Iconic Buildings Archives - Lost In Michigan

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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A Small Town Lodge

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

This church-like white frame structure sits in the small town of Omer. It was built in 1890 as the second Arenac County Courthouse. The first courthouse on this site burned the previous year. Omer had been a part of Bay County until Arenac was organized in 1883 and this city, then a village, became the county seat. Less than a decade later, voters made nearby Standish the county seat. The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of the state of Michigan purchased this building in 1893 for the Omer Masonic Lodge. Surviving the disastrous fire of 1914, which swept through Omer’s business district, this edifice housed the temporary headquarters of several firms. It is one of the city’s oldest buildings.

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The Strange Story about The Rise and Fall of the House Of David

Posted on January 2, 2023 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Iconic Buildings, people .

Near Benton Harbor is this massive palatial looking building. It was part of the Israelite House Of David a religious commune that was started by Benjamin and Mary Purnell in 1903. The members of the commune were prohibited from alcohol, tobacco, meat, owning property, and having sex. Their belief in not cutting their hair made the members of the commune stand out with their long hair flowing down to their waist, including the men.

Members of the House Of David band

To occupy their time when they were not out working in the farm fields or doing chores they played music and sports and even built an amusement park called Eden Springs which was known for its miniature train. The House of David opened their park up to the community and became very popular with people traveling for miles to visit it. The members played a lot of baseball to occupy their time, and because of that, they excelled at the sport. The House of David baseball team began traveling the country playing teams in exhibition matches defeating some of the best teams in the country. They were never allowed into the major league because of the rule banning facial hair. Their musicians traveled the country playing music to audiences in the vaudeville circuit. By 1916 the commune had more than 1000 members and attracted over half a million visitors to their amusement park. The House of David owned over 1000 acres and they had their own hotel, cannery and operated a power plant to supply electricity.

The group became rather wealthy and well liked by the public until the 1920s when 13 young women confessed to having sex with the group’s leader Benjamin Purnell when they were minors. Purnell died in 1927 before he was convicted. The accusations caused the commune to split with Benjamin’s wife Mary Purnell taking half it’s members and creating a new commune down the street known as Mary’s City Of David. Over time the membership declined in both communes and the amusement park closed. Today there are a few members left. The Eden Springs Park has reopened restoring one of the trains. The park is not what it used to be but the train still gives rides to passengers.

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Michigan’s Other Grand Hotel

Posted on September 6, 2022 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Iconic Buildings .

I was traveling around Portage Lake near Onekama and I came across the Portage Point Resort. It is a historic complex of buildings and it reminded me of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. It was constructed in 1902 by the same builder of the Grand Hotel. About ten years after it was constructed the canal from Lake Michigan to Portage Lake was dredged. Large steamships could bring guests from Chicago and Milwaukee to the relax in northwestern Michigan. Over the decades the resort has continued its unique historic look and there are plans to restore and improve the historic property in the next few years. You can see more on their website HERE

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