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    Mackinaw City
    Mackinaw City
    Mackinaw City
    Ebook180 pages1 hour

    Mackinaw City

    By Madeline Okerman Adie

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    About this ebook

    Rich in history, magnificent in scenery, and abundant in hospitality, Mackinaw City lies at the very tip of Michigan s Lower Peninsula and is the area s own majestic playground. From early Native American settlements, French explorers, and fur traders to Mackinaw City founding father Edgar Conkling s vision to build a business center upon the south shore of the Mackinac Straits, Mackinaw City does not disappoint anyone who visits it. Due to its strategic location on the crossroads of the Great Lakes, this area has always been a gathering place for early inhabitants. When the railroad arrived in the late 1800s, it provided needed transportation with unique railroad and car ferries to and from Michigan s Upper Peninsula. Today Mackinaw City still enjoys the distinction of being one of the most popular historical resort areas in Michigan. Through the insight of talented individuals who had the foresight to capture history with the interesting and colorful medium of the postcard, one is able to learn and smile at Mackinaw days gone by.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJul 11, 2007
    ISBN9781439635001
    Mackinaw City
    Author

    Madeline Okerman Adie

    On a family vacation, at the age of 10, Madeline Okerman Adie first visited Mackinaw City when she crossed the Mackinac Bridge shortly after it was opened for public transportation. In total awe of the history and scenery, Adie, a human resources consultant who also loves Michigan history, returns to the city at every available opportunity. With Mackinaw City, she hopes to share her enthusiasm for this remarkable place.

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      Book preview

      Mackinaw City - Madeline Okerman Adie

      photographer.

      INTRODUCTION

      Is it Mackinac or Mackinaw? The native people called themselves Anishnabeg, and they called their sacred land Michinni-makinong. When the French Canadian voyageurs and fur traders arrived in the 1600s, they pronounced the Native American n sound with an l. They also replaced the soft sh sound with ch. The French spelling ended up as Michilimackinac, and the French pronunciation of the ac ending was aw. When the British arrived, they spelled it and pronounced it the way they heard it—Michilimackinaw. The name Michilimackinac was changed again about 1780 and shortened to simply Mackinac. Early settlers in Mackinaw City decided to use the aw spelling to differentiate their village from nearby Mackinac Island. Today, with the exception of Colonial Michilimackinac and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, usually anything on the mainland is spelled Mackinaw, and anything north of the mainland is spelled Mackinac. All one has to remember is no matter how it is spelled, it is always pronounced Mackinaw. The village certainly enjoys a special history—four peoples, many spellings, and one interesting pronunciation, all for this historical and superbly scenic place in Michigan.

      A popular version of native lore tells us that Michinnimakinong actually refers to a special place on the turtleback–shaped island where the Anishnabeg, or Ojibwa as the Europeans called them, first congregated. Because the turtle held great significance to these native people, representing a sacred symbol, they felt the land was sacred also and buried many of their dead there. Today the area is called Mackinac Island. Michinnimakinong was translated this way: Mich, great; Inni, connecting sound; Maki, fault; and Nong, land or place. The exact translation is land of the great fault. Mackinac Island contains a large geological crevice, so the early name was actually a description of the land. The name that was first given to the island was eventually given to the entire area, land and water both. Because this body of water was narrow (less than five miles), it was called The Strait by early sailors. Later it gradually changed to the plural Straits, and eventually to The Straits of Mackinac.

      This special water passageway that separates the northern and southern tips of Michigan’s two peninsulas by connecting Lakes Michigan and Huron made the land area a continuous gathering place for people of all cultures. It became a special home for the early native peoples and had definite intrigue for Europeans who followed. After the early French explorer Jean Nicolet left Quebec and first visited Michinnimakinong in 1634, more of his countrymen followed. They were interested in fur trapping and trading as well as exploring. Next to arrive were the missionaries. A particularly heroic and devoted French Jesuit priest named Fr. Jacques Marquette arrived in 1671. He established a mission for the Huron Indians on Mackinac Island and then another for the native peoples living at Pointe Iroquois on the north shore of the Straits. The settlement there became St. Ignace. In 1708, the mission moved once again, this time to the south shore of the Straits. In 1714, another new Michilimackinac settlement began. The French soldiers constructed Fort Michilimackinac, which acted as a military trading post for the area’s prosperous fur trade. We know it as Colonial Michilimackinac today.

      In 1760–1761, when the Marquis of Vandrenil surrendered Canada, the English took over Fort Michilimackinac only to abandon and burn it in 1781 during the American Revolution. They decided to move their forces to an even more strategic location on Mackinac Island. What was left of the burnt stockade and buildings on the south side of the Straits was left to nature and in time was all covered over by the shifting sands. From 1781 until the 1850s, little was recorded about the south shore area. Michigan became a state in 1837, and several years later, in 1850, an adventurous surveyor and businessman from Ohio, Edgar Conkling, sailed on a vessel to Mackinac Island. He saw the vacant land on the south shore where the fort had once been and a vision for land investment and a business center was born. In 1854, Conkling, together with Asbury Searles and four other investors, raised $25,000 to purchase the whole tip of this northern area of the Lower Peninsula from the U.S. government. A village was surveyed and platted in 1857, but no real settlement was established until 1870, when a dock and a shanty were built for the workmen who ax chopped and hand sawed wood for the boats that passed through the Straits. This log shanty was the first building in the early village but did not turn out to be a permanent home. Originally from Maine and then Cheboygan, the first white settlers to establish an actual residence were George W. and Elvira Stimpson and their six children. They bought vacant lots from Conkling, built a small log cabin, and established a cordwood business. When the boats stopped for wood, passengers and workers would come ashore asking the Stimpsons for food. After being fed, the travelers also asked for a place to sleep. The Stimpsons’ grand reputation grew, and soon they could not oblige all who stopped. In front of their cabin, the Stimpsons built a large hotel, naming it the Stimpson House. The first store building in the village was built in 1871 when Mr. and Mrs. Lewis I. Willets and family arrived. They had secured an inventory of goods from Detroit and started a dry goods store near the hotel. Lewis I. Willits also became the village’s first postmaster.

      In 1881, this little multicultural settlement prospered with the arrival of the Michigan Central Railroad, whose line began downstate and terminated at the railroad dock on the water’s edge. Shortly after the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad arrived, Mackinaw City incorporated as a village on December 26, 1882. Also during this time, regular ferry service to Mackinac Island began as the tourist business was rapidly growing. Residents from downstate found the Mackinac area to be a restful and clean-air reprieve for their hay fever troubles. As the village grew and the streets were named, it appears that a pattern was established. With the assistance of Madge Fox, a noted children’s author and schoolteacher in Mackinaw City, most north/south streets were changed from numbers to French names, most east/west streets were changed from single letters to English names, and the old Main Street became Huron Avenue. Many of the stores and businesses that were located over on Central Avenue continued to prosper, which eventually made Central Avenue the village’s second main street.

      Mackinaw City continued to gain popularity as a summer resort and refuge. With its beautiful scenery, clean air, and nearness to Mackinac Island, the village drew thousands of visitors every year. The tourists enjoyed the quaint shops, good food, automobile ferry rides, and historical sites and continued to return summer after summer, some building their

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