July 2019 - Lost In Michigan

Lost In Michigan Book Giveaway

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Giveaways .

Here is your chance to win a Lost In Michigan Volume 2 paperback book. It is full of interesting places and their stories. If you are looking for somewhere in the Mitten State to visit that are a little off the beaten path, then I am sure you will love this book. Follow the steps below to enter the contest.

If you want to purchase a book or see a preview they are available on my website HERE or at Amazon HERE

To enter the giveaway complete all three of these tasks

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Comment on this post down below on what your favorite beach in Michigan is. (Note that I use Facebook for comments If you are not able to comment be sure you have a facebook account and are logged in on the device you are using to post comments. )

I will choose a winner from the comments at random, and they will be announced in my post on August 8th. Good Luck and may the odds be in your favor.

P.S. Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my posts and especially to those of you that got a book or two from me. Your support really means a lot to me since it’s my book sales that help me with expenses to do this website.

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Finlandia’s Old Main

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Schools, upper peninsula .

When thinking of colleges in the Upper Peninsula many people think of Michigan Tech in Houghton. Across the river is the city of Hancock and Finlandia University. It started out as Soumi College and this building was the first one on campus. The historical marker in front reads:

Suomi College was founded in 1896 by the Finnish Evangelical Church of America. The cornerstone of Old Main, the first building erected at Suomi College, was laid on May 30, 1898. Jacobsville sandstone, quarried at the Portage Entry of the Keweenaw waterway, was brought here by barge, cut and used to construct Old Main. Dedicated on January 21, 1900, It contained a dormitory, kitchen, laundry, classrooms, offices, library, chapel and lounge. The burgeoning college quickly outgrew this building, and in 1901 a frame structure, housing a gym, meeting hall and music center was erected on an adjacent lot. The frame building was demolished when Nikander Hall, named for Suomi’s founder, J. K. Nikander, was constructed in 1939. The hall was designed by the architectural firm of Saarinen and Swanson.

Lost In Michigan books are ON SALE this week, you can order your copy from my website HERE

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The White Rock

Posted on July 28, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Thumb .

Along the Lake Huron shoreline in the Thumb is the town of White Rock. It was named after, you probably guessed it, a white rock. They rock is about a half-mile offshore. Over the years it has broken up in the ice and is not as prominent as it once was but it is still visible. The rock was used as a boundary marker to define the territory ceded by Ottawa, Chippewa, Wyandot, and Potawatomi Native Americans with the Treaty of Detroit in 1807. A roadside park was built on M-25 and an overlook allows visitors to see the rock. The lake levels also have an impact on how much of the rock is visible. Next time you are taking a drive down M-25 and you see the roadside park be sure to stop and look at the rock that helped define Michigan.

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Copemish School

Posted on July 27, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Schools .

One of my readers told me there was an old school in Copemish I need to check out. I have traveled M-115 many times and noticed the “giant arrow” (you know what I mean if you have seen it.) but I have never gone thru downtown Copemish. I guess I a have always thought I have been to Copemish but actually M-115 passes next to it. I made sure to take a drive-thru town and I saw the light green school on the outskirts of town. It’s a rather large two-story building and much large than a little one-room schoolhouse. Standing beside the school is another building that I am assuming was the gymnasium since a small portion of the sign is left with a G and a Y and half of an M. I can only imagine the basketball games that were played there on a cold Michigan winters day. I wish I knew more about the school’s history, but I can only wonder as I look at it sitting abandoned.

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The Chief’s Dock

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in upper peninsula .

If you have ever been to St. Ignace you have probably seen the lighthouse at the end of the pier at Chief Wawatam Park. The park was named after the SS Chief Wawatam which was named after an Ojibwa chief of the 1700s; he was said to have rescued trader Alexander Henry during the Ojibwa uprising at Michilimackinac in 1763.

The massive concrete blocks are what is left of the dock where the ferry would tie up and offload rail cars. Built in 1911, the ship was a special combination icebreaker and ferry designed specifically for the Straits. It’s entire life it traveled back and forth from St Ignace to Mackinaw City. It continued to operate after the Mackinac Bridge was built because it carried train cars. By 1984 the railroad ceased operating the ferry and sold it to a Canadian company that converted it into a barge.

I don’t remember the days of ferries transporting cars and trains across the straits but I do remember the tracks and railyard that used to be in Mackinaw City. They were removed to build the Mackinaw Crossings Mall. The old depot still remains and is now a restaurant. I wish I had taken a photo of the old rail yard to remember what was. I guess that is why I take so many photos of random forgotten places. I figure it is nice to remember what used to be, not that I want to go back but I think remembering the past is a good way to help guide decisions for the future.

P.S. The story of the lighthouse at the end of the dock can be found HERE

You can learn more about the Chief Wawatam ferry at their website HERE

Find Interesting locations throughout the Mitten State with a Lost In Michigan book Available on Amazon by clicking HERE

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Peter’s Mansion

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, Uncategorized .

The Michigan Historical Marker in front of this grand old home in Columbiaville reads:

This structure, completed in 1896, was the home of William Peter (1824-1899). Peter, a prominent Columbiaville businessman, was a rags-to-riches character. Around 1847 he came to the area from Germany via New York state, a penniless immigrant. Immediately he began working in a local sawmill. He invested his earnings in large tracts of land and platted the village of Columbiaville in 1871. From 1879 to 1899, Peter developed the community. He built a gristmill, a woolen mill, houses for his workmen, a school, a church and several commercial buildings including the railroad depot (see my my post about it HERE). Most of Columbiaville was owned and dominated by him. His wife, Roxanna, planned this Italianate residence, which still displays its original hardwood floors and decorative woodwork in oak, mahogany, walnut, cherry and maple.

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Delicious and Refreshing

Posted on July 22, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Ghost Murals .

The north branch of the Kalamazoo River flows through downtown Albion. This building hangs over the river and I marveled at the mural painted on the side. I like seeing the old advertising murals. It’s rare to see a new advertising mural, mostly it’s just billboards with their digital signs illuminating something you can’t read as you pass by at 70mph. Sometimes newer is not better.

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Zeba Mystery Church

Posted on July 21, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches, Forgotten Places, upper peninsula .

Not far from the town of L’anse is the small town of Zeba and close by is this little church. It stands along the shoreline of Lake Superior’s L’anse Bay Lake Superior. I am sure it was a church with the cross proudly mounted to the top of the steeple. Other than that I don’t know anything about it. I can only imagine it has seen some beautiful sunsets over the bay and some ferocious winter snowstorms all while holding services inside for funerals, weddings, and baptisms.

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Ada Covered Bridge

Posted on July 20, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Bridges, Historic Places .

Near Grand Rapids is the town of Ada. Rix Robinson built a trading post near present-day Ada in 1821 and made the first land purchase in 1833. A post office was established in 1837. Both the township and village settlement were named for Ada Smith, the daughter of the first postmaster. A Michigan historical marker proudly describes the history of the one of a kind bridge wooden bridge in Ada and it reads:

An act of the legislature in 1867 authorized Ada Township to borrow up to $3000 for the purpose of building or repairing bridges in the township. This bridge was built about that time, apparently by William Holmes. The design for the trusses was patented by Josiah Brown in 1857. A timber bearing his name was uncovered during repair work. The bridge has been threatened by floods a number of times. It is said that farmers used to drive wagons loaded with stone onto the bridge during high water to hold it to the foundation. The bridge was closed to automobile traffic in 1930 and restored by the Kent County Road Commission in 1941.

If you are ever in the area be sure to stop by and walk across the bridge. It is like walking back in time.

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Camp Sidnaw

Posted on July 18, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, upper peninsula .

The small town of Sidnaw in the central-western Upper Peninsula was home to one of several POW camps throughout Michigan. The camp was originally built as a CCC camp and after the capture of thousands of German soldiers in Africa, they were sent to the United States to be held as POWs.

Because of the large number of American men serving in the war the lumber industry requested POW’s be used to help with the labor shortage. 251 Germans were held in Sidnaw from February of 1944 until April of 1946. The camp did not have a fence around it just a couple of guard towers to watch the prisoners. It was not much of an issue. Most prisoners were young men who were drafted into the Nazi Army and would rather work in the sawmills than be shot at by the allied troops. One issue that did have was with the conservation officers who complained about the guards using machine guns and hand grenades to hunt deer while they POWs were out logging. The U.S. government sent limited supplies to the camp and some fresh venison was a welcomed meal.

Nothing from the camp remains. The guard towers stood for a long time, but they are gone now. I saw this old shack next to the tracks in town, and I can only imagine this little building saw many trains pulling in and out of town with POWs and supplies.

Find Interesting locations throughout the Mitten State with a Lost In Michigan book Available on Amazon by clicking HERE

Near Brimley is the remains of another former POW facility called Camp Raco, you can read my post about it HERE

If you want to know more about the POW camps in Michigan I highly recommend reading the book by Gregory D. Sumner titled Michigan POW Camps in World War II. It was compelling to read, I did not know so many POWs were sent to Michigan to work in the fields and forests. You can check out his book on Amazon HERE

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