Category Archives: Forgotten Places

Empire Lumber Mill Ruins

Posted on by Posted in Forgotten Places, Sleeping Bear Dunes .

On warm sunny days in the summertime you will find several beachgoers enjoying Lake Michigan at the beach in Empire. Next to the playground is a large concrete block and out of the top of it are large metal rods. It is the remnants of the Empire Lumber Company that operated from 1887 to 1917. George Aylsworth operated the first mill between 1873 and 1883. Potter and Struthers built a second mill in 1885, which T. Wilce Company purchased in 1887 and named it the Empire Lumber Company. The mill grew to be one of the largest and best equipped hardwood mills in the area, capable of producing up to twenty million feet of lumber a year. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1906, but was quickly rebuilt. The mill burned again in 1917. With most of the nearby virgin timber gone, the mill was not rebuilt and this concrete blocks stand as a reminder to tourists of the towns lumbering past.

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The House On The Hill

Posted on by Posted in Forgotten Places, Houses .

I saw this old house standing on a hill in farm country near Cadillac. I don’t know what its story is, but it looks as if it has seen better days.

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Idlewild House

Posted on by Posted in Forgotten Places, Houses .

I saw this old house in Idlewild. It looks to have seen better days. Idlewild is a strange place to drive through. It was once a vibrant and bustling resort community for African Americans in the days of segregation. Today a few people still live there but there are several empty and abandoned homes.

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Udell Fire Tower

Posted on by Posted in Forgotten Places, Nature .

At one time Michigan had several lookout towers for rangers to watch the forests for fires. The Udell Lookout Tower is the only remining lookout tower still standing in the Lower Peninsula. It reaches 100 feet into the sky and was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in 1936. It was used until the 1960s when airplanes were used to spot forest fires. The first set of stairs has been removed and no one is allowed to climb the tower but it is nifty to look up at it and wonder what it must have been like to sit up there all day looking for signs of smoke. You can get to the tower from M-55 down Fire Tower Rd.

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Camp Sauble

Posted on by Posted in Forgotten Places, Haunted Places .

A few miles east of the town of Free Soil is a large building surrounded by a fence topped with barbed wire. The words CAMP SAUBLE  are above the front door. It was part of the Michigan state prison system and was a camp for troubled youth. It was constructed in 1960 and closed in 2005. It is currently being used as a haunted attraction in the fall.

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The Solar Eclipse and the Planetarium Company

Posted on by Posted in Forgotten Places .
Trippensee planetarium model made in Saginaw

Several school children learned about the universe from the planetariums made by the Trippensee Planetarium Company in Saginaw, Michigan

early 1900s Lang planetarium made in Detroit

Alexander Laing patented a solar system model in 1897 to show how the earth revolves around the sun and tilts on its axis for the change of seasons. Laing built the planetariums on Grand River Ave. in Detroit. In 1905, the three Trippensee brothers purchased Laing’s company and continued production of the Laing Planetarium. After making improvements to the original design replacing the strings and pulleys with chains and gears the brothers began producing the planetarium as the Trippensee Planetarium. In the late 20s or early 30s the company moved to Saginaw and continued to prosper eventually moving into the building at 301 Cass Street.

Over the years the company continued to improve on the design of the planetarium, producing one with an electric lamp in the sun and a motorized base to move the arm. They also made milky way models, celestial globes and acrylic globes of the earth. It was not uncommon the find a Trippensee planetarium at a school where it was used to teach children how the moon passed in front of the sun to create a solar eclipse.

Former Trippensee Planetarium Co. building at 301 Cass Street in Old Town Saginaw

 

The company was purchased by Science First in 1999 and they moved production to Buffalo New York. With today’s computers, I would imagine most teachers play a youtube video to show how the solar system works, but for many generations of children, myself included, I learned how the universe works with a Trippensee Planetarium.

P.S.I worked at the Trippensee Planetarium Company in the early 90’s shortly after graduating from high school. I did drafting in the corner office on the third floor while I was going to collage at Delta College.

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An Old House in the Winter

Posted on by Posted in Forgotten Places, Houses, Thumb .

Abandoned Haunted Michigan HouseI saw this big old lonely forgotten house south of Watrousville in the Thumb, and during these cold Michigan winter nights I imagine there was a large family living there that kept warm by the heat of the fireplace. I know people who heat their house with wood, and they do a lot of cutting and splitting.  Myself being a lazy city boy, I just go over and turn up the thermostat, and burn some more gas. I was told when you heat with wood, ” it keeps you twice as warm, once while you split it, and stacking it, and then again while you burn it” and this old house looks like it used a lot of wood to keep warm. I hope you are safe and warm wherever you are at.

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Out of Service Station

Posted on by Posted in Forgotten Places .

This old service station stands in downtown Saginaw not far from city hall. It was built sometime in the the 1920s and is the oldest service station still standing in Saginaw. Several years ago it was painted by artist Eric Schantz. It still stands as a reminder of a time when cars pulled into a little gas station to ring the bell for an attendant to come out and fill it with gas and check over the engine and tires.

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The Old Farmhouse

Posted on by Posted in Barns and Farms, Forgotten Places .

I saw this old farmhouse while I was out roaming the back roads near Harrison. I am not sure what the story is with this old house but it looks as if it has been a long time since anyone has trick or treated at this place for Halloween.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my posts from my travels around Michigan. If you want to see posts from other states, I hope you will take a look at my other website. Lost In The States HERE

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The Stone House in Alma

Posted on by Posted in Forgotten Places, Houses .

Alma is located in the center of the Lower Peninsula and standing in the heart of Alma is an old stone Richardsonian-design house. Built in 1888 by lumber baron and business man Ammi Wright, the house was advanced for its time with its own hot water system. The Wright family owned the house until it was sold in 1934 and converted into Smith Memorial Hospital. For years the old building served the community treating patients, and over three thousand babies were born in its rooms. As medicine advanced, the hospital outgrew the old house and in 1959 Northwood Institute moved in, using the rooms to educate students. Eventually the college moved to its current location in Midland. After a few other businesses used the old mansion it was left empty.

I see that is has a new roof which will help limit the determination from water but it would be nice to see this magnificent home restored and used for something.

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