Iconic Buildings Archives - Lost In Michigan

The Showplace of Northeastern Michigan

Posted on March 31, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Iconic Buildings .

The Temple Theatre, Saginaw’s “Showplace of Northeastern Michigan,” was rescued from demolition in 2002 by the Shaheen family, who restored its 1927 grandeur. Built after a fire destroyed the city’s previous concert hall, the Temple Theatre was a technological marvel, featuring fireproof construction, geothermal cooling, exceptional acoustics, and advanced stage rigging and lighting systems. It originally hosted live vaudeville acts and silent films with orchestral accompaniment, and boasted a custom-built Butterfield Special Barton Pipe Organ, opus #195.

One other thing about the theater is that it’s where my story begins. My parents met here while working at the theater when they were in high school.

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The Burnham Building

Posted on January 23, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Iconic Buildings .

The Burnham Historical Building, an Italianate-style mansion built during the Civil War, stands as a testament to Adrian’s past. Originally constructed for prominent merchant George Bidwell, it occupied a prime location on Broad Street, within easy walking distance of the city center.

In 1877, Bidwell sold the property to banker William H. Waldby for a substantial sum of $18,000. Years later, it was acquired by W. H. Burnham, president of the then-dominant Lamb Fence Company. However, the advent of the automobile era shifted the preferences of Adrian’s affluent residents towards suburban living. Facing the threat of demolition in 1957, the building was repurposed as the offices of the Adrian Public Schools, ensuring its preservation. Today, it continues to serve as an office building.

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The Hobo Hotel

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Iconic Buildings .

The small town of Tekonsha is located between Coldwater and Marshall. Next the the histrical society’s building is a small gray building witht he sign “Tekonsha Jail and hobo Hotel. The historical marker denotes it was constructed in 1878. It is not much bigger than a garden shed and I would not want to be locked up in it. The town was named after Chief of the Pottowatomies Te-kon-qua-sha in 1871. The outer sheeting covers thick logs and the inside has a flat iron bar cell. carved in the wall is the name “Lansing Kid” which begs the question, who was the Lansing Kid. Unfortunatly I could not find any info about him. Maybe he was just another hobo that spent a night there.

P.S. If you are looking for something to read while you are staying warm indoors I hope you will take a look at my Lost In Michigan books. You can see all of them on Amazon HERE

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The Old Van Buren Township Hall

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Iconic Buildings .

This brick building stands in Downtown Belleville east of Ypsilanti. Van Buren Township was organized out of Huron Township by an act of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan in 1835. Township business was conducted from homes until this building was completed in 1875. The original plans called for a one-story structure; however, shortly after construction began, the local Grange offered to pay for a second story to be used for its meetings. In a special election, township voters accepted the proposal. As the Grange declined in popularity, the second floor became a community meeting hall. For a short time during the 1930s, the basement served as a jail. In 1952 the Grange relinquished its portion to the township. The building served as the township hall until 1959.

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The Fieldstone Sanitarium

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Iconic Buildings, small towns .

This old fieldstone building stands in the small town of Elwell west of Alma. Built by Dr. Charles H. MacLachlan it was known as the MacLachlan Sanitarium. Dr. MacLachlan was born in Canada and studied in Cincinnati and came to Elwell in the 1880s. He was an early proponent of “physiological therapeutics,” a treatment of chronic diseases without the use of medication. He built a small wooden building to treat patients in 1883 and about two decades later in 1908 he added the two story fieldstone building.

The MacLachlan Sanitarium in 1912

Dr. MacLachlan treated chronic diseases such as tuberculosis, rheumatism, and nerve and skin diseases. The building was also used as a local hospital. After the doctor’s death in 1920 the Sanitorium Closed. After that, it was used as a boardinghouse, bar, restaurant, dancehall, and private residence. I am not sure what it is used for today but it still stands as a reminder of one doctor’s compassion to treat patients in a rural community. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1981 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

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The Bumblebee Airport

Posted on January 19, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Iconic Buildings .

I have driven past this airport at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula many times on my way to the Grand Traverse Lighthouse. I always called it the Bumblebee Airport because of the black and yellow roof. It is actually the Woolsey Memorial Airport and the stone building was an old creamery when the field was part of a dairy farm. The airport is named in honor of military pilot Clinton F Woolsey who died while flying in the Pan-American Goodwill Flight of 1926- 1927. You can read more about him on my post HERE

For now the airport sits covered in snow waiting for spring when airplanes come flying in and landing on the grassy runways.

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Holmdene Hall

Posted on January 15, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Haunted Places, Iconic Buildings .

Holmdene Hall at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids was originally built as a family home for Edward Lowe and his family in 1903. He was such a prominent member of Grand Rapids society that President Theodore Roosevelt stayed there when he visited Grand Rapids for a speech in 1911. In 1945, the Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids bought the estate and moved Aquinas College to the estate from its site downtown. The mansion served as the main offices and classroom building for about 10 years while new construction expanded the college.

Students and staff have reported strange events in the old mansion. Like lights mysteriously turning on and off. The elevator seems to be operating as if someone was in it when there is no one inside. Others say doors slam shut on their own. There is also a rumor that Mr. Lowe’s son, James drowned in a pond on the property, or that he fell down a dumbwaiter shaft and died, but that is not true. He moved to San Francisco and became a successful businessman and died at the age of 65.

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The Thompson Home

Posted on December 18, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Iconic Buildings .

David Thompson, a wealthy Detroit businessman, died in the early 1870s, leaving his estate to his wife Mary with instructions to establish a charitable institution. In 1874, Mary Thompson allocated $10,000 to build a home for aged women. However, construction did not start until nearly ten years later when land was purchased and Mary commissioned George D. Mason of the firm Mason & Rice to design the home.

Mason designed a four-story home measuring 60 by 90 feet with private rooms for forty women. For a number of years, the Thompson Home was a prestigious retirement home for wealthy widows. Sun rooms were added to the original structure in 1914, living quarters for the staff were added in the 1950s, and a five-bed infirmary was constructed in 1964. However, the number of residents declined in the 1960s and 1970s, and the home closed in 1977. Wayne State University bought the building and remodeled it, and in 1980 WSU’s School of Social Work was installed in the building.

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The City Hall and the Propeller

Posted on December 15, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Iconic Buildings, upper peninsula .

The village of Lake Linden in the Keweenaw Peninsula suffered a devastating fire in May 1887, which affected 75% of the structures. Although the frame village hall survived, city fathers believed that a new fireproof structure with space for a fire station would be in the best interests of the community. In 1901, the village asked architects for designs, and chose one submitted by Charles K. Shand of Calumet. The Hall was built by a local contractor, L. F. Ursin, and opened in 1902, serving as village offices, fire station, polling place, and public meeting hall.

A propeller from the Lady Be Good, an American B-24 Liberator lost in the Libyan Desert in April 1943, is on display in front of the village hall. Crewmember T/Sgt. Robert E. LaMotte of Lake Linden was a radio operator aboard the aircraft. His remains were found in the desert in 1960.

The Lady Be Good mysteriously disappeared without trace on its first combat mission during World War II. The plane, from 376th Bomb Group, had been on a bombing raid to Naples on April 4, 1943 when it was lost. Although the aircraft was thought to have crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, with the loss of its nine-man crew, it was eventually found 440 mi inland in the Libyan Desert in 1958. The remains of all but one of its crew have been recovered.

It was accidentally discovered by an oil exploration team from BP in 1958. Investigations concluded the crew failed to realize they had overflown their air base in a sandstorm possibly assuming the moonlight reflecting over the wavy sand dunes that they were still flying over sea. After continuing to fly south into the desert for many hours well beyond their ETA, they bailed out when the plane’s fuel ran out. The survivors then died in the desert trying to walk to safety.

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The Gordon Beach Inn

Posted on June 16, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Iconic Buildings .

This historic inn stands in the southwest corner of Michigan in the town of Union Pier. It is nestled among the trees and summer vacation homes not far from Lake Michigan. The historical marker standing next to it reads:

Built in 1924 by Louis and Lena Gordon, and expanded four years later, Gordon Beach Inn was the centerpiece of the Jewish resort subdivision of the same name. The Gordons operated the inn for a decade before losing it in the Great Depression. Robert Miller, an African American and a former Chicago alderman, purchased the property in the 1960s as Gordon Beach was integrating. The inn was restored in 1991 to its 1920s appearance.

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