In 1873 Peter Van Dyke built this Beautiful second empire-style home in Lapeer. In 1924 the grand old house was converted into a nine bedroom hospital with surgeries taking place on the upper floor. Back in the day, it was common for large houses to be used as a hospital. Doctors did not have the
Somewhere between Ovid and Elsie I came upon this massive octagon barn. I am not exactly sure of the purpose of an octagon-shaped barn. The most well-known one in Michigan is in Gagetown. In the late 1800s, octagon-shaped houses were popular and I guess a few barns were built in that configuration also. I was
This massive brick building in Belding sits near downtown across from the library. Built in 1906, Belrockton is the last remaining boardinghouse of the three provided by the Belding Brothers and Company for its single female workers. A major silk manufacturer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the company employed hundreds of young
The Calumet Fire Station (also known as the Red Jacket Fire Station) is located on 6th Street in Calumet, Michigan, and was designed by Charles K. Strand, a local Architect in the Richardson Romanesque design. In the rear of the Fire Hall, was the stable for the six horses used to pull the fire
This old church stands in the small town of Berville at the base of the Thumb. I don’t have a story to go with it but I thought it was a pretty little church on an Autumn day. Thank you for taking the time to look at my posts and I hope you have a
Roaming around Michigan, I visit a lot of towns and cities. Hesperia is located along M-20 on the west side of the state at the southern part of the Manistee National Forest. The town was platted in 1866 and there are two stories of how Hesperia got its name. The first was that it was
Awakon Park in Onaway Michigan was the site of the American Wood Rim Company. While most of the factory is gone a few structures and remnants remain. Started in 1901 to build wood bicycle rims the company began building wooden automobile steering wheels in 1904. With the success of their steering wheels and the booming
This old cannon stands next to a VFW post along the Red Arrow Highway near Watervliet in southwest Michigan. I pass by a lot of VFW posts that have decommissioned military equipment such as tanks and canons, but this particular cannon is unique and rare. It dates back to World War I. The wooden chassis
The cape cod style Sturgeon Point lighthouse was built in 1869 after it was determined there needed to be a lighthouse between Tawas and Alpena’s Thunder Bay. The brick tower stands 70 feet tall and has a 3.5 order Fresnel lens that was originally installed at Oswego New York. Sturgeon Point is one of a
The town of Good Harbor once stood along the shores of Lake Michigan between Glen Arbor and Leeland. In the 1860s H. D. Pheatt built a dock in Good Habor Bay to supply passing steamships with firewood. Over the next few decades, a couple of sawmills were built. The town had grown in population and
