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Category Archives: people

Sugar Island’s Concrete Building

Posted on June 4, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, people, upper peninsula .

This old, abandoned concrete building stands near the shoreline on Sugar Island, east of Sault Ste. Marie. It held items of immense value—not gold or jewels, but books and manuscripts. It was the library for Chase Osborn. He was Michigan’s 27th Governor and the only one from the Upper Peninsula. He built an estate on Sugar Island and held his vast collection of books in his library. It was made of concrete and steel so that it would not be flammable. His home was a modest log cabin, but his library was what was important to him. The estate is mostly in ruins now, but you can hike to it in the Chase Osborn Preserve, managed by the University of Michigan.HERE

P.S. Osborn’s books were donated to the University of Michigan and Lake Superior State University.

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The Blue Man of Elkton

Posted on May 29, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people, Thumb .

In early 1958, motorists around Elkton in Michigan’s Thumb region began reporting sightings of a “little blue man.” This glowing figure, described as looking like a spaceman, would mysteriously appear on rural roads and then vanish just as suddenly, leaving startled drivers with no trace of him. As time went on, the sightings grew more fantastic, with some claiming the man was ten feet tall, others two feet tall, and one even stating he “ran faster than any human.” The local police began searching for the cause of these strange reports.

The mystery was finally solved when three young men—Jerry Sprague, Don Weiss, and LeRoy Schultz—confessed to the prank. Inspired by news reports of flying saucers, they created a costume from long underwear, gloves, combat boots, a sheet with eyeholes, and a football helmet with blinking lights, all spray-painted glow-in-the-dark blue after a popular song. Sprague, who fit the underwear, would hide in a ditch and leap out as a car approached, running along the road to draw attention before quickly jumping into the trunk of the car driven by Weiss and Schultz. They carried out this prank on at least eight to ten nights over several weeks, and the police ultimately let them off with a warning.

I was taking pics of the historic log cabin in Ackerman Memorial Park and was reading the sign in front of it. It was there I learned about the “Blue Man”. It’s amazing the things you learn from historical signs.

If you love exploring the Thumb and reading about its unique history be sure to look at my new book Lost In Michigan’s Thumb available on Amazon HERE

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Frank Murphy’s House

Posted on March 27, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, people, Thumb .

The picturesque town of Harbor Beach, nestled in Michigan’s Thumb, holds a piece of history: a beautiful gothic house, its white siding contrasting with a verdant green roof. A sign proclaims it the Murphy Museum, and a bronze plaque details the remarkable life of Frank Murphy. Born in this very town in 1890, Murphy’s journey took him from local lawyer to the highest echelons of American government. He served as Mayor of Detroit, Governor of Michigan, and U.S. Attorney General, culminating in his appointment to the Supreme Court by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Justice Murphy’s legacy is defined by his unwavering commitment to civil rights, most notably his powerful dissent against the Japanese internment camps, which he denounced as “legalized racism.” This house, his former home and law office, now stands as a testament to his enduring connection to Harbor Beach, where he was ultimately buried at Our Lady of Lake Huron Catholic Cemetery.

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The Troy Polar Bear

Posted on March 2, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Cemetery, people .

In Troy’s White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery, next to I-75, a striking white marble polar bear monument stands out among the cemetery’s predominantly flat headstones. In 1918, as World War I neared its end, the Bolsheviks’ rise in Russia and their peace treaty with Germany alarmed the Allies. Concerned about German or Bolshevik seizure of Allied munitions in Archangel, Britain and France requested U.S. intervention. The U.S. deployed the “Polar Bears,” the American North Russian Expeditionary Forces to Archangel. About 75 percent of the 5,500 Americans who made up the North Russian Expeditionary Forces were from Michigan; of those, a majority were from Detroit.

Upon arrival, they found the munitions gone and were ordered to fight Soviet forces along the Vologda Railroad. Despite the November 11th armistice ending WWI, they continued fighting through the winter. Public outcry in Michigan eventually led to their extraction, delayed until June by the frozen harbor. In 1929, veterans secretly returned to Russia to recover fallen soldiers. The trip was sponsored by the federal government and the State of Michigan. The delegates recovered eighty-six bodies. Fifty-six of these were buried in 1930, in White Chapel Memorial Park Cemetery and the monument was erected to honor them.

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Ephraim Shay’s House

Posted on February 26, 2025 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Houses, people .

This uniqe one of a kind house stands in Harbor Springs. It was designed and built by Ephraim Shay the inventor of the geared Shay locomotive. He left a lasting mark on Harbor Springs, Michigan. His innovative locomotive, with its superior traction and ability to navigate tight curves, was favored by logging and mining companies worldwide. Thousands were built in Lima, Ohio, and some even ran on Shay’s own Hemlock Central Railroad, a fifteen-mile line north of Harbor Springs.

In 1891, Shay, an Ohio native born in 1839, built a unique hexagonal house in Harbor Springs. The six-winged structure, featuring a central core and utilized stamped steel for both its interior and exterior walls. Shay, a dedicated mechanic, contributed much to the town, including building and later donating its waterworks. His company also explored boat and automobile design, and he even built sleds for local children. Shay resided in Harbor Springs from 1888 until his death in 1916.

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The Kinross Incident

Posted on November 22, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people, upper peninsula .

On November 23, 1953, radar operators at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, detected an unidentified object breaching restricted airspace over Lake Superior. An F-89C interceptor, piloted by Captain Felix Moncla and radar operator Robert L. Wilson, was scrambled from  Kinross Air Force Base (renamed Kincheloe Air Force Base in 1956) located in the Eastern U.P. to investigate.

Despite the advanced technology of the era, the F-89C’s radar struggled to track the erratic movements of the mysterious object. Ground control guided Moncla as he pursued the unidentified craft at speeds exceeding 500 miles per hour.

Radar operators witnessed the two blips on the screen—the F-89C and the unknown object—converge and ultimately merge into a single point approximately 70 miles off the Keweenaw Peninsula. The combined blip continued its course before vanishing from the radar. All attempts to contact the F-89C were unsuccessful. A joint search and rescue operation by the United States and Canadian Air Forces yielded no trace of the aircraft or its crew.

The event, now known as the Kinross Incident, remains shrouded in intrigue. The U.S. Air Force’s official explanation—that the jet crashed while pursuing a stray Canadian aircraft—has been disputed by the Royal Canadian Air Force, as Sudbury Airport was under construction at the time.

While some theories, including a potential encounter with a UFO, have circulated, the most likely explanation, supported by extensive research, points to a tragic accident during a snowstorm while pursuing a lost aircraft. Captain Moncla’s gravestone in his hometown of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, bears a poignant inscription: “Disappeared Nov. 23, 1953 intercepting an UFO over Canadian Border as Pilot of a Northrup F89 Jet Plane.”

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Rainbow Jim’s Place

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Nature, people .

Southeast of Fife Lake, along the scenic Manistee River, you’ll find a spot marked as “Rainbow Jim” on Google Maps. This is a popular boat access point off Coster Road.

Not far from the launch was an old cabin, once home to Jim Coster III, a legendary fishing guide affectionately known as “Rainbow Jim.” Standing tall at 6’4″ and weighing 250 pounds, Jim was a larger-than-life figure who welcomed fisherman from far and wide to his cabin. He would take them on thrilling fishing expeditions for trout on the Manistee River, using flat bottom boats he had built himself. A fun-loving soul with a penchant for a good drink, it’s said he hid bottles of whiskey along the riverbank to enjoy with his customers during their fishing trips.

Sadly, Rainbow Jim passed away from a heart attack in 1967 at the age of 72. However, his legacy lives on, as the Michigan DNR honored him by naming the boat launch after him.

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The Big Chief

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people, upper peninsula .

The town of Ironwood in the Upper Peninsula sits next to the Wisconsin border. About a mile south of downtown is a small park with an enormous statue. It is of Hiawatha, a legendary leader of the Iroquois Confederacy, and a sign below the statue declares it to be the world’s tallest Indian. The park is the site of the old Norrie Iron Mine. The 52-foot-tall fiberglass statue was erected in 1964, and funded by local auto dealer Charlie Gotta. It was built to help draw tourists to travel through downtown Ironwood. I am not sure how much it helped, but it is definitely an attention grabber.

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Anna Howard Shaw

Posted on June 11, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people .


This statue of a woman in a Victorian era dress stands next to the library in Big Rapids. It is of Anna Howard Shaw who was born in England on February 14, 1847. At the age of four, her family immigrated to America. In 1859, her father moved the family to a wilderness tract just north of Big Rapids, Michigan. He mother envisioned an idyllic farm but it was a log cabin in a rustic and remote wilderness. Her father soon returned east with two of his sons, leaving behind his wife and four younger children to endure extreme hardship on their 360-acre claim. Forced to take on traditionally male roles to survive, Anna believed women were equal to men. She attended school in Big Rapids and became a teacher at age 15. in 1873, she enrolled in Albion College in Albion, Michigan.
In 1876, Shaw entered the School of Theology at Boston University and studied to be a minister. She was the only woman in a class of 42 men and she became the first fully ordained woman minister in the history of the Methodist Church. While engaged in an active ministry at two churches, she graduated from Boston University School of Medicine in 1885.
Shaw was a popular lecturer for the temperance movement and for the cause of women’s suffrage fighting for the right for women to vote. She became Susan B. Anthony’s chief lieutenant in the National American Woman Suffrage Association and succeeded her as president of the Association in 1904. In 1917, she was appointed as chair of the Women’s Committee of the Council of National Defense. As a result of her work on the Council, she became the first woman ever to receive the Distinguished Service Medal, which bestowed upon her by President Woodrow Wilson. Anna Howard Shaw died in 1919 while on a lecture tour for world peace. Her death came just a year before ratification of the 19th Amendment, for which she had labored most of her adult life. Her remains were cremated and the ashes given to her family. The statue in Big Rapids stands as a reminder of the remarkable woman that grew up in the Michigan wilderness.

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The Heroic Flight Nurse

Posted on May 22, 2024 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in people .

The VA hospital in Saginaw is the only one in the Unites States of America named in honor of a woman, and that would be the Aleda E. Lutz V.A. Medical Center. Born in 1915 in Freeland. a graduate of the Saginaw General Nursing School, she enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps (ANC) in November 1941, and was one of the most celebrated flight nurses of World War II, 1st Lt. Aleda E. Lutz flew 196 missions and evacuated over 3,500 men. In November 1944. She came into many combat zones while evacuating wounded troops. While overseas, she was active in European, African, and Italian battlefields. Several times she helped to evacuate wounded soldiers from the Anzio Beachhead, which was under fire from the German Army.

During an evacuation flight from the front lines near Lyons, Italy, her C-47 crashed killing all aboard, and she was buried with full military honors in an American Cemetery in France. Lt Lutz was the first American woman who died in action during World War II. Lieutenant Lutz had five battle stars: Tunisia, Sicily, South Italy, Central Italy, and South France. She was Awarded the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, she posthumously received the Distinguished Flying Cross the second woman to receive the decoration after Amelia Earhart.

 

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