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Category Archives: Michigan Historical Markers

What is That Brick Structure in Port Hope?

Posted on by Posted in Michigan Historical Markers, Thumb .

port hope chimney

From a distance, this tall structure in Port Hope looks like lighthouse since it is so close to Lake Huron near the tip of the Thumb, but after you get up close to it you realize it is something different. Thankfully there is a historical marker next to it that tells you what it is and its significance. Maybe I am one of the few people that bother to read the signs but I appreciate them. In this day and age of google sometimes a plain old sign still works extremely well.

Here is what the sign next to the chimney reads.

This chimney was built in 1858 by John Geitz. It is all that remains of the lumber mill established that year by William R. Stafford. Port Hope grew up around the mill. For a score of years, this town was the center of lumbering in the Thumb. It also became an important producer of salt. In 1871 and again in 1881 the mill, the docks, and possessions of hundreds of people were destroyed by fire. This chimney is a monument to those pioneers who by their courage and industry developed this area.

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The Old Church In Gaylord

Posted on by Posted in Churches, Michigan Historical Markers .

I saw a steeple rising above the town of Gaylord, ( one of my favorite places to stop on a trip up I-75) and I had to see what the old church looked like then I found out it is now the Mount Carmel Centre used as a performing arts center. There is a historical marker standing out front that reads:

St. Mary’s Church began as a mission of the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids. The first church was built around 1884. The parish grew to become a predominantly Polish congregation while under the pastorate of Father Casmir Skory (1892 – 1905). In 1893 Father Skory founded the St. Mary’s School, which was served by the Dominican Sisters. Father Skory was instrumental in the planning and construction of this church in 1900.

The Neo-Gothic St. Mary’s Catholic Church has been a Gaylord landmark since it was dedicated on September 15, 1900. When the Diocese of Gaylord was established in 1972, the church became the cathedral. The diocese built a new cathedral in 1976 and closed St. Mary’s. In 1985 a local group, fearing the building would be razed, purchased it for use as a performing arts center, which they named the Mount Carmel Centre.

I see a lot of old churches in Michigan, and I see some that are no longer used for worship or have been left abandoned. I love old churches because of the grand architecture that was built with pride by the community they served. You know the saying “they don’t build them like that anymore” it’s probably because they are difficult and expensive to build. They also require a lot of maintenance and are not energy efficient. Although they are beautiful, it’s hard to find a use for an old church when it is no longer needed that’s why I am fascinated when I see a church that has found a new purpose.

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Holland’s Grand Old City Hall and Fire House

Posted on by Posted in Fire Houses, Michigan Historical Markers .

holland michigan city hall fire house

Standing at the east end of downtown Holland’s shopping district, is the old city hall and Firehouse. I wonder how many people notice this stately old building while they are out shopping or enjoying a meal at one of the pubs. I know it’s not forgotten for there’s a historical marker out front recalling its history. The sign says

The city of Holland bought this lot in 1882, and contractor James Huntley began construction of a fire hall the next year. Completed in 1884, the building housed Holland’s city offices and library until 1912 and served as a fire hall until 1978. During World War II the west annex was built. In 1983 the firehouse was rehabilitated for use as office space. Grooves in the engine house floor that provided traction for the horses have been filled, and the doors, once replaced to accommodate trucks have been restored.

On March 8, 1884, some 150 people attended the Columbia Fire Engine Company’s oyster supper celebration honoring Holland’s new city hall and firehouse. The solid brick building reflects the desire for “fire proof” construction following the 1871 fire that devastated the city. The city clerk and a special committee consulted with the Grand Rapids firm of Robinson and Barnaby, and designed the structure with a tower to accommodate drying fifty-foot unfolded fire hoses. Originally a cupola topped the tower.

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The Big Yellow House in Port Sanilac

Posted on by Posted in Houses, Michigan Historical Markers, Thumb .

loop harrison house port sanilac

This Second Empire style mansion was built in the 1870s by Doctor Joseph Loop. A native of New York, Loop moved to Oakland County, Michigan, in 1843. he and his wife, Jane Gardner Loop pioneered this land in Sanilac County in 1854, and after graduating from the University of Michigan medical department in 1855, he opened a practice in Port Sanilac. When this home was built, he kept an office on the lower floor, and serviced a forty-mile circuit, bringing medical care to much of the county. Doctor Loop died in 1903 at the age of ninety-three, leaving the home to his only child, Ada. She and her husband, the Reverend Julius Harrison passed it in turn to one of their sons, Captain Stanley Harrison. In 1964 he deeded it to the Sanilac County Historical Society for a museum.

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Newberry Jail and Sheriff’s Residence – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on by Posted in Historic Places, Houses, Michigan Historical Markers, upper peninsula .

Jail and Sheriff's Residence
Constructed in 1894, this graceful Queen Anne style structure served as the Luce County jail and sheriff’s residence for over seventy years. The peninsular Land Company donated the site. The architectural firm of Lovejoy and DeMar from Marquette designed this sturdy edifice from rough-hewn Jacobsville sandstone. The Luce County Historical Society rescued this building from demolition in 1975 and restored it as the Luce County Historical Museum in 1976.

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The Devastating Metz Forest Fire

Posted on by Posted in autumn, Michigan Historical Markers, small towns .

Metz Michigan

The tracks are gone, and a rail trail  for biking and hiking remains where they used to be. Autumn trees of reds and yellows stand alongside the path with memories of the tragic forest fire that burned the town of Metz.

 

metz-fire-tracks

A photo of the warped tracks from the fire ( photo from the roadside park in Metz)

The historical marker in Metz reads: On October 15, 1908, raging fires swept the pine forests of Presque Isle County. When the flames approached the village of Metz, a train jammed with women and children left for Posen, five miles away. At Nowicki’s siding, two miles out of town, huge piles of blazing wood lined the track. As the engine raced past the siding, where intense heat had warped the rails, the train left the track, leaving an open car full of refugees in the center of the flames. Sixteen were killed and dozens of others badly burned. Throughout this part of the state hundreds were left homeless, as many homes and farms were devastated. Supplies soon poured in so that shelters could be erected before the onset of the northern winter.

There is a nice roadside park in Metz with a memorial to the people who lost their lives in the fire and there more info and photos about the fire HERE

I finally got around to making more t-shirts, and I even got the dark gray ones back in stock for those that were asking for them, They are on sale and you can order one HERE

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Elowski Mill in Autumn

Posted on by Posted in autumn, Barns and Farms, Michigan Historical Markers .

elowski mill

Prussian immigrant Michael Elowsky fled the turmoil brewing in Eastern Europe in 1862. He settled in Detroit, was joined by his family, and migrated to Presque Isle County around 1870. under President Lincoln’s Homestead Act of 1865, he obtained his land on the north branch of the Thunder Bay River near Posen at no cost. He built a log dam and moved a part of this structure from Trout River and eventually developed a complex of flour,shingle, siding, planing, and lathe milling operations. Residents of Metz, Posen, and Krakow townships brought grain and timber to this mill. With the help of Thomas Edison, Michael’s son Emil added a generator and electric lights to operate the mill 24 hours a day. When the Mill closed at the end of the harvest season in October of 1963, that became the last time it would operate. During the winter of 1963-4, a great amount of snow fell, so with the spring melt, a very great run-off on the river caused the original log dam to collapse. The great run off also wiped out the saw mill that the family had across the river on the south bank. All the equipment was left intact and remains to this day.

A winter photo of the mill is in my Lost In Michigan calendar which you can see HERE

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Ingham County Courthouse – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on by Posted in courthouses, Michigan Historical Markers .

ingham county courthouse

Named for Samuel Ingham, Secretary of the Treasury under Andrew Jackson, Ingham County was organized in 1838. In 1840 Mason became the county seat. The town’s wide public square had been designed as the county’s political and business center. The first county offices were on the sides of the square until 1858, when a courthouse was built at this location. The present building, completed in 1904, was described as a “temple of justice.” Governor Fred Warner, speaking at the dedication, called it “a meeting place for farmers, mechanics, business and professional men.” The courthouse has been the center of Ingham County’s activities throughout the twentieth century. In 1971 the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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10 Hours Or No Sawdust in Bay City

Posted on by Posted in Michigan Historical Markers .

downtown bay city

When Bay City’s sawmills opened in 1885, mill owners notified workers that wages would be 12 to 25 percent lower than in 1884. On July 6, 1885, Bay City millhands began to walk off the job. Their slogan, “Ten Hours or No Sawdust,” represented the demand for a ten-hour day, higher wages and semimonthly pay. On July 9, 1885, D.C. Blinn, editor of Bay City’s Labor Vindicator and a member of the Knights of Labor, held a rally at Bay City’s Madison Park. After the rally, millhands left by barge for Saginaw, where they closed the mills the next day. The demands of the millhands were rejected, and the sporadic violence that followed led the mayors of Bay City and Saginaw to seek help from the state militia and private detectives.

On July 19, 1885, Governor Russell A. Alger, a wealthy lumberman came to Bay City to attempt to resolve the strike that had closed Bay City and Saginaw mills. From the steps of the Frazer Hotel, across the street from this site, he spoke to a crowd of millhands, warning against further violence. On July 29, Terence V. Powderly, Grand Master of the Knights of Labor, came to the valley. He urged the millhands to return to work with a ten-hour day and reduced wages. Nevertheless, the strike continued for several weeks, with support from the people of Bay City. The mill owners, however, remained intransigent, and by late September the strikers were defeated. The ten-hour workday went into effect on September 15, 1885, by an act of the state legislature, but wages remained low.

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The Michigan School For the Deaf – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on by Posted in Houses, Michigan Historical Markers .

michigan school for the deaf flint

 

The Superintendent’s Cottage, completed in 1890, is the oldest building on the campus of the Michigan School for the Deaf. With the exception of the masonry work, the cottage was built almost entirely by male students. In addition, students made the furniture for the house in the school’s shops. The building reflects the craftsmanship of the boys who studied under instructors Edwin Barton and James Foss. Student labor saved the state money while preparing the boys for future employment. Construction of the cottage began during an 1880s diphtheria epidemic when faculty housing was reorganized to make room hospital space. Beginning with Francis Clarke and his family, who lived in the house from 1892 to 1913, every superintendent has resided in the cottage.

In 1848 the Michigan legislature established the Michigan Asylum for Educating the Deaf and Dumb and the blind. Flint was selected as the site for the new institution. The first student arrived on February 6, 1854. After the  School for the Blind opened in Lansing in 1880, the Flint facility began serving only deaf children. The curriculum, which combined academics and practical training. emphasized “market gardening and general farming.” Boys studied carpentry, printing, tailoring and farming, while girls learned the sciences of cooking, sewing, darning and patching. The schools mission was to educate deaf children so that they “may earn a living … may have culture enough to enjoy that living … (and) may be fitted for citizenship.

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