Houses Archives - Lost In Michigan

The Sears House

Posted on September 20, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, State Parks .

Near the shores of Lake Huron in Hoeft State Park is a pleasant little house that is available for visitors to rent. This is no ordinary house since it is a historic Sears mail-order kit house. Built by park rangers and the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1929, it was erected on the road the leads into the campground. The model was the Sears-Roebuck Rodessa, but the floor plan was modified by the builders so the house could accommodate two ranger’s families if needed. The house has three bedrooms and sleeps up to eight people. It includes a Sunroom, game room, master bedroom with an attached bathroom. Sears Catalog Homes were catalog and kit houses sold primarily through mail order by Sears, Roebuck and Company. Sears reported that more than 70,000 of these homes were sold in North America between 1908 and 1940. More than 370 different home designs in a wide range of architectural styles and sizes were offered over the program’s 33-year history.

If you’re looking for a house to stay at in northern Michigan, check out the lodge at Hoeft state park. Or next time you are at Hoeft and drive past it going to the campground, you will know a little bit about this magnificent little lodge.

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The Big House in Port Austin

Posted on September 8, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, Thumb .

This big old red and green house stands near the tip of the Thumb in Port Austin. It is now known as the Garfield Inn but it was originally built by Charles G. Learned. A historical marker stands next to it and reads:

A native of New York, contractor Charles G. Learned helped build New York City’s water-works system and the Erie Canal. Around 1837 Learned and his brother-in-law purchased several thousand acres of pine land in Michigan’s Thumb area. Two years later, Learned and his wife, Maria Raymond, came to Port Austin and bought a house and three acres at this site. Learned’s cutover pine land became a 2,000-acre farm where he prospered as an agriculturalist and dairy farmer. With profits from his lumbering and farming enterprises Learned enlarged and updated this house in the French Second Empire style. In the 1860s Ohio congressman, later president, James A. Garfield, a family friend, was a frequent guest here. From 1931 to 1979 the house served as the Mayes Inn and Tower Hotel.

There were rumors that President Garfield was smitten for Charles Learned’s wife Maria and that president requested that he travel to Port Austin to see her after being shot, but he was not permitted to travel and died from his gunshot wounds.

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Captain Taylor’s House

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses .

This beautiful old Queen Anne Victorian house stands in Marine City. It was built in 1882 by Captain James Taylor and designed by famed architect George F. Barber. I love the gray and pink paint scheme and the weathervane shaped like a schooner.

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The Big Old Marine City House

Posted on August 14, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses .

There are several beautiful old houses along the St. Clair River. I saw this one in Marine City along with several others but those posts will have to wait until another day.

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The Stone Home

Posted on August 12, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Houses .

I have seen some houses and buildings around the Mitten State that have been constructed using local field stones and rocks. This one is unique because the stones were shaped to be square and rectangle blocks. It was difficult for laborers to hand chisel these rocks into shape but it is a beautiful work of masonry. The house is located in the town of Hart near US-31 east of Silver Lake. It was constructed in the late 1800s for a local physician and druggist Harvey Jenner Chadwick. It later became the home of L.P. Munger, a physician and fruit-grower. It eventually became the offices of the Health Department for Oceana County and in the 1980s it became part of the Oceana County Historical Society.

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The Log Cabin and the Co-op Community

Posted on August 2, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, upper peninsula .

The Alva Kepler log cabin in Manistique’s Pioneer Park next to the water tower. The rustic house dates back to the 1880’s and was once part of the Byers’ settlement in Hiawatha Township, 12 miles north of Manistique. The cabin was part of the cooperative community known as the “Hiawatha Village Association.” It was formed in the 1890s when people were struggling from an economic depression at the time. About two hundred people agreed to turn over there assets to the community and live in the village. They had about 225 residents the first year and grew crops and made goods to sell in Milwaukee.

After the first year they were not successful because they could not sell there crops and the cost to ship the products they made were more than they could sell them fore. When Alva Kepler and his brother John were supposed to move into the village the following year they sued to withdraw from the community. Shortly afterwards many other people sued and the homes and items were split up among the members ending the short lived experiment.

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The Big House in Hudson

Posted on July 9, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses .

I saw this large house in Hudson in southern Michigan. I was not able to find any history about it other than it is now used as an assisted living facility. It is a beautiful looking building.

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Michigan School for the Deaf.

Posted on June 19, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses .

This old house stands in Flint near Powers Catholic High School. The school was originally the Michigan School For the Deaf. A historical marker stands next to the house and reads:

The Superintendent’s Cottage, completed in 1890, is the oldest building on the campus of the Michigan School for the Deaf. With the exception of the masonry work, the cottage was built almost entirely by male students. In addition, students made the furniture for the house in the school’s shops. The building reflects the craftsmanship of the boys who studied under instructors Edwin Barton and James Foss. Student labor saved the state money while preparing the boys for future employment. Construction of the cottage began during an 1880s diphtheria epidemic when faculty housing was reorganized to make room hospital space. Beginning with Francis Clarke and his family, who lived in the house from 1892 to 1913, every superintendent has resided in the cottage.

In 1848 the Michigan legislature established the Michigan Asylum for Educating the Deaf and Dumb and the blind. Flint was selected as the site for the new institution. The first student arrived on February 6, 1854. After the School for the Blind opened in Lansing in 1880, the Flint facility began serving only deaf children. The curriculum, which combined academics and practical training. emphasized “market gardening and general farming.” Boys studied carpentry, printing, tailoring and farming, while girls learned the sciences of cooking, sewing, darning and patching. The schools mission was to educate deaf children so that they “may earn a living … may have culture enough to enjoy that living … (and) may be fitted for citizenship.

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The House at the Junction

Posted on June 10, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Houses .

This is the old Hewitt house built in 1929. It stands in Cambridge Junction Historic State Park along US-12 near Brooklyn. The house is now used as a visitor’s center.

I have more about Hewitt, Walker Tavern and Cambridge Junction in my recently released Volume 6 available HERE

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The Old House in Da U.P.

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, upper peninsula .

I saw this old house in the eastern Upper Peninsula near Hessel. I am not sure what its story is, but if walls could talk I am sure it would have some interesting tales to tell.

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