Historic Buildings
There are five restored Downtown Historic Buildings to experience:
BIDDLE HOUSE
Market Street
Represents 1820s-era
Your Experience: Smell hearty stew simmering in a cast iron pot over the open hearth fireplace. Card wool with carding paddles and spin it on a spinning wheel. Watch knitting and quilting. Immerse yourself in early 19th-century domestic crafts, and ask questions. The costumed historic interpreters are ready to explain these crafts and more. Period furnishings transform this “middle-class” reconstructed house to an era when Mackinac Island was the center of the fur trade. The historic building also includes period settings and furnishings. |
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History: Built in the late 18th-century, the Biddle House was owned by the merchant class (present day “middle class”) Edward Biddle family for several generations. Edward Biddle, from a prominent East coast family, was an American who took up permanent residence on Mackinac Island after the War of 1812. He married Agatha, a local Odawa-Metis woman who lived all of her life in the region. They purchased the house in 1832, although they may have lived there before this time.
BENJAMIN BLACKSMITH SHOP
Market Street, next to the Biddle House
Represents 1950-era
Your Experience: Feel the heat of the fire as a blacksmith pounds hot steel into candle holders, horse shoes, and many other objects. Ask questions as he does, and then try it yourself!
History: The shop was originally known as the Star Blacksmith Shop, bought by Robert Benjamin and a partner in 1885. It remained in the Benjamin family and in operation until 1965.
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Event: On Saturday, August 1, 2008, over a dozen blacksmiths from around Michigan will come together at the Benjamin Blacksmith Shop to display their craft and skill as spectators marvel over a trade that hasn’t died out…a trade that on Mackinac Island hasn’t changed at all during the past hundred years or more. Read more about the Benjamin Blacksmith Convention.
AMERICAN FUR COMPANY STORE & DR. BEAUMONT MUSEUM
Corner of Market Street and Fort Street
Represents 1820’s fur trading era
Your Experience: The American Fur Company Store is time-stamped from the 1820’s when Mackinac Island was the bustling center of the North American fur trade. Shoes, cloth, china, flour, and hats, it’s all here, representing items that were sold in this restored building nearly 200 years ago. Talk to the shop keeper and ask her questions about this era, this building, and the significant medical breakthrough that happened right here.
In the adjacent room is the interactive Dr. Beaumont Museum, a tribute to the science of the digestive process and the man whose groundbreaking experiencemts are the basis of modern knowledge of the digestive system. These hands-on displays will leave you with a keen understanding of this process.
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History: An understanding that developed on Mackinac Island in the early 19th-century. In 1822 French-Canadian voyageur (fur trader) Alexis St. Martin was accidentally shot in the stomach while inside the American Fur Company Store. The outcome seemed grim. However, Dr. William Beaumont, who was stationed at nearby Fort Mackinac, treated St. Martin’s wound with meticulous care. The hole leading into his stomach never completely healed over, leaving a virtual pathway into the science of the digestive process. With St. Martin’s continuing permission and support, Dr. Beaumont studied the digestive process for many years through the wound.
McGULPIN HOUSE
Corner of Market Street and Fort Street
Represents 1820’s era
Your Experience: When entering this historical treasure, which has been completely restored, notice the unique French-Canadian architecture of the building, which is its interpretive focus. In the main interior room, a model of the entire building provides greater access to the specific architectural elements. Exposed wall sections show original lathe, plaster and wallpapers layers, paint colors and a section of the wall that may have contained a Catholic shrine. A second room contains exhibit panels focusing on the chronological history and restoration of the building. A section of the ceiling of a third room is open to expose original rafters.
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History: This modest home is of great historical importance. This home may have been part of the mainland Michilimackinac community (in present day Mackinaw City, located across the Straits of Mackinac) before it was moved to the island after 1780. It may be one of the oldest private residences in Michigan. Built in the late 18th century, it was purchased by bread-baker William McGulpin in 1819, who lived there with his wife Madeline Bourassa and their many children. The McGulpin home is a great example of the home of a “working class” family from the fur trading era.
MISSION CHURCH
Main Street (also called Huron Street)
Restored to its 1830’s appearance
Available for weddings
Your Experience: Walk up and down the aisles and see the restored church in its 1830’s-era glory. Open a pew door and sit inside, enjoying the peace and quiet of a church from the past. Each family had their own pew, as evident when entering this church, and for a moment that space could be yours.
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| History: Evangelical Protestants built the New England style Mission Church during 1829 and 1830 to house the Presbyterian Congregation on Mackinac Island. The church was lead by Revered William Ferry and his wife Amanda, who were missionaries with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission. Many prominent island residents involved in the fur trade attended the church, including Robert Stuart and Henry Schoolcraft. |
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INDIAN DORMITORY
Main Street (also known as Huron Street)
Currently Closed, Reopening as an art museum in Summer 2010
Your Experience: The Indian Dormitory is currently closed. However, get ready for Summer 2010 when its doors open for the first time in eight years. Mackinac State Historic Parks has recently begun the development of an innovative art museum and learning center in the 1830s-era Indian Dormitory on Mackinac Island. The multi-phase project, which includes restoration of the historic building and installation of a micro-climate exhibit case system, has been generously funded by the Richard and Jane Manoogian Foundation. The museum will center around fine and decorative arts inspired by Mackinac Island through the ages from Native American baskets to present day paintings of the island by residents. Plans for the ground level include an art learning studio with an art educator. Guests will have the option of taking a MSHP-provided easel into Marquette park to paint lilacs, weave Native American-style baskets, or create hand-tinted photographs, among many other artistic projects. Read more about the Indian Dormitory Art Museum.
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History: The Indian Dormitory was built in 1838 as a result of the Treaty of Washington negotiated by American Henry Schoolcraft in 1836. The dormitory was constructed to house Native Americans from throughout the Great Lakes region who gathered on Mackinac Island to receive annuity payments. However, most Native Americans preferred to camp along the harbor. The building ceased being used by the Indian Agency in the 1840s. It was used for a variety of other purposes, and in 1868 it was leased to the local community as a public school. It served as the school until 1963. In the 1940s it served as the “Mackinac Island Summer School of Art”, but the program was suspended during WWII and not revived.
