Cheers to Fort Mackinac Posted April 7, 2016 The army undertook projects designed to improve soldiers’ morale and provide recreational opportunities. These projects were part of a broader attempt to improve army life for enlisted men beginning in the 1880s. Known as the Army Reform Movement, these measures instituted better training procedures, improved uniforms and living conditions and provided recreational opportunities. The War Department officially approved the construction and use of canteens for the entertainment, recreation, and amusement of enlisted men at military posts in 1889. Captain Greenleaf A. Goodale, the commanding officer Fort Mackinac quickly took advantage of the new policy and remodeled the wood quarters into the post canteen at a cost of $82.53. Opened on November 7, 1889, the canteen provided the men with two billiard rooms and a bar and a lunch counter. The rooms were furnished with books, magazines and board games including backgammon, checkers, dominoes and chess. The walls were decorated with large, framed pictures including seven large Civil War battle scened donated by West Bluff summer cottager Henry Leman. In the lunch room soldiers enjoyed ham and cheese sandwiches with imported Swiss cheese and French mustard, light wines and beer, including Schlitz of Milwaukee which was sold for “Five-cents per glass – large size.” Beer was the main source of profit while coffee was discontinued after three weeks for lack of interested. The canteen was immensely popular with the solders and enthusiastically supported by the officers who noticed an immediate improvement in moral and behavior.
Lost Hotels of Mackinac Island: The Windsor Posted February 26, 2016 A view of Hoban St. in 1919 with the Windsor in the distance showing the fourth floor and side addition added by Belle Gallagher by 1910. The four-story, jade-colored building at the corner of Market and Hoban Streets has served as employee housing for Grand Hotel since the early 1980s. However, as the name board still declares, it was prior to this the Windsor Hotel. (more…)
Lost Hotels of Mackinac: The Palmer House Posted January 8, 2016 The Palmer House, Ca. 1880 Mackinac Island features many historic hotels that have welcomed visitors for generations. There were other early hotels that, for a variety of reason, have closed their doors. Some of these buildings remain standing but are used for different purposes. Others have disappeared completely. In this and future posts we will explore some of these lost hotels of Mackinac Island. (more…)
Dr. William Beaumont, Father of Gastric Physiology Posted November 20, 2015 A dramatic and fateful event took place in the American Fur Company’s retail store, located on Mackinac Island, on June 6, 1822. The accidental shot that was thought to have fatally wounded Alexis St. Martin there brought together an inquisitive doctor and a unique patient and made medical history. (more…)
Lost Landmarks of Mackinac Island: The Mitchell House Posted November 13, 2015 The Mitchell House, on Mackinac Island’s Market Street, was constructed by David and Elizabeth Mitchell. David, a native of Scotland, had served as a surgeon’s mate with the King’s Eighth Regiment at Michilimackinac since 1774. There he met Elizabeth, of French Canadian and Ojibwa ancestory. They were married in 1776 and moved with the rest of the coummunity to Mackinac Island in 1780. In 1783, when the King’s Eighth left Mackinac, David received approval to resign his post and remain with his family. (more…)
Frank Kriesche’s Ruby Souvenir Glasses Posted September 25, 2015 Frank Kriesche came to America from Bohemia in the late 1800s where he had learned his trade as a glass engraver. He moved to Mackinac Island in the early 1890s and during the summers applied his talents at the glassware shop that he owned on Main Street. Kriesche would import some of the glass from Germany for his more expensive glassware but the pieces that he is most famous for are his ruby souvenir glasses. (more…)
Cooking with Fire Posted June 19, 2015 Where does family usually end up gathering at the house? It seems like the kitchen is the place for a lot of people. Food is universal and meals bring people together in a home. The Biddle House, on Market Street on Mackinac Island, has a working kitchen with a fireplace that is used for demonstrating a household of the 1830s by means of creating a meal that would have been commonplace for the time period. Open hearth cooking remained the primary cooking method until the mid to late 1800s, when wood and coal burning stoves were commonplace. Every summer, staff and visitors gather here to learn more about the family around the fire. (more…)
Mission Point Began as Conference Center and College Posted April 24, 2015 What is today Mission Point Resort was originally constructed between 1955 and 1965 as a conference center for Moral Re-Armament (MRA). The international peace organization, based in Switzerland, had originally been established in England in the 1930s by Frank Buchman, a former Lutheran pastor from Pennsylvania. The group held its first gathering on Mackinac Island in 1942. They held conferences at both Grand Hotel and also leased the vacant Island House Hotel from Mackinac Island State Park. The conferences increased in size so that by 1954 MRA decided to purchase land on the island for their own center, acquiring several large parcels at Mission Point. (more…)
Small Fort Plays Big Role in Mackinac History Posted April 7, 2015 Major Charles Gratiot visited Mackinac Island in 1817, using his trained engineer’s eye to carefully record the design of Fort Holmes in these detailed plans. The fort’s blockhouse, walls, and gun platforms are clearly visible on Gratiot’s drawings. When American troops returned to Mackinac Island following the War of 1812, they inherited a new piece of defensive architecture from their former British enemies. In addition to Fort Mackinac, the Americans also acquired a small fort on the island’s highest point when they arrived in 1815. Although the British originally named the post Fort George, the Americans quickly renamed the fort to honor Major Andrew Holmes, who had been killed in battle on the island in 1814. For the next few years, Fort Holmes played an important part in the daily routines and duties of the American soldiers stationed on Mackinac Island. (more…)
Mackinac Island Coast Guard Station Assisted Distressed Vessels Posted April 3, 2015 Today, the Mackinac Island State Park Visitor’s Center is a great place to begin any visit to Mackinac Island. One hundred years ago, however, the building had a very different purpose: protecting maritime traffic in the Straits of Mackinac as a Coast Guard lifeboat station. (more…)
