August 2021 - Lost In Michigan

The IXL Office in the U.P.

Posted on August 31, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Iconic Buildings, upper peninsula .

In the small town of Hermansville just of US-2 in the central Upper Peninsula is a large two-story building with a red circle and the letters IXL in the center. The building was built in 1881 by the Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company and used as their office. They made hardwood flooring and branded the flooring IXL for “I excel” to denote the quality of the flooring. They also stamped the boards with the IXL logo. The company office in Hermansville closed in 1978. It was converted into a museum in 1982, a century after the building was constructed.

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The Butterfly Lighthouse

Posted on August 30, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses, upper peninsula .

If you are in the Upper Peninsula in the early fall you may get to witness one of nature’s wonders. The Monarch Butterfly migrates 1,900-miles south to their wintering grounds in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico. Usually, around September thousands of Monarchs gather around the remains of the old Peninsula Lighthouse at the tip of the Stonington Peninsula.

It is one of only a very few places in North America where monarchs can be viewed migrating in great numbers while they wait for favorable weather conditions. Since tagging began in the mid-1990s, monarchs tagged at Peninsula Point have been found in El Rosario, Mexico, almost 2,000 miles from the Stonington Peninsula. Monarchs use a combination of air currents and thermals to travel long distances. Some fly as far as 3,000 miles to reach their winter home. If you want to know more about the lighthouse you see my post about it HERE

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The Saginaw Waterworks

Posted on August 29, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Iconic Buildings .

This massive stone structure in the heart of Saginaw is probably the most important building in the Saginaw Valley. It is the Waterworks that purifies water for most of the residents living in the area. Constructed in 1929 the water treatment plant was a marvel of engineering when it was constructed.

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The Mansfield Mine Memorial

Posted on August 28, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people, upper peninsula .

A few miles northeast of the Upper Peninsula town of Crystal Falls is a stone memorial. It is a memorial to the 27 men that died when the Mansfield Mine collapsed and the water from the Michigamme River flooded the shaft. All the men working in the mine on September 28, 1893, drowned. It is a tragedy that these men who were just trying to provide for their families died. This stone memorial in the Upper Peninsula is a reminder of the lives lost and the sacrifices made by earlier Yoopers.

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The Residents of Fourteen Foot Shoal Lighthouse

Posted on August 27, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Lighthouses .

At the time the Fourteen Foot Shoal Lighthouse was constructed in 1929 it was never intended to be occupied by a keeper. The lighthouse sits offshore from Cheboygan in Lake Huron. It marks a shallow spot that is, you guessed it, fourteen-foot deep. The light was to be remotely operated by radio from the nearby Poe Reef Lighthouse.

In 2012 the lighthouse was made available to government agencies or non-profit organizations for preservation. Because no group came forward to maintain the old beacon it was sold at auction in September of 2012 for $133,000. I am not sure what the owners of the lighthouse plan to do with it but many cormorants have taken up residency on the one remotely operated lighthouse. The large black fish-eating birds have built nests on several of the lighthouses in the straits and their feces are extremely destructive to the concrete and paint of the lighthouses.

If you want to see the 14 foot shoal lighthouse Nautical North Family Adventures sails past it on their shipwreck cruise. you can learn more about it on my post HERE

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The Pink Schoolhouse

Posted on August 26, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Schools .

This little pink schoolhouse stands in Bicentennial Park in the city of Mason. The school was built in 1854, and moved to its current location in 1976. The exact reason why the school is pink is unknown. One of the predominant theories is that red paint was donated, but there was not enough to paint the entire building. It was mixed with white paint turning it into a pink hue but creating enough to paint the entire school.

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The Clocktower

Posted on August 25, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Water Tower .

This beautiful ornate brick clock tower looks over downtown Chelsea. It was constructed in 1906 by local businessman Frank P. Glazier who owned the Glazier Stove Works. Besides displaying the time for the citizens of Chelsea the tower also held a large water tank. Glazier added the tower to his new building when his old offices had burned down and there was a lack of water for fighting the blaze.

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The Hydroelectric Plant at the Soo

Posted on August 24, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in upper peninsula .

The Soo Locks are the most well know engineering marvels in Sault St. Marie. A little way down the river east of the locks is another engineering marvel. Over 1300 feet long the St. Marys Falls Hydroelectric Plant was the second-largest plant when it was constructed in 1898. Second only to the hydro plant at Niagra Falls. It is still in operation today producing electricity for the easter half of the Upper Peninsula.

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2022 Lost In Michigan Wall Calendars are Now Available.

Posted on August 23, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in calendars .

Lost In Michigan wall calendars are now available on Zazzle.com HERE. There are two different calendars, a Lost In Michigan and a Michigan Lighthouse calendar.

Thank you so much to all of you that have purchased calendars from me over the past several years. Your kindness and support for what I do are greatly appreciated. It helps me with expenses to continue to travel and do research for my daily posts.

I think you will really like these calendars from Zazzle. They are printed on heavy cardstock and are spiral bound. They also come in a few different sizes. I used to have calendars printed and I shipped them out myself but I find that Zazzle makes great wall calendars and because they do the shipping and handling for me it frees up my time to work on my website.

You can find the Lost In Michigan wall calendar HERE

and you can find the Michigan Lighthouse calendar HERE

Thank you for your time and safe travels,

Mike Sonnenberg

Murphy’s House

Posted on August 23, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, Thumb .

I saw this beautiful gothic house with white siding and a green roof in Harbor Beach in Michigan’s Thumb. In front of the house was a sign that read MURPHY MUSEM. I stopped and took a pic and then read the bronze plaque proudly displayed out front.

Frank Murphy was born in 1890 in Harbor Beach and graduated from U of M with a law degree. He was elected as Mayor of Detroit and Governor of Michigan. He served as the U.S. Attorney General and was nominated to the Supreme Court by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

He was a strong defender of civil rights and as a supreme court justice, he is most noted for speaking out against the Japanese internment camps during World War II declaring it “legalized racism”

This house which stands as a museum and memorial to him was once his home and law office in Harbor Beach. After his death in 1949, he was buried at Our Lady of Lake Huron Catholic Cemetery in Harbor Beach never forgetting his roots in the Thumb.

It’s amazing the things I learn just by stopping to take a pic and reading a sign. I wish I was out traveling right now, but I am staying home and sharing pics from my archive which is good because I forgot all about this pic that I took about a year and a half ago.

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