January 2016 - Lost In Michigan

Will The Tawas Point Lighthouse Light be Extinguished ?

Posted on January 27, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses .

I just found out that the Coast Guard is looking at removing the Fresnel lens from the Tawas Point Lighthouse and moving the light to the fog signal tower farther down the point. the Coast Guard press release is HERE . The current lighthouse was completed in 1876 and still currently guides ships into Tawas Bay with its 4th order Fresnel lens. One of the few lighthouses in the nation still using the old original lens, the Coast Guard owns the light, but the Michigan DNR owns the lighthouse. The Coast Guard said they are removing the lens to preserve it, and usually loan them to museums, and since the lighthouse is a museum, I am hoping that they decide to keep it at Tawas Point. I also hope they will have a light in the lighthouse, not for an aid to navigation, but it is nice to see a light emanating from the tower. While I was camping at the state park, at night you could see the light from the campground.

Subscribe to Lost In Michigan

the Remains of the Detroit House of Corrections in Plymouth

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places .

Traveling down 5 mile in Plymouth township I came across this complex surrounded by razor wire, and I knew this was not your typical abandoned motor-court. I stopped and took a few pics ( I got some from the parking lot, I don’t trespass ) and then when I got home I found out it was the old Detroit House of Corrections or DeHoCo. Interestingly, the main building was designed by famed architect Albert Kahn.

The first Detroit House of Correction opened in 1861 near Detroit’s Eastern Market. In 1919, the city of Detroit purchased approximately 1,000 acres in Plymouth Township to house a new Detroit House of Correction. A prison farm, with inmates sleeping in tents, was opened in 1920 of which there is a group of silos from the farm still standing in a field next to the defunct prison.
A permanent maximum security facility was completed towards the end of prohibition in 1930, I imagine there were some bootleggers and members of the Purple Gang that paid there debt to society at DeHoCo. It was eventually sold to the Michigan Department of Corrections int the 80’s and renamed Western Wayne Correctional Facility and became a women’s facility, The prison closed in December 2004, it is slated for demolition. Many places I photograph, I like to see saved, but in this case, I can’t see where this would be of use to the community, it’s not like a school or church that people have fond memories of. I am glad I was able to get some photos of it, in case it’s gone soon.

Subscribe to Lost In Michigan

St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches, Michigan Historical Markers .

Between Bay City and Freeland, German missionary Pastor Ferdinand Sievers organized St. John Church in June 1852 to serve a colony of German migrants, some fleeing the turmoil that followed the European revolutions of 1848. Initially, the church met in a log cabin that once housed recent arrivals to the colony of Amelith. In 1870 a wood-frame Gothic style church was built. The present structure was completed in 1912. Schools run by the church began in 1853 with instruction in German surviving until World War I. Some church services continued in German until 1979. During World War II, German prisoners housed at Freeland Camp were ministered to by St. John Lutheran. An addition to the church was completed in 1997.

Subscribe to Lost In Michigan

The Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse

Posted on January 7, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses .

In 1832, Congress authorized a lightship to be placed on Waugoshance Shoal as the first attempt to mark the western entrance to the Straits. In 1838, Lieutenant James T. Homans reported that the lightship was wholly inadequate. He recommended a better solution for Waugoshance and also that a light be built on the point to the west of Mackinaw Harbor. Nothing came of Homans’ recommendations. In 1854, the new Lighthouse Administration decided (against the recommendation of local residents) to put a light at McGulpin Point, approximately 3 miles to the west of Old Point Mackinaw.

In 1889, the United States Lighthouse Board realized that Mackinaw Point was a better location. Their first inclination was to put a fog signal there, but when asking Congress for funding, they requested funding for both a fog signal and a first class lighthouse. Congress chose to accept their recommendation, but only voted the funding for a steam-powered fog-signal. The fog signal was built in 1890. The signal proved to be exceptionally necessary for navigation in the often fog-choked Straits of Mackinac.

.In March 1891, Congress finally authorized the funding for a light station and the board acted quickly. Bidding was difficult, but in 1892, “on a foundation of ashlar limestone, the tower and attached keeper’s dwelling were both constructed of Cream City brick, trimmed with Indiana Limestone. The double-walled cylindrical tower was laid with an outside diameter of 13 feet 4 inches , and as each course was added, rose to a height of 45 feet , surmounted by a circular iron gallery and an 8-foot-8-inch diameter watch room, which was in turn capped by a prefabricated octagonal iron lantern.”The lens is a fourth order Fresnel Lens.

Its light was visible for 14 nautical miles; (16 Miles), which made it “particularly valuable” to the railroad car ferries SS Chief Wawatam and SS Sainte Marie operating between Mackinaw City and St. Ignace.

Subscribe to Lost In Michigan