I saw this old abandoned car along side the road near Weidman. I am sure it longs for the day the family would pile in with a picnic basked and go for a road trip. I am not sure what kind if cat it us but like most cars of its era I can only think that most of its parts, and maybe the car itself was built in Michigan.
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I say this is a Mystery House because I am not sure where It’s located, I know i was somewhere between Owosso and Flint, but I cant for the life of me remember where I was at when I took this pic a few years ago. To some people that may sound strange, but I take a lot of pics, I mean A LOT OF PICS like 50,000 a year, I really don’t pay attention to what road I am on or small town I am near, many times I am just driving back roads aimlessly turning right or left or whatever way I feel like going.
I do get asked about the locations of some places, and requested that I post the exact longitude and latitude of the pics, which I know is possible, but I don’t like posting exact locations. I have done that, only to find out later, selfish and evil people have trespassed and vandalized or stolen stuff from the property. That’s why I only give out an approximate location. I am also asked a lot when I give a name of a small town where it is located, I figure it’s easy to look up on google maps where they are located.
If I am little vague on locations then you will have to do a little research to discover for yourself where something is located, and you might also find something new, that is how I find some of the places I find. I start researching something then go off on a tangent, and find something else. My Theory is, I could tell you exactly where it is, but if I give you a rough Idea and then you can search for it yourself. and who knows what you will find while looking. and sometimes, like in this case, I don’t even know myself where the house in this pics is located. I hope I encourage you to get out and explore Michigan.
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The people on the west side of the state probably won’t recognize this flag, but the people on the east side of the state that travel I75 will recognize this brick flag that stands along the highway near Bay City. It has the 50 state design on one side and the bicentennial design with the circle of stars on the other. For some, it marks the dividing line of ” Up North” on the way north, and for others, it means they are almost home when heading south. The flag was built in 1975 by local Bay City businessman Jim Graham as a way to promote an amusement park he wanted to build called ” Little Michigan. The park was supposed to be in the shape of Michigan with ponds in the shape of the 5 great lakes. The park never did get built, but the flag still stands waving at motorists as they drive by.
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When I was a kid my dad would take my brothers and I out fishing on the bay, ( Saginaw Bay for those who don’t live in the Saginaw Valley) sometimes we would go to Au Gres and stop to Lutz’s for breakfast and then on the way back from fishing we would stop and ride the go carts at the Funland, I took this pic a few years ago, but never posted it. I went thru Au Gres recently and I seen it was all gone. I have lots of fond memories of Au Gres, but it has changed over the years, it seems like instead of going to Au Gres, you go thru Au Gres to get to where you are going. I guess times change and kids have video games and electronic gizmos to keep them occupied. I did find this facebook page about it with some old photos HERE
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One of my Subscribers told me about this old abandoned house between Ithaca and Wheeler. It has a tragic story to tell about the murder of its owner Alonzo Hart Jr. in 1970. He was a Korean War Veteran and former Saginaw police officer who was now working as a truck driver to support his family. His Second wife Sarah Jane Hart and her 17 year old lover Phillip Lippert hatched a plan to have him killed so she could collect the $18,000 insurance money. They found a killer for hire in William Pribble that would commit the murder for $1500. One night Alonzo’s wife took the kids while Pribble and Lippert waited for Alonzo to return and when he pulled into the driveway Pribble hit him over the head with a bar and beat him to death and left him lying next to his car in the driveway.
Pribble and Lippert pleaded to second degree murder and each was given life sentences. Sarah Jane Hart, who was unable to remember details to help her attorney in her own defense was ultimately committed to a state mental hospital for 18 months before her first trial ended in a mistrial. The old boarded up house still silently stands as a witness to this horrific crime.
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I came across this old farmhouse in Presque Isle County standing silently in the snow drifted field. I wonder what it must have been like years ago to farm in northern Michigan being several miles from a large city. During the winter back in the days before four wheel drive trucks and snowmobiles a family must have depended on their house to survive the harsh Michigan winter. and while we are talking about the family that lived there, I bet they took their crops to this mill
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This is the James Scott residence on the corner of Peterboro and Park in the Midtown District in Detroit. James Scott’s father also named James Scott was a prominent businessman in Detroit and when he died in the 1870’s he gave a large fortune to his son. He built this house in 1887, but from what I read Mr. Scott was not the most well-respected person in Detroit. When he built his house he wanted to purchase the property south of his, when the owner would not sell it to him he built a giant wall to block the sun from reaching his neighbor’s house, that is supposedly why the south wall has no windows.
when he died in 1910 he left the city $200,000. to build a fountain and stipulated that there needs to be a statue of him. Many of the citizens did not want to build the fountain because of the stipulation and felt he was not worthy of a statue. Some pointed out that he apparently never worked a day in his life and was best known for the time he spent in downtown bars. eventually, it was decided to spend his money and expand Belle Isle and build a fountain.
the home eventually was converted into apartments then suffered from a fire in the ’70s and was left abandoned, A developer is in the process of converting it into condominiums. you can read about it HERE. I am looking forward to getting an “after” photo of the restoration to go with this “before” pic from a few years ago.
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A couple of years ago I was heading down Silver Lake Road in Argentine Twp and after rounding the corner, and at the top of the hill, was this old house. I knew nothing about the house, and it was the first time I ever saw it, but I had to stop and take a photo of it. Like most old houses I photograph, I know nothing about their history, but after posting a pic I had a few people tell me that was the house where a Michigan State Trooper was killed.
Michigan State Trooper Albert Souden
On September 3rd 1959 Trooper Albert Souden had driven to the house to investigate a robbery in Millford. His wife called the post to report he had never returned home. Within minutes of determining Trooper Souden had disappeared, the department mobilized an intensive search. The public response was also immediate. Floods of citizens, sheriff’s deputies, municipal police officers, and members of the Army and National Guard volunteered to join the ground and air search. The police arrested Alvin Knight the next day at a cabin in Traverse City. Knight was an ex-convict with a history of breaking the law and even spent time in an institution for the criminally insane. After repeated interrogations he would not tell law enforcement officers anything. It was only after Alber Soudens wife pleaded with him that he finally cracked and lead officers to the body and explained what happened.
When Trooper Souden knocked on the door the suspect was in his pajamas and he asked the trooper if he could change. After going upstairs to change he grabbed a gun and then got the drop on the officer and took his service revolver. He forced him at gunpoint to drive his patrol car to a farm and then marched him into the woods where he intended to tie him up so he would have time to escape, but Trooper Souden made an attempt to get away so he shot him with his revolver and buried him with some vegetation. Knight plead guilty to second degree murder, and was sentenced to 25 years.
Trooper Alber Souden was 29 years old and had a 7 month old baby, He was the 22nd MSP officer to die in the line of duty.
As for the house, it’s gone now. It was demolished a few years ago shortly after I took this photo.
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Alabaster, south of Tawas on Lake Huron, was named after a variety of gypsum discovered offshore by Douglass Houghton in 1837. Prospectors soon began searching for other gypsum deposits, and this quarry was opened in 1862 by B.F. Smith. Used at first as fertilizer and as an ingredient in plaster, gypsum is now used principally in the manufacture of wallboard. A fire in 1891 destroyed the operation but it was rebuilt in time to supply material for the main buildings at the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893. These buildings, with marble-like walls, earned the exposition the title “White City,” and greatly expanded gypsum sales. Incorporated into the U.S. Gypsum Co. in 1902, this quarry has helped make Michigan a leading producer of gypsum for over a century.
In 1898, the company name was changed to the Alabaster Company. In 1902, the mine was incorporated into the U.S. Gypsum Corporation. Housing for workers was constructed primarily in the period around 1910. The most visible and impressive structure in the district, the elevated marine tramway, was constructed in 1928 and the tramway stretched 1.3 miles out into the Saginaw Bay. Like a horizontal ski-lift, the cable system carries 72 “buckets” of gypsum to a waiting ship or to the storage bin. Each bucket holds more than two tons. The tramway included 6,450 feet of one and three-quarter inch steel cable and 14,000 feet of three-quarter inch cable. At a length of 6,350 feet, it was the longest over-water bucket tramway in the world. The tramway was demolished in the 1990s and the loading building in Lake Huron was torn down in 2020.
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Out near Caro in the Thumb is the town of Wahjamega, which I always thought was a native American name, but the name Wahjamega is an acronym from the initials of three partners who operated a sawmill here: William A Heartt, James A. Montgomery, and Edgar George Avery. The started the mill in 1852 and by 1853 the town was large enough that it was granted a post office the following year and William A. Heartt was the first postmaster. By 1905 the lumber boom was over and the town’s population declined and the post office was closed.
In 1914 a Farm Colony for Epileptics was Established by the state, and was devoted to the treatment of epilepsy. Much of the original population of the facility was moved from the overcrowded Lapeer State Home for Epileptics. This facility gained some fame later on as it was one of several facilities that was involved in forced sterilizations, known as Eugenics, that took place under Michigan laws from 1914 to the mid 1960’s.
Currently, a portion of the buildings are used as the Caro Center mental health facility run by the state, hopefully, we are treating patients with more compassion than we did in the past.
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