Michigan Historical Markers Archives - Page 3 of 8

Shiawassee County Courthouse – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on February 9, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers .

I was born and raised in Saginaw and still live there today. The courthouse that stood in front of the current one in Saginaw was demolished about 10 years before I was born. I have seen photos of it and it was a magnificent ornate building adorned with statues of justice. It’s always bothered me that the courthouse was torn down and traveling around Michigan I still see many old Courthouses and wished the one in Saginaw would have been saved.

I love this old courthouse in Corunna with its white Columns. There is a Michigan Historical Marker in front of it that reads:

Territorial Governor Lewis Cass established Shiawassee County in 1822, but as there were few white settlers in the area, its government was not organized until 1837. Two years later, the county commissioners designated this site in the village of Corunna as the public square. County offices occupied temporary facilities here until 1851, when a brick courthouse was built. It was replaced in 1903-4 by the present structure, designed by Claire Allen and costing $75,000. The cornerstone was laid on May 4, 1904, before the largest gathering in the county’s history. The courthouse, with its elegant clock tower and columned facade, still houses most of the major county offices.

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The Historic Saint Bernard in Alpena

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches, Michigan Historical Markers .

I am always fascinated by the big old churches in towns and cities in Michigan. This beautiful brick church caught my eye in Alpena. The historical marker next to it reads:

In 1861, Bishop Frederic Baraga (1797-1868) trod through snow and icy waters from Sault Ste. Marie to Alpena where he founded a Catholic church. However, it was not until 1888 that Father Patrick Murray became the first resident pastor of the church dedicated to and named for St. Bernard. Father Murray was instrumental in the building of the first church structure, which was located almost directly opposite the current edifice. The foundation of this stone structure was laid in 1880. Three years later the church split into three parishes. The French parish, which kept the original structure became St. Anne; the Polish became St. Mary, and the Irish retained the St. Bernard name and records. This structure, completed by the Irish in 1884, houses the oldest Catholic parish between Bay City and Cheboygan.

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The Old Stone Church

Posted on January 14, 2018 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches, Michigan Historical Markers .

I love stone churches. I can imagine the people in the congregation donating stones they have collected from their farm fields to build the church. Traveling the back roads near East Jordan in the north-west part of the lower peninsula I came across this beautiful old stone church. Thankfully there was a Michigan Historical marker in front of it with some history of the church. It reads:

In 1885 Bohemian immigrants founded Saint John Nepomucene Catholic Church named for the patron saint of Czechoslovakia. The settlers, most of whom immigrated from Prague, named their community Praga. This Gothic Revival church was built as a frame structure in 1890; the steeple and bell were added in 1893, in 1926 the church was clad in fieldstone. The altar and some statues date from 1894. Since its founding, Saint John Church has been served by neighboring priests.

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Ingham County Courthouse – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on September 8, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in courthouses, Michigan Historical Markers .

Named for Samuel Ingham, Secretary of the Treasury under Andrew Jackson, Ingham County was organized in 1838. In 1840 Mason became the county seat. The town’s wide public square had been designed as the county’s political and business center. The first county offices were on the sides of the square until 1858, when a courthouse was built at this location. The present building, completed in 1904, was described as a “temple of justice.” Governor Fred Warner, speaking at the dedication, called it “a meeting place for farmers, mechanics, business and professional men.” The courthouse has been the center of Ingham County’s activities throughout the twentieth century. In 1971 the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

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10 Hours or No Sawdust

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers .

When Bay City’s sawmills opened in 1885, mill owners notified workers that wages would be 12 to 25 percent lower than in 1884. On July 6, 1885, Bay City millhands began to walk off the job. Their slogan, “Ten Hours or No Sawdust,” represented the demand for a ten-hour day, higher wages, and semimonthly pay. On July 9, 1885, D.C. Blinn, editor of Bay City’s Labor Vindicator and a member of the Knights of Labor, held a rally at Bay City’s Madison Park. After the rally, millhands left by barge for Saginaw, where they closed the mills the next day. The demands of the millhands were rejected, and the sporadic violence that followed led the mayors of Bay City and Saginaw to seek help from the state militia and private detectives.

On July 19, 1885, Governor Russell A. Alger, a wealthy lumberman came to Bay City to attempt to resolve the strike that had closed Bay City and Saginaw mills. From the steps of the Frazer Hotel, across the street from this site, he spoke to a crowd of millhands, warning against further violence. On July 29, Terence V. Powderly, Grand Master of the Knights of Labor, came to the valley. He urged the millhands to return to work with a ten-hour day and reduced wages. Nevertheless, the strike continued for several weeks, with support from the people of Bay City. The mill owners, however, remained intransigent, and by late September the strikers were defeated. The ten-hour workday went into effect on September 15, 1885, by an act of the state legislature, but wages remained low.

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The Michigan School For the Deaf – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on September 3, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, Michigan Historical Markers .

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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E. S. Swayze Drugstore – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers, small towns .

when I was in Otisville, I saw this Subway and thought “wow what a beautiful old building” then I noticed it even had an historical marker sign next to it. I thought what a remarkable building for a national franchise chain to be in, and in an era where most chain restaurants bulldoze old buildings and build new ones, It’s nice that they restored this old building and continue to use it, and yes I stopped and had a sandwich and the inside is just as nice as the outside. I wish more people, and companies, would take an interest in using old buildings, instead of building new ones.

The Michigan Historical Marker Reads

E. S. Swayze opened a drugstore on this site prior to 1870. When the store burned in 1874, Swayze built this one. Members of the Free Methodist Church used the second-floor meeting hall for services from 1887 to 1890. In 1903 Masonic Lodge #401 and the Order of the Eastern Star bought the building which they owned until 1970. This intact commercial building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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The City of Howell and it’s Beautiful Historic Courthouse

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in courthouses, Michigan Historical Markers, Uncategorized .

On 24 March 1836, the legislature passed an act organizing Livingston County and Howell was slated to become the County seat. This claim was vigorously opposed by a group from Brighton until the county buildings were actually erected 12 years later. The town was originally called Livingston Center because it was in the center of the county. The area was platted by Flavius Crane and and Edward Brooks, and they named it for Thomas Howell, a friend of Mr. Brooks, and the son of Judge Howell in Canandaigua N.Y.

Albert E. French designed the courthouse a two-and-a-half story brick and stone building. This edifice, completed in 1890, shows influence of Richardsonian architecture and has maintained many of its original Victorian furnishings. Peter and Maria Cowdry donated the land for the courthouse square with the provision that it revert to their heirs if no longer used for a courthouse. Local citizens presented the clock to the county as a gift. The people of Livingston County voted in 1976 to restore their courthouse which is an area landmark.

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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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St Mary’s Star Of The Sea in Jackson – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches, Michigan Historical Markers .

In 1880 Bishop Casper Henry Borgess of the Detroit Diocese approved the establishment of a second Catholic parish in the city of Jackson. The cornerstone ceremony for the parish church was held July 4, 1881. The present limestone Romanesque structure, erected in 1923/26 was designed by Frederick Spier of Detroit. One of the towers houses the 2,700-pound 1902 bell from the parish’s first church. The edifice also features stained-glass windows imported from Innsbruck, Austria, and Italian Carrara marble altars and communion rails. The confessionals and sacristy cases were built using the pews of the first building. During the parish’s growth from 124 members at its founding to 3,800 at the time of its centennial, it has had only six pastors.

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