Historic Places Archives - Page 12 of 15

The Upper Peninsula Christmas Party That Changed America

Posted on December 17, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, upper peninsula .

I wish this was a story of a wonderful Christmas miracle, but instead, it’s about a celebration that ended in tragedy. The town of Calumet, in the Keweenaw Peninsula, was one of the wealthiest towns in the United States in the late 1800’s because of its copper deposits and mining industry.

The Italian Hall in Calument, on the left side of the building you can see the arched doorway that remains as a memorial to those who died.

On Christmas Eve in 1913, after being on strike for 5 months copper miners and their families gathered for a yuletide party on the second floor of the Italian Hall in Calumet. During the party for the striking miners and their families, someone yelled, “Fire!” Although there was no fire, seventy-three people died while attempting to escape down a stairwell. Over half of those who died were children between the ages of six and ten. The belief is the door at the bottom of the stairway opened inward, and other sources say it opened outward toward the streets, but the narrow stairway became congested and after the first person fell it became a ” Domino Effect” with people trying to escape what they thought was a fire. The tragic event was part of the reason building codes were enacted for building capacity and fire escapes. The perpetrator who yelled “FIRE” creating the tragedy was never identified. It is believed to by some historians that “fire” was called out by an anti-union ally of mine management to disrupt the party. The event was memorialized by Woody Guthrie in the song “1913 Massacre”, which claims the doors were held shut on the outside by “the copper boss’ thug men”

The Italian Hall was built in 1908 as headquarters for Calumet’s benevolent society. The Society, organized along ethnic lines, encouraged and financially aided immigrants and provided relief to victims of hardship. Following the 1913 Christmas Eve tragedy, the hall continued to be used for nearly five decades. The two-story red brick building was razed in 1984. Through the efforts of the Friends of the Italian Hall and Local 324 of the AFL-CIO, the site of the building became a memorial park dedicated to the people who lost their lives in 1913.

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Hell’s Half Mile In Bay City

In the late 1800’s, after the lumbering season was done, lumberjacks and shanty boys would head out of the woods and into town, with pay they just received for a season of hard work harvesting timber in the northern woods of Michigan. One of the first large cites they would get to was Bay City, and Water Street along the Saginaw River was there for the men to spend their money. There was a plethora of businesses looking to separate the Lumberjack with his hard earned money, and after months in the woods they were happy to spend money at the saloons, dance halls and brothels, drinking and gambling in the downtown blocks on water street. The area was known for large drunken brawls, giving it the nickname “Hell’s Half Mile” There were tunnels and catacombs that ran under the city streets and buildings, allowing passage from saloons and brothels, without being seen, or maybe even to drag dead body out to hide elsewhere.

I find it kinda funny that downtown Bay City has gone from a reputation of violence and lawlessness, to a place of quint coffee shops and antique stores, and oh by the way, my Friend owns the Americana Antique Mall on Water Street, i hope you will stop by and say hi next time you are in Downtown Bay City.

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The Ruins in the Kewenaw

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Historic Places, upper peninsula .

Halfway between Calumet and Hancock on M26 in the Keweenaw Peninsula, I came across these massive concrete blocks, standing like giant dominoes, and I could not help but wonder what they were. Doing a little research, I found out they are the remains of the old Ahmeek Stamping Mill built in the early 1900’s. Atop the concrete blocks were stamping machines, part of which remains today, and they would pound the rocks down to a sand like material, and extract the copper from it.

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Michigan’s Historic Two Story Outhouse

Posted on August 18, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Historic Places .

You have probably heard someone make a joke about a two-story outhouse. One of my readers told me about a two-story outhouse near Cedar Lake in central Michigan, so I had to check it out for myself. The house that it sat behind was recently was destroyed by fire, so you can’t get a real good view of the old weathered privy but I did get this pic of it from the road, you can also see it a little from the Fred Meijer Hartland Trail. I did some research on google and I figure this has to be one of the most famous outhouses since it’s even mentioned in Wikipedia about the history of the outhouse, and since it’s on the internet I am sure it’s true.

The two-story privy and house were built by William Nelson, a wealthy lumber baron that had 7 daughters. The girls lived upstairs and the lower part of the home was Mr. Nelson’s office and General store that was frequented by lumberjacks. The Lumber Baron wanted to keep his daughters separated from the men so he built the outhouse with a bridge to the second floor of the home but the bridge collapsed in the 50’s. I read that it’s a 4 holer top and bottom with different size holes to match different size people, I guess they just read goldilocks before they built it. I am not sure how it “works” if the holes on top are in line with the holes in the lower part and its “bombs away” or if there is a tube that channels down to the ground giving a whole new meaning to the term “poop chute”, you know I could go on forever with the puns and jokes. but I better not.

Sadly the old outhouse collapsed a few years ago and a new replica was built in its place. This was one of the first places I visited when I started Lost In Michigan and I included it in the first book.

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The Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Haunted Places, Historic Places .

The Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School in Mt Pleasant is a strange and mysterious looking place, and doing some research I found that it’s history is strange and mysterious too.

According to wikipedia the first building was erected in 1892 for the purposes of educating Native American children and the eight-classroom building opened to the first seventeen students in June of 1893. Enrollment had increased significantly and in the coming years it was necessary to build additional buildings to house all of the students and their daily activities. These included separate boys and girls dormitories, a hospital, a woodworking and blacksmith shop; a building for industrial training, a dining hall, a clubhouse for the employees of the school, several farm buildings.

Some accounts I have read make it sound as if it was a wonderful place to “educate” Native Americans but while researching about the Marquette Orphanage, I know that many of these places run by the government were used as a way to “reform” native American children, I also found references that claim abuse of the children and strip them of there heritage.

The school closed on June 6, 1934 when the State of Michigan took over the property for Michigan Department of Mental Health services and it became The Mount Pleasant Branch of the Michigan Home and Training School. The intent of this home and training school was to house and train mentally handicapped young men. Many of the boys were abandoned; some were juvenile criminals that did not understand their crime or charges in court. Some of the residence were physically handicapped, but a majority of the residents had some kind of mental health issue.

There are rumors of abuse to the patents by the staff. I know what we find horrific, was accepted back then, but who knows what has happened at that facility over the years it was in operation.

I have had people tell me it also housed the criminally insane including murders and rapists but I am not sure about that, I think it gets confused with a correctional facility in Iowa called the Mount Pleasant Mental Health Institute originally known as the Iowa Lunatic Asylum which opened in 1861.

An old Native American cemetery is on or near the property and 174 undocumented children died at the school along with its history as a mental institution it is rumored to be haunted.

It was designated as a State Historic Landmark in 1986 and you can see some of the buildings on Crawford road, I took my photos from the road, I was told it was patrolled and they watch closely for trespassers. Patrolled or not, I don’t trespass and I would advise anyone against it.

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The Lighthouse Ruins and the Ghost Town of Duncan

Posted on July 12, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Lighthouses, State Parks .

Hidden among the trees in northern Michigan and along the shores of Lake Huron in the Cheboygan State Park are the ruins of the old Cheboygan Point Lighthouse.

The first light at Cheboygan Point was built in 1851. There was a dwelling and a separate 40′ round brick tower, which was fitted with a Fifth Order Fresnel lens made by L. Saultier & Company of Paris. The light was built on a pier and after only eight years of service, high water was washing away at the foundation and the light tower was removed.
In 1859 the station was rebuilt as an eight foot square wooden tower resting atop a two-story eight room dwelling. The new tower rose 22 feet above the house and included the same white light which was used in the earlier tower. In May of 1890, a standard locomotive steam fog signal was installed in a separate building.

1890s photo of the lighthouse from the Cheboygan State Park sign

When the nearby Fourteen Foot Shoal Light was constructed offshore in 1930, the old Cheboygan Light Station was abandoned and the land was deeded to the State of Michigan. Following the vandalism, the buildings were dismantled in the 1940s when George Kling, son of Fred Kling, the last keeper of the lighthouse, purchased the station’s boathouse for $1 and moved it to his home in Cheboygan to serve as a garage. Bill Singer acquired the lighthouse and sold its materials to Bert Toles, who used them to build three small houses. All that remains today is the foundation from the old lighthouse, which you can see along the hiking trails at Cheboygan state park.

Besides guiding ships through the straits of Mackinaw the lighthouse marked the entrance to Duncan Bay and Duncan City on the opposite side of the bay from the lighthouse. Once the county seat of Cheboygan County(1853-1857), Named after Jeremiah Duncan who started lumbering in the area the city was a company town with a population of about 500 in its heyday, and also a refueling stop for Great Lakes steamships. Duncan City began to lose its importance when the Cheboygan River was dredged out deeper, thus allowing more shipping traffic to go to Cheboygan itself. The final blow for Duncan City came in 1898 when the sawmill burned to the ground. The property is now all residential and privately owned and nothing remains of the city today.

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The Historic Island House on Mackinac Island – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on June 8, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Michigan Historical Markers .

Constructed for Charles O’Malley about 1852, this building was one of the first summer hotels on Mackinac Island. Captain Henry Van Allen, a Great Lakes skipper, purchased the hotel in 1865. He later moved it from the beach to its present location. By the 1880s the Island House was known as “The best family hotel on the island.” Following the death of her parents, Mrs. Rose Van Allen Webster became proprietor about 1892. She was the wife of Colonel John Webster, whom she had met during the 1870s when he was stationed at Fort Mackinac. Mrs. Webster added the large wings in 1895 and 1912, retaining ownership until her death in 1938. The Island House still serves as a resort hotel. you can find more about the history of the Island House on their website HERE

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The Old Cabin on Route 66

Posted on April 20, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places .

No, not that route 66, but M66 that runs north and south thru the Lower Peninsula. I saw this old cabin built in 1892 and owned by the Missaukee County Historical Society on M66 between McBain and Lake City. They must have been a hearty bunch of Michigandars to live in northern Michigan way back then. I think I could handle the outdoor plumbing, but I don’t think I would survive without the internet.

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Alabaster and the Ghostly Loading Dock on Lake Huron

Posted on March 3, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Historic Places, Michigan Historical Markers .

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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The Italian Hall in Calumet – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Michigan Historical Markers .

On December 24, 1913, area copper miners had been on strike for five months. The miners were fighting for better pay, shortened work days, safer working conditions and union recognition. That day, during a yuletide party for the striking miners and their families, someone yelled, “Fire!” Although there was no fire, seventy-three person died while attempting to escape down a stairwell that had doors that opened inward. Over half of those who died were children between the ages of six and ten. The perpetrator of the tragedy was never identified. The strike ended in April 1914.

an Historic Photo of the hall I found in the Public Domain, you can see the doorway that remains as a memorial on the left side of the building.

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