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Tag Archives: michigan historical marker

Ingham County Courthouse – Michigan Historical Marker

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

ingham county courthouse

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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Tags: courthouse, ingham, ingham county, michigan historical marker .

The Mysterious Death of Sand Point’s First Female Lighthouse Keeper

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Historic Places, Lighthouses, Michigan Historical Markers, upper peninsula .

Sand Point Lighthouse

The United States Lighthouse Service approved construction of the Sand Point Lighthouse in Escanaba at a cost of $11,000. Construction began in the fall of 1867 and was completed in early spring 1868. John Terry was appointed the first lighthouse keeper of the new lighthouse in December 1867, but he became very ill and died in April 1868 a month before the lighthouse was ready to be manned. With the lighthouse nearly completed, but with no lightkeeper ready to report to duty, John Terry’s wife, Mary, was appointed lightkeeper and subsequently became one of the first female lightkeepers on the Great Lakes Mary was the one who lit the fourth order Fresnel lens on the night of May 13, 1868. which could be seen for 11.5 miles.

Mary Terry was a well-respected citizen in the community and fulfilled her duties as lightkeeper with efficiency and dedication.She lived there alone, as she and her husband had no children and was lightkeeper until 1886, when a mysterious fire severely damaged the lighthouse and took her life. To date, no one knows exactly what happened or why it happened. Some speculate that it was an attempted burglary and that the suspect set the lighthouse afire to cover any evidence of wrongdoing. The south entrance door showed signs of forced entry, yet none of Mary Terry’s valuables were taken, and the fact that Mary was found in the oil room and not in her bedroom, led people to believe there was foul play. Deep snow made it impossible for fire fighters to reach the lighthouse before it was very badly damaged. Some people who knew Mary Terry found it hard to believe that this was an accident since she was so careful and efficient.

One other strange fact about the Sand Point Lighthouse is that it was constructed with its tower facing the land instead of facing the water. Whether this orientation was intentional or an engineering blunder is unknown.

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Tags: Delta county, michigan historical marker .

St. Patrick’s Church – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Churches, Michigan Historical Markers .

st patricks church clifford michigan

St. Patrick’s Church began in 1879 with visits from Father Clement Krebs, pastor at St. Agatha Church in Gagetown. It later became a mission of St. Elizabeth in Reese, Sacred Heart in Brown City, and most recently SS. Peter and Paul in North Branch. In 1884 the Diocese of Detroit acquired property here and built this simple Gothic-inspired church. The stained-glass windows admit light into the sanctuary and honor the parish’s Irish founders. Father Krebs presided over the first wedding in the partially completed church in August 1886. St. Patrick’s originally served the communities of Marlette, North Branch, Mayville, Kingston, Silverwood and Wilmot. Among the pastors who served the parish was the Father Charles Coughlin, who ministered here in 1924-25 and later gained notoriety as “the Radio Priest” in Royal Oak.

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Tags: lapeer county, michigan historical marker, st patricks church .

The Haunted Ghost Town of Shelldrake Michigan

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Forgotten Places, Michigan Historical Markers, upper peninsula .

sheldrake Michigan haunted ghost town

The town of Shelldrake, named after a duck common in the area, is a ghost town about 8 miles south of Whitefish Point, at the mouth of the Shelldrake River (also known as the Betsy River) on Whitefish Bay. In the 1890s and early 1900s, it was a thriving sawmill town during peak logging years on the Tahquamenon River watershed. By the 1920s repeated fires and the decline of lumbering led to its demise. Today it is a privately owned ghost town with only a few weathered, original buildings.

I found stories of the area being haunted by an old sea captain who stands on the dock. He has a pipe and a cape and he is usually seen from the lake, as boats approach the shore, he fades away and disappears. While researching the history of Sheldrake, I found out about the Tugboat Grace which was towing a scow in October of 1879 through whitefish bay headed for Goulais Bay in Canada. During a storm in the early morning, the tugboat broke down and drifted onto a sand bar about 200 feet offshore from Sheldrake. The tug filled with water and broke into pieces. The crew made it to shore, and after climbing the bank to safety the captain proclaimed “Thank God, we are all safe” and then suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack. I wonder if that is the captain that has been seen on the docks.

The Penoyer brothers from Bay City, Michigan began the first lumbering operations on the mouth of the Shelldrake River in 1895 with the construction of a sawmill, long docks, and a tramway into Whitefish Bay for loading lumber onto ships. They owned a large block of pinelands in the Tahquamenon River watershed. The Calumet and Hecla copper mining company bought the sawmill and uncut timber in 1899 for their mines. Calumet and Hecla sold out to a Canadian firm, the Bartlett Brothers, in 1910. Lumber milling continued at Shelldrake until 1925 when a fire burned down the sawmill plant for the second time.

By the late 1890s, Shelldrake had a sawmill, houses for workers that were equipped with bathrooms, a hospital, a schoolhouse, a post office, and an icehouse that could store enough meat to feed a population of 1,000 through the winter months. All of the buildings were plastered and had hot water piped from the sawdust burner. There was a stagecoach between Eckerman, Michigan and Shelldrake daily in the summer and three times a week during the winter. At one time there was also a passenger ship sailing between Shelldrake and Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Shelldrake was listed on Michigan’s Historic Register in 1979 with the period of historical significance designated as 1600–1825. However, Shelldrake did not become settled as a lumber town until the late 1890s. The state marker text reads:
Shelldrake legend has it that Lewis Cass, governor of the Territory of Michigan, and his party of nearly 100 camped here in their search for the source of the Mississippi River in 1820. This area, once a bustling lumbering community, was first settled in the mid-nineteenth century. Shelldrake is now a sleepy resort and hunting place. Few of the weatherbeaten buildings that once faced the long boardwalk remain. This settlement is a reminder of the area’s lumbering era.
Although Shelldrake was sold to private owners during the 1930s,it never developed into a resort or hunting place despite what is recorded on the Michigan historic marker. It is now a privately owned ghost town with only a few weathered, original buildings at the site.

You can kinda see it from the road when your traveling from Paradise to Whitefish Point, but since it’s privately owned be respectful of the owners and don’t go exploring around it. There is a road leading up to it, but I am not sure it was a private road since I was there in the winter time, if it was, I apologize for trespassing. I wanted to get a pic for my Michigan Historical Marker Series, I just snapped a quick pic and left.

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Tags: Chippewa, chippewa county, ghost town, haunted, michigan historical marker, sheldrake .

Brighton Old Town Hall – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Library, Michigan Historical Markers .

brighton old town hall

Settled in 1832 by Maynard Maltby, this community was originally called Ore Creek for the stream that flows through it. In 1838 its name was changed to Brighton. It was incorporated as a village in 1867 and as a city in 1928. In 1878 the village council voted to build this hall. Local contractor James Collett completed it in 1879. The hall originally housed village council offices, a voting room, a jail and a firehouse. Its one-room weekend library grew into the public library that it housed for all but nine years from 1927 to 1981.

Tags: Brighton, Historical Marker, Livingston, michigan historical marker, town hall .

St Mary’s Hospital – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Michigan Historical Markers, Uncategorized .

St Marys Hospital Saginaw

The need for medical facilities in fast-growing Saginaw valley led Father Francis Van der Bom and Dr. Benjamin B. Ross to organize support for a hospital. It opened with the arrival of four Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul on August 22, 1874. The original frame house proved inadequate; in 1875 a new building was begun on this site and the hospital incorporated as St. Mary’s. Its first patients were principally injured lumbermen. The staff devised a health insurance plan of $5 a year to raise funds. Over the years the hospital expanded and modernized to care for more patients as well as to provide an increasing variety of medical and educational facilities. As it moves into its second century St. Mary’s anticipates a future of continued care and service.

Tags: Historical Marker, hospital, marker, michigan historical marker, Saginaw, St Marys .

David Whitney, Jr. House – Michigan Historical Marker

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Mike Sonnenberg Posted in Detroit, Houses, Michigan Historical Markers .

On Woodward Ave in Midtown is the beautiful David Whitney Jr. house which is now a restaurant called The Witney. you can see photos of the inside of the home on their website HEREDavid whitney house detroit

The Historical Marker out front reads
This mansion was once described as “an American palace enjoying the distinction of being the most pretentious modern home in the state and one of the most elaborate houses in the west.” David Whitney, Jr. (1830-1900), its owner, was one of the wealthiest lumber barons in the Midwest. Begun in 1890, the house took four years to construct. Its exterior is made of pink jasper, mined in South Dakota. The luxurious interior is reminiscent of residences of Napoleonic Paris. Its features include silk-covered walls and ceilings, tapestries, extensive woodwork, leaded crystal and Tiffany windows.

The Whitney House in 1905 from the Library of Congress archives

The Whitney House in 1905 from the Library of Congress archives

Tags: Detroit, house, michigan historical marker, whitney .

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