Herbert Jeffries has acted, sung, even ridden--his way to the top of the entertaining world.

In the 1930s, when white singing cowboys like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers carved out names for themselves, Jeffries decided there should be black cowboy films* especially since there had been many African American cowboys in the American west.

Born in Detroit in 1911, Jeffries raised money for his first feature film. Playing the part of Bob Blake, a fearless singing cowboy, Jeffries became this country's first African American film hero when Harlem on the Prairie opened in 1936. Nicknamed the "Bronze Buckaroo," Jeffries did all his own riding and performed all his own stunts. After starring in three more cowboy movies, Jeffries left movies to start singing with Duke Ellington's orchestra. With that band as his backup, he recorded "Flamingo," which sold fourteen million copies and propelled him to the top of the jazz world.

After running a club in France for a decade following World War II, Jeffries returned to the United States where he continues to perform. In 1995, at the age of eighty-three, Jeffries recorded a Nashville album of songs entitled, The Bronze Buckaroo (Rides Again).

Among his many awards and recognitions, Jeffries earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and induction into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. According to one observer in 2004, "The man is a marvel. In appearance and in voice, he seems a person half his age. . . . His voice sounds stronger now than it has ever been."

Here's Herb Jeffries singing Happy Cowboy in the 1938 movie "Two Gun Man From Harlem":

For more about Jeffries, check out herbjeffries.com. To learn more about other important African Americans in Michigan, order the book African Americans You Need to Know or subscribe to Michigan History or Michigan History for Kids by calling (800) 366-3703 or visiting www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

Also in the July/August issue are stories about women who served in the Second Michigan Volunteer Infantry-one of whom was disguised as a man; an adventure of “flying boat” pilots who raced around the state in 1913; and the tragedy of two ships stranded in the worst storm ever recorded on Lake Michigan. The history of the town of Calumet, Herbert Henry Dow’s creation of the Dow Gardens and the story of European immigration to the Upper Peninsula round out the issue.

For more information or to order a subscription to Michigan History call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com. Individual copies can be purchased at Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton and Borders bookstores throughout the state.

Michigan History is published by the Michigan Historical Center, part of the Department of History, Arts and Libraries. Dedicated to enriching quality of life and strengthening the economy, the department also includes the Library of Michigan, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Cover Photo: The Fallasburg Bridge crosses the Flat River in Kent County. Built in 1871, it is one of Michigan’s oldest covered bridges.

Certain groups opposed this bill. Companies that made bottles and cans were against it because they were afraid they would lose their jobs. Stores did not like the bill either, because they would have to set aside space in their stores for returned bottles and cans. Although most Michiganians favored it, lawmakers ignored Jondahl’s bill.

In 1976, the Michigan United Conservation Club (MUCC) took action through an initiative. An initiative gives people the power to propose laws, enact laws, or reject laws by placing them on a ballot. In order to get the issue on the ballot (called a proposal), the MUCC gathered 400,000 signatures. That’s twice the number they needed. The first person to sign the petition was Governor William Milliken, who wanted Michigan to become “a model state” in the fight against pollution.

On November 2, 1976, voters went to the polls. About 2 out of 3 voted yes. By doing so, voters made a new law. Today, Michigan is the only state with a ten-cent deposit (as opposed to a nickel in other participating states). A full ninety-six percent of eligible containers are recycled. According to the MUCC, more than a half million tons of waste are diverted from landfills every year because of Michigan’s Bottle Bill.

For more great stories on Michigan’s past, look to Michigan History and Michigan History for Kids magazines. For more information or a free trial issue, call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

Article By Christine Schwerin

Photo and tile by Sporck Tileart

Ann’s archery success led to her being featured in Life, Seventeen and Sports Illustrated. She also appeared on national television programs, including those hosted by Ed Sullivan and Dick Van Dyke. At about the same time, she was diagnosed with Type 1 juvenile diabetes. Diabetes was not considered to be a dire health risk, although it required a daily insulin injection.

In the early 1960s, Ann moved away from competitive archery and concentrated on a lucrative show business career that included traveling throughout the Midwest and Canada with a popular automobile show called Thrillcade--a surreal combination of an old-fashioned circus, auto stunt show, music concert and NASCAR event.

Despite these many successes, Ann began experiencing vision problems. She was suffering from the early stages of diabetic retinopathy, a condition that caused small veins behind the eye to rupture and bleed. Ann’s life changed again in the mid-1960s when she became a highly successful talent agent for Detroit-area rock and roll groups.

In the spring of 1969, Ann suddenly lost her sight in both eyes. She was fitted with binocular-style glasses that enabled her to see a bit more clearly, but her health gradually deteriorated. In early March 1971, she collapsed and fell into a coma. Four days later, Ann Marston died.

For more on this and other intersting stories on Michigan's past, see the current issue of Michigan History magazine, which is available on most newsstands, or call 1-800-366-3703 or go to www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

Snow Plow by Seeking Michigan

As the wind howls through the state this morning, I thought it might be a good time to shovel out a few stories - you can see a photo a snowplow in Bessemer from the Archives of Michigan over on Michigan in Pictures this morning!

Last week mLive reported that the Saginaw County Road Commission became the first road agency in the state (and maybe the country) to use GPS to display where the plow trucks have gone. Road Commission Manager Brian J. Wendling acknowledged ''It's not a foolproof means of knowing what the road conditions are, but it will at least allow (motorists) the ability to see if a plow has been through the area." Check it out on the Saginaw County Road Commission web site. It's a little crude, but on days like today it's probably useful!

You might also be interested in this article about Michigan road salt and salt mining on Michigan in Pictures. For a look at what plowing was like in the days before modern plows (and when the plow operator had a taste for whiskey), check out Old Harry in the Northern Michigan Journal:

Fifty years ago in Leelanau, so the old timers tell it, the winters were much rougher than what we have today. Whether this is really so or merely the result of memories changing over the course of time is open to debate, but without the modern snow fighting equipment we have now-a-days, it's for sure that the winters back the must have at least seemed tougher.

Anyway, back then few people had their own snow plows, snow blowers were unheard of, and the primary weapon in the war against Old Man Winter was the shovel. Harry drove plow truck for the county in those days; a great big old Osh Kosh monster that roared and belched black smoke as it pushed the snow off the roads.

Seeking Michigan posted this 16mm demo film of the Armstead Snow Motors Company concept snow vehicle. It was filmed in 1924, and the concept is applied to a Fordson tractor and a Chevrolet automobile. The original film is part of the collections of the Archives of Michigan. In case you're interested in how this wild machine works, here's the text of the original patent.

Armstead Snow Motors from Seeking Michigan on Vimeo.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1945, Seger moved to Ann Arbor as a young boy. He began singing at the age of four. His father (who played six instruments) bought him a bass ukulele, and Seger learned how to play it by the time he was ten. At the age of fifteen, Seger started writing songs and playing guitar. His first band, called the Decibels, played high school dances, parties and small clubs. In 1968, Seger and his band signed a major record contract. The following year, “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” was Seger’s first national hit record.

Despite a big hit, Seger enjoyed only limited success. Critics suggested he was just a “one-hit wonder.” Seger was popular in the Midwest, especially Michigan, but as one observer wrote in 1976, “he just doesn’t seem to be cutting it” elsewhere in the nation. Despite these observations, Seger kept writing and singing songs--and things improved.

In a few years, Seger was back on the national scene with a series of hit records. The album Night Moves sold 6 million copies and was his first Top 10 album. Seger’s next album Against the Wind rose to number one on the Billboard 200 top album chart. Soon Seger’s songs (“Old Time Rock & Roll,” “Like a Rock” and “Shakedown”) appeared in movies and television commercials, giving him more national recognition.

In 2004, Seger, who took a decade off to raise a family, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Three years later, he released a new album and went on a national tour. Although older than most rock and rollers, Seger said it was “fun to go to work again.”

Today, Seger still lives in Michigan. He has sold more than 50 million records and the Detroit Free Press called him Michigan ‘s number one entertainer. When asked recently what he wanted to be remembered for, he said, “I held true to what I liked about music.”

To learn more about Michigan’s music history call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com for more information.

Couldn't resist, just for old times sake...

Sherman, to the wayback back machine....

6 seater Model T - b&w by LindaB.

Jerald Mitchell calls the Ford Motor Company's Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit "a fulcrum point of human history [where] the balance of history shifted." It was at this factory in Detroit that Henry Ford and his cohorts conceived the Model T automobile. For nine months, these men labored through fifteen-hour days, scrawled rough diagrams on the blackboards, fiddled with auto parts and patterns, argued and probably repeated the words "what if" a thousand times. When they were done, they had created the design for one of the most revolutionary automobiles ever built.

The Model T was the car Ford designed for the world's first automobile assembly line, which he perfected at his next plant in Highland Park a few years later. But the first Model T was built at Piquette on September 27, 1908. About twelve thousand more followed before Ford moved to his new plant in 1910. The car was much more affordable than any before because it was mass-produced. It started a "revolution in personal transportation" that is ongoing, says Mitchell, who is director of the former factory that is now a museum.

Mitchell is among a dedicated group of preservationists, auto historians and car buffs who saved the plant in April 2000. Their aim was to keep the plant from demolition, which was probably just a matter of months away. The place had stood empty and unrecognized at the corner of Piquette and Beaubien for decades. There were no historic markers and no apparent appreciation of the building's inherent historic value.

The nonprofit group has been careful not to overdo exhibits, because the real charm is the building itself. Since it was used mainly for warehouse space after Ford left, the factory is almost unchanged from its Model T days. The wood floor is worn and bears scratches and scrapes made by workers 100 years ago. There will be no polishing of those floors, Mitchell says. "You're walking up and down the same floorboards as many automotive pioneers did."

The story of where Henry Ford revolutionized an industry and changed the face of Michigan is featured in the November/December 2008 issue of Michigan History magazine. For this and more fascinating stories about Michigan's past, pick up the latest issue of Michigan History at newsstands, subscribe at michiganhistorymagazine.com or call  (800) 366-3703.

More about the Model T & Ford Motor Company from Absolute Michigan and visit tplex.org for more about the Model T Automotive Heritage Complex.

The origins of La Choy can be traced to Ilhan New, a native Korean who earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan in 1919. Two years after leaving Ann Arbor, New was managing of a Detroit business called La Choy Products. (The word supposedly means “good vegetables” in a Chinese dialect.) At about this time, Wallace Julian Smith, a University of Michigan graduate from Evart, Michigan, came into the La Choy story.

New and Smith were not only former classmates and friends, but soon became business associates. Smith sold New’s bean sprouts in his grocery store, marketing them in small paper cartons and wooden boxes. While the bean sprouts were popular with Smith’s customers, the tender seedlings had a short shelf life and turned brown rather quickly. It soon became evident that if the exotic vegetable was going to be sold on a retail basis it would have to be preserved in some fashion.

New received financial backing from some well-connected Detroiters and began packaging and distributing Chinese food in glass (which was soon abandoned) and tin containers. On January 30, 1922, La Choy officially entered the business world when articles of incorporation were filed. In a matter of years, the company became one of Detroit’s most successful food manufacturers.

For this as well as other intriguing stories about Michigan’s past, turn to the pages of Michigan History magazine. To subscribe, call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

Absolute Michigan notes that Muppet creator, Jim Henson, produced a series of eleven TV commercials for La Choy from 1965 to 1969 that featured Delbert the La Choy Dragon. Enjoy!

Blaney Park Dude Ranch by smartee_martee

Travelers who turn off US 2 and head north on M-77 for the Seney Wildlife Refuge, Munising or Marquette quickly pass a group of buildings on either side of the road. These buildings, while still in apparently good repair, go largely unused. There is little indication they were once part of a prosperous, upscale resort that attracted hundreds of visitors who enjoyed numerous outdoor activities and four-star service.

The Blaney Park Resort story begins in the 1890s when the area was logged over. After the trees were cut, the logging company decided to re-use the land rather than abandon it. After remodeling some of the company buildings and constructing other new buildings, the resort opened in the late 1920s. One of the resort’s main selling points was comfortable interior accommodations with a close, safe proximity to nature.

The resort miraculously survived the Great Depression, partly because more and more urban, white-collared employees took vacations. Blaney also benefitted from the Tourist Camp Movement when larger companies encouraged their employees to exchange crowded, sterile, urban life for a week or two of the cleaner air and slower pace found in rural America, especially areas at some distance from factories and urban congestion. The movement put people on the roads. While many tourist camps became associated with laborers or even transients, Blaney offered upper-middle-class vacationers an improved experience in modern cottages with excellent food.

Blaney Park suffered setbacks in the 1960s, but the resort survived--and still does today. For the complete story of one of Michigan’s unique resorts, check out Michigan History magazine. For information call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

copper harbor fisherman by Michphotog

Jutting out into the cold, blue waters of Lake Superior is the rugged and picturesque coast of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Better known as the “Copper Country,” this land of scenic beauty was endowed by nature with a treasure trove of pure, native copper. At the tip of this northernmost part of Michigan lies the village of Copper Harbor--the town where the Keweenaw’s fascinating history began.

In the mid-1830s, when Michigan was admitted to the Union, it received the Keweenaw and the remainder of the western Upper Peninsula as a condition of ending its hotly contentious border dispute with Ohio over the infamous Toledo Strip. Most Michiganians considered the U.P. to be a relatively worthless wilderness. (“A place of perpetual snows that would provide an endless supply of bear meat,” they said at the time.)

Dr. Douglass Houghton, Michigan’s first state geologist, was given the assignment of determining what riches--if any--were contained in the new and unexplored land. In mid-1840, Houghton and his party landed at the wilderness that is the present-day town of Copper Harbor. He discovered a lustrous green copper silicate vein straddling the
shoreline. Several feet away, particles of red native copper glistened in Lake Superior’s surf. His subsequent report set in motion the nation’s first mineral boom as prospectors and explorers poured into the region, traveling hundreds of miles by canoe.

Copper Harbor’s great mineral rush peaked in a few years, but as copper mining pushed further inland, Copper Harbor continued to be a Keweenaw crossroads. A fort was added to keep the peace and a lighthouse was built to guide boats more safely into the naturally fine harbor.

Almost 170 years after Houghton’s initial exploration, Copper Harbor remains an important tourist destination. The history of this scenic and unique community is featured in Michigan History magazine. For more information, visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com or call (800) 366-3703.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1832, Elijah Myers studied law, then carpentry, before apprenticing with a friend who was an architect. Myers started his own architectural firm in Springfield, Illinois, after serving in the Union army as an engineer during the Civil War. His first
important commission was an Illinois county courthouse. In 1872, Myers’ life changed dramatically when he won the commission to design the new Michigan State Capitol.

Myers based his design for the Michigan Capitol on the U.S. Capitol in Washington by adopting two important features─a tall dome and balanced wings. When the Michigan Capitol opened in 1879, it set the standard for state capitols and similar public buildings. Myers went on to design capitol buildings in Texas, Colorado, Utah and Idaho. He also designed many other buildings in Michigan. Some have been demolished (1875, Lansing High School, 1878, Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane and
1888, Grand Rapids City Hall), while others survive (1888, Central United Methodist Church in Lansing, 1892, Stockbridge Town Hall and 1902, Howell Carnegie District Library). By the time of his death in
1909 (and subsequent burial in Detroit), Elijah Myers had become one of the most successful and important architects of public buildings in America.

A century after the Michigan Capitol opened it needed a makeover. The walls and ceilings, which had been carefully hand-painted to create detailed designs, needed repainting. From 1989 to 1992, the Capitol underwent a complete restoration. It was returned it to its former beauty and ready to serve Michiganians for many more years.

Each year, thousands of people visit the Michigan Capitol. Recently, a fourth-grader who visited the Capitol said, “Our class had a great time on the tour, thank you for the best time of my life.”

The Capitol is open for free tours five days a week. Guides answer questions about the restored Capitol and state government. Tours include the building’s public areas and the House of Representatives and Senate galleries.

The Michigan State Capitol is one of many great Michigan attractions featured in Michigan History magazine. For information call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

Photo credit: Senate Chambers, taken by Balthazar Korab.

For more photos check out this flickr slideshow!

From a young age, Jourden-Mark and her sister, Lisa (Jourden) Arnouts, worked on the family business. “For my parents, it was cheaper and they’d bring in more money if they built a game for me to run. It was definitely cheaper than hiring a babysitter!” Jourden-Mark joked. At the age of about six, the sisters were in charge of selling ice cream cones filled with deer food to customers for a quarter. “We’d argue over who would collect the money and who got to hand over the cones,” Jourden-Mark said. “So my dad separated us and built the Duck Pond for me to operate. I got to work at the duck pond on my own after that.”

In 1988, the Jourdens changed the name to Michigan’s Adventure Amusement Park. During the 1990s four roller coasters and the first water rides were added.

Michigan’s Adventure experienced slow, steady growth. Each year extra revenue was invested into one or two new rides or attractions. To get ideas for additions, the family vacationed at other amusement parks and attended trade shows. “My oldest son had as much input as anyone in the family-Zach’s Zoomers Roller Coaster was named after him!” said Jourden-Mark.

Just like their mother, Jourden-Mark’s three children are growing up at Michigan’s Adventure. She had a nursery off the side of her office and remembers often pushing a stroller through the park while working.

The acquisition by Cedar Fair in 2001 brought more money for growth and
expansion. Today, there are other water parks in Michigan, but Michigan’s Adventure is unique-with more than fifty rides and attractions. It offers the only three wooden roller coasters, and new
for 2008 is the Thunderhawk, Michigan’s only suspended roller coaster.

Jourden-Mark, now the vice president/general manager, oversees the park’s entire operation. She regularly tours the park, often taking her children, Zach, Alex and Katelyn with her. “You do a much better job when you experience the park as our guests do,” says Jourden-Mark.

Even though her parents no longer own the park, Michigan’s Adventure is still a family business to Jourden-Mark. Her husband, Steve Mark, is vice president of maintenance, construction and landscaping. Zach, now fifteen, will be working some of the games this summer. Her entire family also enjoys spending free time riding the rides. Jourden-Mark’s favorite? “Shivering Timbers.”

For more great stories like this one check out Michigan History magazine. For information call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

Photos courtesy of Michigan's Adventure

Hundreds of women were eager to play in the new league, and 280 were invited to final tryouts at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Of those, sixty were selected as the first women to play on the first four teams--the Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets, Rockford Peaches and South Bend Blue Sox. Each team had fifteen players, a manager, business manager and female chaperone. Player salaries ranging from $45 to more than $85 per week were generous in comparison to those for other work at the time.

At first considered by many as little more than a novelty, the AAGPBL became increasingly popular when baseball-hungry fans discovered girls really could play the game well. For the rest of the war years and into the 1950s, the AAAGPBL was a big deal in several Midwestern cities, and for more than fifty young Michigan women who contributed their athletic talent to teams in four Michigan cities and several others in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Indiana.

Michigan fans had their first chance to enjoy AAGPBL action in 1945 when the Chicks moved from Milwaukee to Grand Rapids. The only team to make the playoffs every year of the league’s existence, the Chicks was one of the AAGPBL’s most successful franchises. A year after the Chicks came to Grand Rapids, Muskegon joined the league with its Lassies. In 1950 the Lassies moved to Kalamazoo. Battle Creek joined the list of AAGPBL host cities in 1951 when the Belles moved there from Racine.

Declining attendance in the early 1950s signaled the end of the AAGPBL. But for more than a decade, the AAGPBL brought happiness to thousands who loved baseball, both in the stands and on the field.

For more information visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com or call (800) 366-3703.

Photo credit: Northern Indiana Center for
History

Drummond Island, Michigan by Odalaigh

In order to defend against American attacks and protect British trade with Indians, Lieutenant Colonel Robert McDouall moved his garrison from Fort Michilimackinac closer to Canada in 1815. He named the island after Lieutenant General Gordon Drummond, commander of all British forces in Canada.

In November 1828, Fort Drummond, the last outpost of British occupation in America, was turned over to the U.S. For the next twenty-five years, only Native Americans inhabited Drummond Island.

In 1853 Canadian Daniel Murray Seaman and his family left the Mormon community on Beaver Island (more) and made their home on Drummond. Joined by two other Mormon families, they established a settlement. Daniel Seaman died in 1863, leaving his wife Betsy to take care of the sixteen children. As a former schoolteacher, Betsy gave her children a sound education and a strong sense of morality and tradition. The Seaman family thrived under the nurturing manner and watchful eye of the island’s matriarch.

George Warren Bailey brought his wife and six children to Drummond Island in 1880 to make his living from the huge tracts of hardwoods and pine trees. If the Seamans were viewed as being restrictive, reserved and austere (consistent with their Mormon beliefs), the Baileys would be seen as their opposites─boisterous, demonstrative in their behavior, fun-loving, and well acquainted with the bottle and tobacco.

MaxtonPlains4506 by ETCphoto

While these two clans intertwined in commerce and family, a woman on a mission stormed ashore in 1902. Her Finnish name was Kreeta Kontra, but she was known as the spinster Maggie Waltz. Waltz wanted to create a utopian community safe from the dangers of mine disasters, alcohol and brawling. By 1913, there were hundreds of Finnish settlers in three communities living in comfortable dwellings, successfully farming the thin soil and lumbering the forests. Waltz improved their lives with a post office, schools, a community hall and a cooperative grocery store.

The descendants of the Seaman, Bailey and early Finnish families are well represented on Drummond Island. Today, approximately twelve hundred residents call Drummond home and welcome visitors to enjoy the fantastic wilderness still offered by the island.

For more Michigan summer destinations, look for the current issue of Michigan History magazine. For information call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

If you'd like to visit Drummond Island, start planning at absolutemichigan.com/Drummond!

detroit zoo by ercy

Polar bears frolicking in a glass tunnel surrounded by 300,000 gallons of crystal-clear water; kangaroos bouncing about in a simulated Australian Outback; or hundreds of amphibians living in the world’s only amphibian conservation center--a place the Wall Street Journal described as "Disneyland for toads." These are some of the experiences visitors can enjoy at the Detroit Zoo.

Celebrating its eightieth anniversary this year, the 125-acre Detroit Zoo is located in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak and draws one million visitors annually. Special events are planned to celebrate this milestone in August.

When established, it was the one of the first zoological parks in the nation to have bar-free animal exhibit areas. Over the years, it has maintained the same location, while preserving some of its architecturally significant buildings and original exhibits.

Visitors will experience a free-flight aviary, featuring exotic hummingbirds and butterflies; eighteen-foot-tall giraffes against a backdrop of ancient Egypt; two 4,000-pound white rhinoceroses hanging out together; a Kenyan native and a former safari guide who roams the African Veldt exhibit area telling children African tales. Add to that bald eagles, camels, prairie dogs, trumpeter swans and even warthogs.

Meanwhile, parents can feel good about the zoo’s mission today. According to Ron Kagen, director of the Detroit Zoological Society, which owns the Detroit Zoo, "Years ago, [zoos] were just places of entertainment. Now, they’re wonderful sanctuaries for animals. For all of us, the challenge is to make a visit to the zoo something that is wonderfully enriching and healthy for people as well as animals."

For a visual tour of the Detroit Zoo check out this slideshow from the Detroit Zoo flickr pool.

The Detroit Zoo is one of a many great Michigan attractions featured in Michigan History magazine. For information call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

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Born in Idaho in 1919, Roberta Applegate was the daughter of Idaho Statesman editor Albert A. Applegate. "I had been bitten by the newspaper bug about the time I was learning to read," she later recalled. When Applegate was six years old, her father took her into the newsroom. She remembered, "I just kind of knew that's what I would want to do."

After earning a bachelors degree at Michigan State College (present-day Michigan State University) and a masters degree in journalism from Northwestern University, Illinois, Applegate joined the Detroit Free Press as a women's page reporter. In May 1943, she accepted a job with the Associated Press (AP) and soon began working at the State Capitol. She was the first woman to work in Michigan's Capitol pressroom, covering state government, the state legislature and the Michigan Supreme Court.

The men at the wire service did not welcome Applegate with open arms. Sometimes an editor assumed that her byline must contain a typographical error and removed the "a" from her first name. A former male colleague later wrote: "She was the first woman on our staff, and the men on it were none too happy to see a woman join them. I was prejudiced against women in newspaper work myself. She understood, pulled at least her weight, and won respect."

Success at the Capitol led Applegate to take a job as Governor Kim Sigler's press secretary--the first woman to hold that post in the state, and possibly the first in the country. She oversaw twice-a-day press conferences, worked with editors of the state's newspapers and wrote most of Sigler's weekly radio speeches on topics that ranged from proposed constitutional changes to budgetary issues to policy changes.

Following Sigler's defeat for reelection, Applegate continued to break barriers in journalism. For more on this remarkable woman, turn to the current issue of Michigan History magazine. For information call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

Roberta Applegate was a 2008 inductee to the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame.

Born in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1878, Sandburg left school in eighth grade. For the next decade, he worked a variety of jobs. Following a stint in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War, Sandburg entered Lombard College, located in his hometown. He worked on his writing, publishing several poems. This success led him to tackle his state's favorite son - Abraham Lincoln. In 1926, the first volume of Sandburg's two-volume biography of Lincoln was published. Although his poetic style and the book's lack of footnotes led some historians to criticize it, other reviewers admired Sandburg's approach. The Prairie Years became a nationwide bestseller.

Exhausted by his many writings, Sandburg and his family left Chicago and spent the summer of 1926 in a cottage overlooking Lake Michigan near Harbert, a small town in Berrien County. Rather than return to Chicago at the end of the summer, the family stayed in Harbert, and soon built a rambling year-round cottage. It became their home for nearly two decades.

Swimming and long walks on the beach were part of the family's daily routine. Working in a third-floor study, Sandburg continued his writing. Surrounded by hundreds of books and aided by his wife and daughters, Sandburg completed the second volume of his Lincoln biography. The War Years won Sandburg the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for history.

While the Sandburgs were happy in Harbert, the winters became too much. In 1945 the Sandburgs headed south, settling in North Carolina. In an interview before moving, Sandburg conceded, "I love it here. I love to skip stones. I'm going to miss it all."

For more great stories on Michigan's past, look to Michigan History and Michigan History for Kids magazines. For more information or a free trial issue, call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

You can get the scoop on Sandberg from Wikipedia and find out more about Harbert through these Harbert web sites on Absolute Michigan. I found a great site with some poems of Carl Sandberg. Here's one with a Michigan feel:

ON THE BREAKWATER

ON the breakwater in the summer dark, a man and a
girl are sitting,
She across his knee and they are looking face into face
Talking to each other without words, singing rythms in
silence to each other.

A funnel of white ranges the blue dusk from an out-
going boat,
Playing its searchlight, puzzled, abrupt, over a streak of
green,
And two on the breakwater keep their silence, she on his
knee.

Photo credit: Office of War Information. Courtesy Library of Congress: LC-USE6-D-001429.

1929 Ford Tri-Motor by Fernando Gomes Semedo

Six hours into their flight, the four explorers aboard the Floyd Bennett, a specially equipped Ford Tri-Motor airplane, stared at the mountain range ahead, blocking their way. Veteran pilot Bernt Balchen eased the plane upwards and entered the pass, which proved much narrower than anticipated. At the end of the pass there stood a ridge that had to be cleared. The overloaded plane was at 9,400 feet and wouldn’t climb any higher. Balchen shouted, “We’ve got to lighten the ship.” His navigator, Richard E. Byrd, pondered if he should throw out food or extra gasoline? Byrd decided to dump a four-day supply of food. The plane lifted slightly, but downdrafts pushed it back down. More sacks were thrown overboard. That did it, and the Floyd Bennett cleared the pass by five hundred feet.

Before Byrd stood a vast glacial plateau. Four hours later, the future U.S. Navy rear admiral took a navigational fix. “Ninety, south,” he yelled. Everyone was delighted, they were the first to fly directly over the South Pole. Balchen circled the pole and the crew dropped several American flags; one in memory of Floyd Bennett, who had piloted Byrd over the North Pole three years earlier. The Floyd Bennett headed back, landing at an advance base where gasoline had been stored earlier. The flight had taken almost eighteen hours and covered 1,600 miles.

1929 Ford Tri-Motor by Fernando Gomes Semedo

Built in March 1928, the 4-AT Tri-Motor Byrd flew to the South Pole had been refitted for the expedition. A heavy-duty engine had been installed on the nose and the plane was modified so that skis could be attached for landings on ice. Extra fuel tanks were also added. Besides the Tri-Motor, Byrd took three other planes on the expedition. The planes were dismantled and placed aboard ships for the expedition to the Ross Shelf, south of New Zealand. As weeks passed, Byrd placed supply depots on the direct route to the South Pole. Then on that day in late November 1929, when an advance meteorological unit radioed the message: "Visibility Clear," the Floyd Bennett was pulled out of its hangar and readied to make history.

Several years later, on a second expedition to the South Pole, Byrd chipped the stranded Floyd Bennett out of the ice, cleaned the engines and started it. He loaded it on the stern of his boat, returning it to the United States. Today, it is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.

For more great stories on Michigan’s past, read Michigan History and Michigan History for Kids magazines. For more information or a free trial issue, call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com. If you'd like to see how these cool planes were made and also see them in flight, follow this link to Ford Tri-motor videos on YouTube (even a video of stunt pilot in one!).

Fernando Gomes Semedo is a secondary school teacher in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario who is involved with the FordEurope.net forums and writes the motorsports column for "The Universal Car" newsletter that is published by the International Ford History Project.

On January 12, 1997, Linengar and a crew of six astronauts blasted off aboard the space shuttle Atlantis for the Russian space station, Mir. (Mir is a Russian word that can mean both peace and world.) From 1986 until 2001, Mir was the Earth's first long-term research station where astronauts from many countries worked and lived.

When Linengar arrived at Mir, he learned quickly that despite careful planning, unexpected things happen. On his forty-second day aboard Mir, a fire broke out. "The smoke was immediate. It was dense. . . . I could see a shadowy figure of the person in front of me . . . but I really couldn't make him out," Linengar said. The crew rushed to put on oxygen masks. The commander fought for 90 long seconds to get the fire out. Even then, the module was dark with smoke and soot, and the temperature reached 100 degrees. "You can't escape the smoke. You can't just open a window to ventilate the room," another crewmember later commented.

On April 29, Linengar went outside the space station for a five-hour spacewalk. He tested a new spacesuit, installed monitors and performed other tasks that he had spent countless hours practicing. The spacewalk was an amazing experience and the most poignant memory from his time in space. Linengar later recalled, "You are not in water, but on a cliff. . . . The whole cliff is falling and you are on it. You convince yourself that it is okay . . . to be falling because when you look out you see no bottom. You just fall and fall . . . as the cliff rotates, you feel as if you reached the crest of a roller coaster. . . . You flip headfirst out of your seat . . . you want to flip back upright. You can't. You decide it is okay to be diving headfirst into nothing."

Linengar returned to Earth on May 24, 1997, after spending 132 days aboard Mir. At the time, it was the longest time spent in space by any American male. At a speed of 18,000 miles per hour, he logged 50 million miles around the Earth--that's 2,000 orbits! Jerry Linenger retired from NASA in 1998 and currently lives in northern Michigan.

For more great stories on Michigan's past, read Michigan History and Michigan History for Kids magazines. For more information or a free trial issue, call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

For more about Jerry Linengar, check out his bio from NASA, a Q&A with Jerry from Nova, Jerry's letters to his son from Mir (which later became one of his books) and the Wikipedia entry for Jerry Linenger.

The use of that one word changed Romney's life - and the course of American history.

In mid-1967, George Romney was running for the Republican Party's presidential nomination. At the time, all presidential aspirants faced questions about the war in Vietnam. Two years earlier, after touring Vietnam, Romney had declared that American involvement in the Asian war "was morally right and necessary." But as domestic opposition to the war grew, Romney began questioning U.S. policy in Vietnam.

According to presidential historian Theodore H. White, at the beginning of 1967 the press focused on Romney "as the only visible candidate" to challenge LBJ. Owing to Romney's frontrunner status, and the dominance of the war as the issue in the race, the media outlets sought interviews aimed at clarifying his position on Vietnam. Romney exercised a great deal of caution regarding those requests, but accepted Gordon's offer to appear on his show.

According to historian White, the "brainwashing" comment "was just a toss-away line, nobody thought it significant at the time." Romney, in fact, was so comfortable with the interview he did not even want to hear a playback and immediately left for Lansing. Gordon later added, "I didn't even think much about the statement or consider it very important until the next day when I read the script and saw the word ‘brainwash' in print. Then it hit me."

Criticism of Romney was quick and devastating--a presidential candidate was not supposed to be susceptible to brainwashing. The 1965 tour of Vietnam had included other governors, including Vermont's Phillip Hoff, who called Romney's statement "outrageous, kind of stinking." The Democratic governor added, "Either he's the most naïve man or he lacks judgment." Democratic party chairman John Bailey said that Romney had "insulted the integrity" of General William Westmoreland and former U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge-the men responsible for Romney's briefings. Lodge added, "I never brainwashed anybody in my life."

In the months after appearing on the Lou Gordon Show, Romney's poll numbers stagnated and dropped. After a dismal showing in the February 1968 New Hampshire primary, he withdrew from the presidential race, which Richard Nixon later won. In January 1969, Romney resigned as Michigan governor and entered President Nixon's cabinet as secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Romney's comment dogged him even in death. When he died in July 1995, the headline from the Associated Press (AP) read, "George Romney, Who Said Military Brainwashed Him on Vietnam, Dead at 88." The first paragraph of an AP dispatch from Michigan, designed to be favorable, read, "Former Gov. George W. Romney, whose remark that he was brainwashed into supporting the Vietnam War derailed his presidential bid, was remembered as a man who shaped Michigan's political landscape and automotive history."

In one of the more intriguing "what ifs," If Romney had not made the brainwashed statement and had won the Republican nomination and then the presidency, how might American history have been different?

To find other great stories on Michigan's past, read Michigan History and Michigan History for Kids magazines. For more information or a free trial issue, call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

There's a lot more about Michigan's 43rd Governor on the George W. Romney entry at Wikipedia, including this link to a really great audio slideshow about Gov. George Romney from the Boston Globe that contains an excerpt of the interview and some of the reactions of current presidential candidate Mitt Romney to his father's most well known situation. Very much work checking out!

Spending time "up north" in Michigan is one of summer's special delights. The rituals are repeated year after year--making friends (and saying goodbye), enjoying beautiful water and longing all winter for the next summer.

A century ago, the Clarence and Grace Hemingway family summered in northern Michigan. They were in most ways an ordinary family for their time, but in one way they were unique. Their son, Ernest, became world famous, writing stories set in northern Michigan and winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. When he spent summers in Michigan, Ernest Hemingway was simply "Ernie," a boy who loved getting away from home and spending time up north.

The Hemingways arrived in northern Michigan as the 1890s were coming to a close. Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, a successful doctor in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, bought an acre of land on Walloon Lake and built a cottage the family called Windemere.

Like most families in the area, the Hemingways' cottage life revolved around the water. It was a source of food and entertainment and at this time of few roads, it connected the Hemingways (Clarence, his wife Grace and six children) to others on the lake and to the outside world.

Dr. Hemingway taught his children to swim and spent much time in the water with them. Under their father's guidance, Ernest and his siblings developed boating and fishing skills. In one letter, Ernest proclaimed that Walloon Lake was "the best rainbow trout fishing in America." Hunting and shooting were also a part of the summer experience. Dr. Hemingway was an excellent shot who knew the importance of safety and responsible hunting. Shooting skeet on the grassy hill behind the cottage soon became a Sunday afternoon family tradition.

Ernest's experiences abruptly ended as he moved into his twenties. After serving with the Red Cross in Italy in 1918, Ernest returned home and spent the summers of 1919 and 1920 at Windemere. The following year, he and his new wife honeymooned on Walloon Lake. It was the last time Ernest ever stayed at Windemere or visited Michigan for any amount of time.

Today, Ernest Hemingway is remembered as a world-famous author - not a young boy tagging along on family vacations. But for the first two decades of his life, "Ernie" was simply a part of a regular family that called northern Michigan home for the summer.

For more on the Hemingways' up north, especially some never-before-published family photos, pick up a copy of the September/October 2007 issue of Michigan History magazine. Visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com or call toll free, (800) 366-3703.

Photo credit: Clarke Historical Library/Jim Sanford

Dig Michigan! In a recent fall color tour of the Walloon Lake area on Michigan in Pictures, we came across a whole lot of information on Hemingway & Windemere from the Hemingway Resource Center and also this cool PBS series on Hemingway.

Mackinac Straits Ferry from MDOT
part of the Michigan State Ferry Album

Before the Mackinac Bridge opened in November 1957, the hundreds of people waiting to take a car ferry across the Straits of Mackinac (especially during deer-hunting season) provided an economic bonanza for local residents. Most drivers stayed with their cars to avoid losing their place in line. (Although drivers who left their cars and headed into town found local residents willing to “car-sit” and move the cars ahead to the ferry dock-for a price.)

More often, local residents and groups, including charities, clubs and churches, prepared or bought food and then walked along the roads peddling the edible wares at marked-up prices to the bored out-of-towners waiting in the car ferry line.

Some vendors sold food from trucks and pushcarts. On the mobile menu were such entrees as smoked fish, pasties, cheese and crackers, candy bars and snacks, plus a variety of hot and cold beverages. One fellow, with a jug of booze in hand, went from car to car with a shot glass selling drinks for 25 cents a swig. Every customer quaffed from the same tumbler.

Kids also got into the act. The local Boy Scouts sold homemade sandwiches to drivers waiting for their place on a car ferry. Mothers put tuna salad, ham and cheese, turkey, or bologna between slices of bread and then the uniformed Scouts loaded the wrapped sandwiches into Radio Flyer wagons.

Even local gas stations developed ingenious ways to refuel cars that were kept running during the cooler months to provide heat for the occupants. Long hoses--sometimes fifty feet long--allowed cars to be serviced right out on the highway.

Then came the Mackinac Bridge--and it all changed.

For more on the history of the Mackinac Bridge, look for Michigan History magazine’s “50 Years of the Mighty Mac” issue, available now. Visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com or call toll free, (800) 366-3703.

On April 24, 1959, Lappo, a Muskegon, Michigan, native and his five-man crew were returning from a routine simulated bomb run to the Lockbourne Air Force base near Columbus, Ohio. As Lappo later confessed, “I always wanted to fly under a big bridge. I thought it would be the Golden Gate.” Suddenly, the Mackinac Bridge came into view. Lappo polled the crew about his scheme to fly under the bridge. After the crew responded affirmatively with a 4 to 1 vote, Lappo declared, “I’m taking her under!” At a speed of 425 miles per hour, the RB-47 Stratojet raced through the 150-foot clearance between the roadbed framework and the Straits. In Lappo’s words, “It was exhilarating to say the least!”

However, the one naysayer among the crew was not amused. Two weeks after the “fly under,” the navigator snitched. Lappo pleaded guilty to charges of violating an air force regulation that prohibited flying an aircraft less than 500 feet above the ground or water, except during takeoffs and landings. Besides a forfeiture of pay ($50 a month for six months) and a formal reprimand, Captain Lappo was forced to surrender his wings.

Lappo contended that flying under the Mackinac Bridge posed no danger to the crew or the aircraft. According to the veteran pilot, every flight was a risk, and he saw this as no greater a threat than many others. Larry Rubin, Mackinac Bridge Authority executive director, disagreed. “It is a dangerous thing to do. . . . There were cables hanging from the deck. They were there when work was being completed and then they were there off and on after construction. They would have cut the plane in half.”

Despite the blemish on his record, Lappo remained in the air force, serving as an aircraft maintenance officer in Vietnam and other bases. After thirty years of service, he retired with honors as a lieutenant colonel. Although he never again flew for the U.S. Air Force, Lappo piloted his own private plane after moving to Alaska with his wife Olive Kay (also from Muskegon).

For more on the history of the Mackinac Bridge, including the full story on Lappo’s flight under the bridge, look for Michigan History magazine’s “50 Years of the Mighty Mac” issue, available in July. Visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com or call toll free, (800) 366-3703.

Photo provided by Michigan Department of Transportation.

Louis Stepman was lucky. His desperate hold on thin strands of metal was the only thing keeping him from a 400-foot plunge to a watery grave. Two other men who were with him were not so lucky.On the afternoon of June 6, 1956, Louis "Big Louie" Stepman and three other workers were stringing a catwalk from the north tower of the Mackinac Bridge. The catwalk - a bundle of chain link fencing to be strung on steel cables from the north tower to the south tower - would provide a temporary walking surface for workers installing the cables that held up the bridge's roadway. The bundles of chain link were folded like an accordion in 100-foot sections. As the four men readied a bundle at 552 feet above the Straits of Mackinac, it snapped free and began a rapid descent down the cables.

One man's ankle caught in one of the folds, pinning him in place on top of the fencing. His ankle had been crushed, but he was alive. The other three workers were jolted and fell from their narrow platform. Two men fell to their death, but Stepman fell 70 feet before he grabbed hold of the wire mesh and held on as it raced down the cable. It slowed when it reached the bottom arc. Dangling 400 feet above the water, Stepman thought about dropping to the water and taking his chances. Instead, he climbed 70 vertical feet up the wire mesh to safety.

For the two workers who perished, it had been their first day on the job.

Three other men lost their lives building the Mackinac Bridge. The names of all five men are remembered in a bronze plaque at the foot of the bridge in Mackinaw City.

For more on the history of the Mackinac Bridge, including the full story on five who died while building the bridge, look for Michigan History magazine's "50 Years of the Mighty Mac" issue, available in July. Visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com or call toll free, 1-800-366-3703.

Photo credit: Mackinac Bridge cables during construction, Image courtesy of MDOT's Photography Unit (www.michigan.gov/mdot)

Although the Great Depression of the early 1930s hit Michigan hard, it did not prevent the introduction of a new and more imaginative plan to link the Upper and Lower Peninsulas. In 1934, civil engineer Charles E. Fowler suggested an “island-hopping scheme” between Cheboygan and St. Ignace, via Bois Blanc, Round and Mackinac islands. The plan included seven miles of mainly arched cantilever spans, intermixed with eighteen miles of causeways and roads. This system also included railroad tracks, eliminating the state ferry system that carried railroad cars (and automobiles) across the Straits. The twenty-five mile toll “bridge” would be the longest bridge system in the world. Possible funding for Fowler’s $35 million plan included a federal grant, a private loan or revenue bonds.

As the plan was being submitted to the federal government’s Public Works Administration (PWA) support began to erode. Railroad people preferred the car ferries (which were cheaper), while the maritime interests feared the 300-foot channels were too narrow for their boats. Other critics opposed cars and trucks being driven on Mackinac Island.

Criticism also came from Michigan’s political leaders. Congressman Carl Edgar Mapes of Grand Rapids dismissed the plan as “wild fantasy of imagination,” while Congressman George Dondreo of Royal Oak described the plan as “a scheme to mar and disfigure [Michigan’s] priceless heritage.”

Although the PWA rejected Fowler’s plan, it did not prevent the New York engineer from including his design for bridging the Straits on his lengthy resume.

Twenty years later, Fowler’s dream came true when construction began on the Mackinac Bridge, which finally linked the two peninsulas together.

The mighty Mackinac Bridge is a beloved symbol of the dreams, hard work and courage of the men and women who built this great state. This year, the Mackinac Bridge will turn 50 years old. To pay tribute to this spectacular symbol, Michigan History magazine’s July/August issue will be dedicated to the history of the Mighty Mac. Subscribe by July 1 to receive this issue as part of a paid subscription. Visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com or call toll free, 1-800-366-3703.

Photo Credit: Michigan Department of Transportation. View the Mackinac Bridge Historical Construction Album from MDOT (and also the Modern-day construction Album).

Mackinac Bridge | 1957 - 2007

Celebrate the Mackinac Bridge's 50th birthday with this Mackinac Bridge 50th Anniversary puzzle from Barn House Puzzle.
Report on the 2007 Mackinac Bridge Walk - an estimated 57,000 people walked (or ran, wheeled or swam) the Mackinac Bridge in 2007. That's short of the 85,000 that traversed the span in 1992, but still a whole lot of folks!
The Annual Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Walk at Michigan in Pictures has all you need to know - and lots of photos - about this Michigan Labor Day tradition!
Making money at the Straits BEFORE the Bridge recalls how the car ferry across the Straits of Mackinac provided an economic bonanza for local residents.
Michigan History: The Mackinac Bridge Opens relates how the November 1, 1957 opening of the Mackinac Bridge was cause for great celebration
50th Birthday party for the Mackinac Bridge a celebration of the Mighty Mac with events including parades in both St. Ignace & Mackinaw City, bridge building demonstrations, Great Lakes folk music, food vendors, fireworks and much more.
Michigan History: Soaring Beneath the Bridge follows U.S. Air Force Captain John S. Lappo on a costly flight under the Mackinac Bridge. Kids - don't try this at home!!
Michigan History: They Paid the Highest Price looks at the danger involved in the construction of the Mackinac Bridge.
Michigan History: Bridging the Straits provides a broad overview of the political challenges involved in the linking Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas.
Mackinac Bridge Tower on Michigan in Pictures is a cool photo of one of the massive towers on the bridge (this job isn't really all that hard, is it).
Michigan Video: On top of the Mackinac Bridge from Wild Weekend TV features a tour of some sights most people will never see on the Mackinac Bridge. Be sure to check this one out!
Photo Friday: Mackinac Bridge by maproomsystems is a cool riff on yesterday & today at the Mackinac Bridge.
"Mackinac Bridge" photos on Michigan in Pictures will give you all the photos and links that have appeared here. Many of these are suitable as wallpaper for your computer.
You can get stories and links at Absolute Michigan keyword "Mackinac Bridge" including the story of the 1958 Mackinac Bridge commemorative stamp.
The Mackinac Bridge: Making Michigan, Michigan on Michigan in Pictures is where we introduced this whole idea and has some cool links. It also explores the whole "Mackinac or Mackinaw" issue.

Lapeer County Courthouse by Larry the Biker

In the summer of 1831, brothers Alvin N. and Oliver B. Hart left New York state and headed west in a quest for land. They camped along the fast-moving Flint River, at a place their guide called LePierre. The men returned to New York, but in November of that year, Alvin returned with his family to settle a town better known as Lapeer. They brought with them a few household tools and oxen, rather than horses. (Oxen could forge for food better in the wilderness and, if necessary, could provide the pioneers with fresh meat.) Shortly after Hart's group arrived, attorney Jonathan White of New York also settled his family in Lapeer.

As more settlers arrived (more than 3,000 by 1834), plans were made to make Lapeer the governmental center of Lapeer County. The Harts and the Whites, two of Lapeer's most prominent families, each had their own ideas of how the new city and county should prosper. Unable to reach any kind of agreement, the city was divided into Whitesville and Lapeer.

In 1846, newly elected State Representative Alvin Hart built a two-story courthouse. At the same time, Jonathan White also built a courthouse, sparking even more rivalry between the two families. In 1853 the Lapeer board of supervisors selected Hart's building to serve as the county courthouse.

However, White's "courthouse," an imposing three-story brick building, became the business and cultural hub of the city. In 1879, one year after White's death, the White building was dismantled and moved to the corner of Nepessing and Court Streets, adjacent to Hart's courthouse. The third floor of the White building became the Opera House and its social activities continued into the mid-1920s; in the 1930s it became a ballroom. Today, it still stands in Lapeer.

In 1880s, Hart's courthouse was in a state of disrepair and suggestions were made to tear it down. Instead, the structure was saved and today remains one of Michigan's oldest courthouses and a distinct Lapeer landmark.

To read the history of Lapeer, see the May/June 2007 issue of issue of Michigan History magazine. For more great stories on Michigan's past, look to Michigan History and Michigan History for Kids magazines. For information or a free trial issue, call (800) 366-3703 or visit www.michiganhistorymagazine.com.

On May 30, America will pause once again to remember the men and women who have died in defense of this nation.

Memorial Day officially started in 1868 when Major General John A. Logan, head of the postwar Union veterans' group called the Grand Army of the Republic, declared that on May 30, "the choicest flowers of springtime" should be placed on the graves of Union soldiers and sailors who had saved the Union and ended slavery.

Logan's declaration introduced the nation to Decoration Day. With the passage of time, Decoration Day became Memorial Day and was extended to honor all Americans who died in the service of their country. (However, to this day, some southern states honor their Civil War dead with Confederate Memorial Day.)

In 1868, Michigan communities took General Logan's pronouncement seriously.

At "an early hour," Coldwater merchants decorated their stores with flags "and other appropriate emblems in honor of our departed heroes." At 11:00 A.M., a mile-long procession of veterans, clergy, public officials, relatives of deceased soldiers and the Coldwater Brass Band wound its way from the city's public square to the city cemetery. More than three thousand persons listened to songs sung by the Quartette Club and an address by Civil War veteran Jonas H. McGowan. An observer noted that the flowers placed on the graves were "truly magnificent."

In Hillsdale, local citizens, joined by Hillsdale College faculty and students, paraded to Oak Grove Cemetery where they sang "America" and the "Star Spangled Banner," before visiting the soldiers' graves that were strewn with flowers.

In Romeo, an evergreen-covered cross inscribed with the name of the deceased soldier was placed at the head of each grave. Local women also erected an empty tomb for "those fallen heroes who were buried upon the [southern] battle-field." A half-mile procession of citizens passed each grave, "depositing upon them their offerings of flowers as they passed."

In Detroit, citizens who gathered at Elmwood Cemetery were led in prayer by the Reverend John Seage, a wounded veteran of the Fourth Michigan Infantry, and listened to patriotic music played by the twenty-piece band of the 43rd U.S. Infantry Regiment. A speakers' platform was decorated with American flags, a large stuffed eagle and "the rarest plants and flowers," including a flowering cactus in bloom. Evergreens, roses and white lilies were used to create arches at the cemetery entrance.

Introduced as "the soldier's friend," long-time Detroit lawyer Theodore Romeyn affirmed that placing flowers on the graves of those men who had died for the Union was a "simple" and "appropriate" symbol of remembrance for men who had "died for their country . . . and for us." Romeyn, a Democrat who had supported Republican Abraham Lincoln's reelection in 1864 and played a prominent role in raising troops throughout the war, also reminded the assemblage that for every burial stone "there is a vacant chair at the hearthstone." While honoring the dead was "pleasing and grateful," Romeyn added that "a higher duty" required that the children and wives who had lost loved ones in the war be visited and cheered to help them "in their affliction."

The Detroit Free Press writer who covered the day's festivities noted that all who attended Michigan's first Decoration Day "came away with softened hearts, and fresher, deeper memories of the gallant dead."

IMAGE CREDIT: Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-15990, drawing reads:

"Gallant charge by two companies of the 6th Michigan on Tuesday morning on the rebel rearguard, near Falling Waters, where part of the rebel army crossed the Potomac. This charge was really a very brilliant and dashing affair. The cavalry numbering not more than fifty or sixty men, charged up a steep hill in the face of a terrific fire, went over the breast works and captured nearly the intire [sic] force of the enemy with two or three regimental battle flags. Our boys were at least two thirds of the men engaged killed and wounded, quite a number of the dead were lying inside the works. This charge deserves an illustration, as it is without execption the most brilliant charge that has been made."

For more great stories on Michigan's past, look to Michigan History magazine. For more information or a free trial issue, call (800) 366-3703 or visit http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/.

Born on October 21, 1845, in rural Lenawee County, Will Carleton was the fifth child and third son of John Hancock and Celeste (Smith) Carleton. Well-educated, Carleton graduated from Hillsdale College in 1869. A writer of poetry since his youth, Carleton received national recognition in 1872 with his "Over the Hill to the Poor House." The poem he authored for Arlington was a 55-verse dialogue between the living and the dead, entitled, "Converse With the Slain."

Carleton won flattering reviews for his poem. One newspaper account called the Michigan poet "the celebrated poet and farm balladist, whose charming productions have carried sunshine into nearly every household in America." At Arlington, Carleton was interrupted by applause several times during the reading, and when he finished, there was the "wildest enthusiasm." One Michiganian who witnessed the day's events, observed: "I have no recollection of the day when I felt so proud of my country and especially of my native State, Michigan, as I do at this hour."

Carleton's Decoration Day triumph covered him with more than laurels. According to Carleton's biographer, "Arlington was clearly an epiphany-there would be no turning his back on his career as a poet and a lecturer." The Michigan poet spent the rest of his life doing what he could do best-writing, delivering and selling some of the most popular literary works in the English language. In 1919, the Michigan legislature recognized Carleton's influence on the American public by declaring his birthday (October 21) Will Carleton Day.

For more on Will Carleton, including his entire 55-verse "Converse With the Slain," pick up a copy of the May/June 2007 issue Michigan History magazine at your local bookstore or subscribe by visiting www.michiganhistorymagazine.com or calling (800) 366-3703.

A Gallant Charge by Edwin Forbes

The Archives of Michigan Digital Collection has close to 1,400 Civil War photographs. The majority of the images are carte de visite's of soldiers taking during the years of the Civil War. Also included are reproductions of sheet music, broadsides and group photographs.

Project Gutenberg has indexed Will Carleton's Farm Ballads, a book of poetry that includes some really great illustrations.

Michigan in the Civil War 1861-1866 says that 90,000 Michiganians served in the Civil War. 14,600 lost their lives and over 19,000 Civil War veterans are buried in Michigan.

Photo credits:

(1) Will Carleton in his old home near Hudson in Lenawee County, Michigan courtesy Michigan Historical Center, Department of History, Arts and Libraries.

(2) Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-15990, drawing reads:

"Gallant charge by two companies of the 6th Michigan on Tuesday morning on the rebel rearguard, near Falling Waters, where part of the rebel army crossed the Potomac. This charge was really a very brilliant and dashing affair. The cavalry numbering not more than fifty or sixty men, charged up a steep hill in the face of a terrific fire, went over the breast works and captured nearly the intire [sic] force of the enemy with two or three regimental battle flags. Our boys were at least two thirds of the men engaged killed and wounded, quite a number of the dead were lying inside the works. This charge deserves an illustration, as it is without execption the most brilliant charge that has been made."

President Taft was the first - but not the last - president to decline an invitation to summer on Mackinac Island.

In the mid-1920s, President Coolidge received invitations to summer at Mackinac. Although Mrs. Coolidge reportedly "was very enthusiastic about the idea," her husband was noncommittal. Instead, the First Family summered in South Dakota's Black Hills. Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt also turned down offers to summer on Mackinac Island. At about the same time, the installation of air-conditioning in the White House reduced the need for the president to escape Washington during the summer months.

The last known official effort to recommend Mackinac Island to a sitting president occurred in the 1950s. As with his predecessors, President Dwight Eisenhower turned down the invitation. The final rebuff came in 1957 when Ike responded by saying that "if" he got away that summer, he planned to visit the U.S. Naval base at Newport, Virginia.

On the "too cool" front, here's the caption for the above photo from the Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-51613): Pres. Coolidge receiving a book containing oil paintings of scenes in Mackinac Island and a complete history of the island, on which he is being invited to spend the summer, from Mrs. W.W. Wittinghill of Detroit, as official representative of Gov. Green of Michigan.

For more the full story of Michigan's efforts to entice presidents to summer on Mackinac Island, see "Summer White House?" in the May/June 2007 issue of Michigan History magazine. To subscribe, go to www.michiganhistorymagazine.com or call 1-800-366-3703.