomon in the shape of a treble clef sign. Approximately 4 foot across. Dedicated to founders of Sigma Alpha Iota international music fraternity for women. Dial sits atop a tapered cylinder 3 ft high.
 
Ann Arbor Michigan USA Vertical Dial 199
A stone and bronze vertical dial approximately 10x6 feet just below the roof of the Mack School. Dial face includes Roman numerals showing Eastern Standard Time and a polar gnomon. Inscription appears below gnomon.
 
Bloomfield Hills Michigan USA Horizontal Dial 292
Bronze horizontal dial. "Sundial Family"
 
Brooklyn Michigan USA Horizontal Dial 311
A well-rusted horizontal dial of iron or steel about 10 inches diameter on a stone and masonry pedestal. Dial face shows Arabic hour numerals but hour line angles may be wrong. Mounted atop a stone and masonry pedestal.
 
Detroit Michigan USA Armillary Dial 88
A 6 foot diameter wrought iron armillary with equatorial and polar rings. Hour numerals are missing. Cast zodiacal signs are present in fair condition on exterior of equatorial ring. Dial is on a decaying brick circular pedestal at the center of a concrete and brick base. Rings are heavily marked with graffiti. The dial sits atop a brick and mortar pedestal in poor condition.
 
East Lansing Michigan USA Analemmatic Dial 384
This garden analemmatic dial uses plants to mark time with plants selected to demonstrate bio-rhythms by their daily opening and closing at different times. Four-o'clocks are planted at the 4 block. Magic evening primroses 'Tina James' encircle the area. Flowers open in 15 seconds to the sunlight, quite a spectacular sight! Also planted here are: Evening Primroses, Portulaca 'Sundial', Coreopsis 'Sunray', Morning Glory, Thyme, Four-O'clock, and Moonvine.  Click Photo or City Name to READ MORE
 
Frankenmuth Michigan USA Equatorial Dial 194
This monument sundial is an Erickson equatorial polar dial 6 feet in diameter made of light granite with a 3 inch steel rod as gnomon. Time is graduated by hour, half-hour, quarter hours and 5 minute marks over 24 hours. Noon is at the bottom, matching the 105 degree meridian. Designed to be read from the upper surface in Spring/Summer, from the under side in Fall/Winter. Unlike other Erickson dials, the Equation of Time plaque is presented in a circular arc on the ground.  Click Photo or City Name to READ MORE
 
Grand Haven Michigan USA Equatorial Dial 601
A bronze equatorial dial approximately 6 feet high with bowstring gnomon. Hour markings show Daylight Saving Time and are longitude corrected. Dial sits atop a brick plinth.
 
Grand Rapids Michigan USA Horizontal Dial 287
Cast Iron A small boy kneeling, holding the sundial above his head with both arms.
 
Holt Michigan USA Equatorial Dial 646
A four foot high equatorial dial possibly of painted cast aluminum on a four foot high segmented granite pedestal. Hour ring displays Roman numerals for EST with five minute marks with longitude correction. Tiles of pedestal bear names and birth/death dates of those memorialized.
 
Kalamazoo Michigan USA Combination Dial 733
A combination horizontal, vertical, polar and equatorial dial 4 x 5 x 6 foot tall made of drilled aluminum plate with rod gnomon. The vertical plate shows the EOT graph and depiction of Earth showing polar tilt, celestial equator and Earth equator using drilled holes. The bottom plate below the equatorial face includes a compass rose that also shows the direction of sunrise and sunset at the solstices. All dial faces are marked using Arabic numerals with hour and 15 minute marks.  Click Photo or City Name to READ MORE
 
Kalamazoo Michigan USA Analemmatic Dial 430
A modernistic analemmatic dial. The ellipse is a raised stone wall with large Arabic numbers for each hour from 5am to 7 pm. The concrete patio in front of the wall contains the analemmatic line of months as an indicator of where to stand for casting the shadow.
 
Kalamazoo Michigan USA Horizontal Dial 96
Large circular bench ca 25' in diameter forms ring with hour markings. Aluminum or stainless steel gnomon. Relatively new.
 
Mackinac Michigan USA Horizontal Dial 183
ca 16 in. square Brass Roman Numerals Three stars at south end of gnomon, Roman numerals 5AM-7PM, hour lines with arrow heads. Dial sits atop a tapered white column.
 
Saline Michigan USA Vertical Dial 631
A north-facing vertical dial of wood approximately 30 inches square with steel gnomon. Gnomon support includes "M M" representing 2000 millennium. Dial face includes script "RJ" for owner's initials as well as additional "M M" symbology. Hour markings show Eastern Standard Summer Time. Dial is displayed during summer months only, during which time it can be seen from the street.  Click Photo or City Name to READ MORE
 
Traverse City Michigan USA Analemmatic Dial 494
This beautiful analemmatic dial was built as part of the American Society of Landscape Architects' 100 years/100 Parks project. A colored concrete pad was poured on the north/south axis and scored joints for each month. Stainless steel plates show the name of the months. On either side of the concrete pad are dry laid flagstones with creeping thyme in the joints. Hour markers are 12 inch diameter colored concrete bases with numbers cut from stainless steel. A stained glass sun plaque at the top of the month axis was made by a local artisan. Total dial size is about 10 x 20 feet.
 
Warren Michigan USA Horizontal Dial 269
Horizontal dial 16 ft in diameter with 6 ft gnomon. The Sundial is pyramid shaped, painted in four different shades of yellow and white. Two sighting tubes along slanted upper edge. Sundial sits in center of circular concrete base with brick facing.
 
White Lake Michigan USA Analemmatic Dial 758
A 20 x 10 foot concrete analemmatic dial with Arabic numeral hour markers for 3 AM to 9 PM. A single central date line is painted on the dial face. Segmented raised seating surrounds the dial; slump stone block pillars mark the cardinal directions. A raised plaque provides dial information and directions for use.
 
Ypsilanti Michigan USA Vertical Dial 379
A 10x15 foot vertical wall dial. On a stucco wall, the dial is tile with an aluminum gnomon. This dial atop Sherzer observatory is scheduled for repainting and renumbering. A new and larger brass gnomon is in the works as well. The newer campus landmark is visible from as far away as Wasahtenaw Avenue.
 
Ypsilanti Michigan USA Horizontal Dial 346
The original horizontal dial and gnomon of 1909 was cast aluminum, very rare for a turn of the century dial, and have been assigned a safe place in history in the EMU archives. The new sundial face is weathered brass and copper. The sundial is being replaced on campus after a 30 year absence and recent rediscovery. The granite face of the sundial plinth under the metal base has directional lines indicating major cities in Michigan, Ohio, and around the United States. The original 1908 granite pedestal about 4 ft. high is still used.
 
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