castles Archives - Lost In Michigan

Penniman Castle

Posted on January 30, 2021 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in castles, Houses .

This grand old castle made of fieldstone stands in a quiet neighborhood in Battle Creek. Known as Penniman Castle it was completed in 1906 to resemble a medieval castle with 4 towers at each corner and a great hall in the middle. The house originally had a 3rd floor, but it was destroyed by fire in 1941 and never rebuilt.

Postcard showing what the home originally looked like before the upper floor was destroyed by fire.

Built by Dentist John Penniman and constructed with one-foot thick walls the home was one of the costliest built in southwest Michigan at the time. The house with its octagon towers took almost 6 years to build. The interior is trimmed with ornately carved quarter-sawn oak including the garderobe ( a fancy term for a privy or latrine in a castle ). The castle has seventeen rooms, four of which are bedrooms. The house was added to the national register of historic places in 2001.

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The Michigan Castle and Free E-books

Posted on March 30, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in castles .

This French Norman chateau-style castle stands along the riverbank of the Shiawassee River in Owosso. It was built by James Oliver Curwood one of the country’s best selling authors at the turn of the century. The early 1900s, not Y2K. He wrote several books with many of them based on life in the remote northern wilderness. His final book was inspired by the sawmill town of Damon near West Branch. ( you can see my post about it HERE) His books have been out of print for years and because they are old enough, they are no longer protected by copyright laws and in the public domain. You can download them and several other books for free from the Gutenburg Project at Gutenberg.org.

James Oliver Curwood books can be downloaded HERE and you can find the most popular downloaded books HERE They are available in pdf and epub along with many other popular file formats.

If you are looking for something to read with the library and book stores closed this is an option. Most of the books are older books but many are popular are literary classics. It’s interesting looking at the list, I think almost all of them have been made into movies. probably because the studios did not have to pay the author for use of their work.

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The Grand Rapids Castle

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in castles, Houses .

This grand old castle in Grand Rapids was designed by local architect William G. Robinson, this castle-like edifice was constructed in 1884-86 for Colonel E. Crofton Fox and his brother Charles. Built of granite block imported from Scotland, this house is a fine example of Chateauesque Style architecture. A Heritage Hill landmark, this house features leaded and stained glass windows, and a metal stair dormer superbly crafted to resemble stone. Its interior is adorned with parquet flooring in the entry hall and a carved oak staircase. It was refurbished as a restaurant in 1978.

The Fox Brothers, Ethelbert Crofton (1852-1904) and Charles (1853-1915), local lumber barons, built this structure as their home. These brothers were partners in a Grand Rapids lumbering firm, Osterhout, Fox & Company, and accumulated vast wealth. Appointed to the State Military Board by Governor Cyrus Luce in 1887, E. Crofton, a colonel, was twice elected president of that organization. He was also associated with banking and was treasurer of the City Board of Trade. Charles was the founder of the Michigan Trust Company, established in 1889.

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Frontier Castle

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in castles .

In the heart of downtown Saginaw is a century-old castle. William M. Aiken designed this stately “French chateau” castle and the corner towers represented the defensive feature of frontier life. It was built for the post office and opened in 1898. At the time the post office was trying to build buildings that reflected the city they were constructed in. This is one of the few extravagant buildings the post office built probably after the cost of such buildings was unnecessary.

The post office outgrew the building and built a new one in the 1960s. Believe it or not this magnificent building faced demolition a few times but was saved and turned into a museum for the Saginaw County Historical Society.

If you live in Saginaw I will be giving a presentation on Tuesday, November 19th at 7:00 pm at the Zauel Memorial Library on Center Rd. If you are in the area I hope you will come out and listen to my story.

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Michigan’s Stone House

Posted on October 26, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in castles, Houses .

Michigan has a lot of unique old houses but among the houses in Lexington Heights is this ornate one of a kind stone house. It was built in the 1930s by Valentine Falzon, a stonemason from Malta, using the stones and sand from nearby Lake Huron. You can learn more about the house on their website HERE

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A Miracle at Peterboro and Park

Posted on August 7, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in castles, Detroit .

In Midtown Detroit on the corner of Peterboro And Park is the old James Scott mansion. The transformation that has occurred is nothing short of miraculous. It was not divine intervention that restored this historic old building, but good old fashioned hard work and money. If you want to see what it looked like before check out my post about it a couple of years ago HERE

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Michigan’s Hidden Castle

Posted on April 29, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in castles .

Hidden away in a private community known as the Canadian Lakes is a marvelous concrete castle. In 1974, Developer Donald Bollman purchased swampy farmland between Mount Plesant and Big Rapids. He converted the area into a private community with lakes, golf courses and tennis courts for the residents and their guests to enjoy. He built this castle on one of three golf courses in the community. The lower floor serves as a banquet center and the upper floor was used as a residence for the Bollman family. After Donald died the family sold the castle to the Canadian Lakes Property Owners Corp. The castle is known as the Highland Castle for the name of the golf course which is located next to it. The castle is used for weddings and private functions for residents of the community.

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A Cold Michigan Day, A Castle and a Book

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in castles, Winter Wonderland .

If you have followed Lost In Michigan for a while you have probably seen photos of Curwood Castle in Owosso. It was the writing studio of James Oliver Curwood. He was a very successful author in the early 1900’s. Reading a good book is something I like to do on a cold winter day ( shameless plug for my book HERE) and I thought I would read one of his books. I went to my local library to find out they did not have any of his books on the shelves. I went on google and found there are several of his books that can be downloaded for free. They were published so long ago that they have fallen into the Public Domain. You can download Curwood’s books on Gutenberg.org HERE I am currently reading The Flaming Forest by Curwood and it’s an excellent book.

P.S. if your wondering Gutenberg invented the printing press and there is where Gutenberg.org gets its name from. they have many classic books available for download for free.

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The Wizard of Oz Castle in Michigan

Posted on May 18, 2017 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in castles, Historic Places .

Standing near the shoreline of Lake Michigan, south of Holland, is an old brick castle. The castle was built in 1894 by German Immigrant and Chicago businessman Michael Schwarz. The family with their six daughters lived in the castle for about a year but then moved to Holland and left the old castle abandoned. In 1896, Dr. John Parr purchased the Castle making it into a summertime camp for the boys and girls of Chicago Preparatory School in Chicago where he was the head minister.

It must have been a magical place for a summer camp and many of the children’s parents loved the area so much that they built summer homes near the camp. Dr. Parr and his wife ran the camp until 1917 when his nephew Carter Brown and his wife took over the duties of running the camp. Over the years their children took over managing the camp. by 1960 the camp had grown tremendously, and the taxes and maintenance had become too much and the camp became Camp Park, a private association. The association owns the magnificent castle and it is used as a library and meeting place.

But as Paul Harvey would say, here is the rest of the story. Author L. Frank Baum had a summer cottage nearby in Macatawa and it is said that the castle partly inspired the Wizard of Oz. and that some of the residents of castle park were his inspiration for a few of the characters in the book, such as the tinman. Exactly how much the castle inspired Baum is unknown but west Michigan was where he went to relax and get away from the pressures of daily life.

Castle Park remains as a private community.

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