Michigan Historical Markers Archives

Gordon Beach Inn

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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Eaton County Courthouse

Posted on July 4, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in courthouses, Michigan Historical Markers .

The Eaton County Courthouse Square is a rare Michigan example of an intact nineteenth-century government complex. The showplace of the square, the stately Renaissance Revival courthouse built in 1883-85, was designed by D.W. Gibbs & Company of Toledo, Ohio. The interior features several marbleized slate fireplaces, stained glass and native butternut trim. A cast zinc statue of Justice crowns the building and towers above the city. On July 4, 1894, fire destroyed much of the courthouse. The structure was rebuilt almost exactly to the original plans. The 1873 Second Empire sheriff’s residence, built with an attached jail, is one of only a few of its age remaining in the state. The courthouse square is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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Muskegon Women’s Club

Posted on July 2, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers .

The Muskegon Woman’s Club was founded in 1890, and dedicated to the intellectual “improvement and development” of women. The Chicago firm of Weir and Perry designed this neo classical structure, built in 1902 with funds donated by Minnie Smith, the widow of Muskegon attorney Francis Smith. The club lobbied the city to hire the first police woman, held performances and worked with charitable groups such as the Red Cross and the Council of National Defense.

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The Historic Sowers House in Ovid

Posted on June 15, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, Michigan Historical Markers .

Built in 1869-70 for George D. and Carrie Sowers, this house in Ovid is an excellent example of Italianate architecture. Sowers, the first of several prominent local businessmen to live here, owned a planing mill located across the street with his partners George Fox. Sowers later became a partner in the Ovid Flour Mills. In 1882 Frank Scofield and his wife, Adelaide, purchased the house. Scofield co-owned the Ovid Carraige Works, one of the village’s largest employers during the late nineteenth century. His business declined with the rising popularity of the automobile. Henry and Sophia Hudson purchased the house in 1907, one year after Henry founded Hudson and Son Farm Implements, another prosperous Ovid business.

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The Thing

Posted on June 12, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers .

When you hear the words “the thing” you probably think of John Carpenter’s movie from 1982 staring Kurt Russell, but that’s not what this post is about. Outside of Memphis (Michigan of course, I am not that lost that I am in Tennessee) is a historical marker for ” The Thing” It marks the location where Thomas Clegg and his father put a steam engine on a wagon in 1884 making it the first self-propelled vehicle in the state and probably the country. They built the contraption in their machine shop and drove it for about 500 miles before they sold the engine to a creamery. I imagine them standing around the shop looking at the wagon and the steam engine grunting like Tim Allen and figuring out ways to give it more power. The marker stands where the shop once stood since it was demolished in 1936.

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A Woman’s Courage

Posted on May 22, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers, people .

Next to the Genesee County courthouse in Flint is an ordinary looking Michigan historical marker. It has two names on it. One side with a woman’s name and the other side with a man’s name. It is a reminder of a remarkable person who lived in Flint over a century ago.

Sarah Emma Edmonds was born in Canada in 1841. To escape her abusive father she dressed as a man and immigrated to Flint in 1857. During the Civil War, on May 25, 1861, she enlisted as Franklin Thompson in Company F of the 2nd Michigan Infantry, also known as the Flint Union Greys. Extensive physical examinations were not required for enlistment and her true identity was not discovered. She served as a nurse and messenger and participated in several battles. She also dressed as a woman and became a spy for the Union. In 1893 Emma (or Frank) became ill and she deserted the army before she was found out to be a woman.

In 1864, Sarah wrote a book about her experiences in the Civil War titled The Female Spy of the Union Army. One year later, her story was picked up by a Hartford, CT publisher who issued it with a new title, Nurse and Spy in the Union Army. It was a huge success, selling in excess of 175,000 copies. Edmonds donated the profits from her memoir to various soldiers aid organizations. She continued to travel the country lecturing and sharing her remarkable story.

In 1867, she married Linus. H. Seelye, a mechanic and a childhood friend with whom she had three children. All three of their children died in their youth, leading the couple to adopt two sons. She petitioned the government to change her desertion charge and on July 3, 1886, Congress granted Sarah Emma Edmonds Seelye and honorable discharge from combat duty and a pension of $12 a month. She is the only female to be admitted into the veterans organization the Grand Army of the Republic and is laid to rest in a G.A.R. section of Washington Cemetery in Houston after she died in 1897

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The Old G.A.R. Hall

Posted on May 20, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers .

This old G.A.R. hall stands in the small town of Sunfield west of Lansing. The historical marker in front of it reads:

The Samuel W. Grinnell Post No. 283 was granted its charter by the Grand Army of the Republic (G. A. R.) on October 6, 1884. The post operated until 1934, at which time it was disbanded. Members built this hall in 1898-99. Dedicated in October 1899, it contains flags, medals, photographs and other mementos of the Civil War and of the Sunfield veterans of that war. Furniture, ritual equipment and records of this G. A. R. post are also kept here. In 1899 members planted and dedicated three maple trees at the front of the property, dedicating them to the memory of Generals Grant, Sheridan and Sherman. The two cannon on either side of the hall were brought to Sunfield by the G. A. R. in 1900.

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The Beginning of Mother’s Day

Posted on May 12, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers .

In downtown Albion along the north branch of the Kalamazoo River at Reiger Park is a Michigan historical marker telling the story of the first Mother’s Day in Michigan. I visited the park in late fall and I have been waiting until the right day for this post. I am sure you can figure out why I waited until now to post this.

The marker reads:
On May 13, 1877, the second Sunday of the month, Juliet Calhoun Blakeley stepped into the pulpit of the Methodist Episcopal Church and completed the sermon for the Reverend Myron Daugherty. According to legend, Daugherty was distraught because an anti-temperance group had forced his son to spend the night in a saloon. Proud of their mother’s achievement Charles and Moses Blakeley encouraged others to pay tribute to their mothers. In the 1880s the Albion Methodist church began celebrating Mother’s Day in Blakeley’s honor.

The official observance of Mother’s Day resulted from the efforts of Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia. In 1868 her mother had organized a Mother’s Friendship Day in a West Virginia town to unite Confederate and Union families after the Civil War. Anna Reeves Jarvis died on the second Sunday in May 1905. In 1907 her daughter began promoting the second Sunday in May as a holiday to honor mothers. Following an act of Congress in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May Mother’s Day.

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Henika Ladies Library

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Library, Michigan Historical Markers .

I love this little library in Wayland. Here is what the Historical Marker next to it reads:

Upon her death in April 1899, Julia Robinson Henika bequeathed two thousand dollars to the Wayland Ladies Library Association for construction of a library building. Her husband George H. Henika, and mother, Mary Forbes, later donated additional funds toward its construction. Grand Rapids architect Fred H. Eely designed the building, which the Wayland Globe newspaper predicted would be “A Very Pretty and Modern Affair.” The picturesque library opened in the spring of 1900. Although domestic in scale, the building gleans an impressive Richardsonian quality from the random ashlar fieldstone and Eely’s design. The stone used in construction was gathered from a local farm.

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Marlette Train Depot – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers, Train Depots .

Flint and Pere Marquette Depot

The first twenty-five miles of track for the Port Huron & Northwestern Railroad opened from Port Huron to Croswell in 1879. Marlette residents lured the railroad by raising $15,000 toward construction of the tracks. The line extended from Saginaw Junction in St. Clair County to Marlette in January 1881, and Marlette and Mayville line opened in the fall. The Flint & Pere Marquette purchased the Port Huron & Northwestern in 1889. Flint contractor E.M. Stewart built this depot in 1890 with a double waiting room, an office and a baggage room. The Marlette Historical Society bought the building in 1999.

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