Time for a treasure hunt! Can you guess where this photograph, related to a historical story in the Grand Traverse Region, was taken? Come back for next month’s issue and check your answer!
Ready to submit a mystery photo from your community? Send it to the editors of the Journal at gtjeditor@tadl.org. Remember to include the answer to your photograph in your email!
Congratulations to both Liz and Mark Roberts, who (in a fun twist on the old “Battle of the Sexes” game show) both provided the correct answer to our mystery photo, including the bonus question! See the drama play out in the comments on the original post!
Congrats to the happy couple, virtual libations all around!
Traverse Area District Library’s Local History Collection is home to many little floating tidbits, like this image cut out of an unknown magazine.
What can you tell us about this business? Do you know who owned it?
Bonus points if you can tell us which past Grand Traverse Journal article prominently featured the owner!
This is an image of Traverse City’s biggest school fire. Which school is it, and when did the fire take place?
Bonus question: A close-by mansion accommodated students for a year after the fire. What famous building was it?
These photographs show a mystery that is disappearing into the abyss of past time. On Old Mission peninsula along East Bay old records indicate the existence of a Council Oak, a tree used as a gathering place for Native Americans. It was situated just south of Archie township park and north of Wilson Road, perhaps a hundred yards from the water’s edge. Now, a subdivision occupies the area around the site, appropriately named “Council Oak.” The tree is mostly gone with only a rotten stump remaining–and one more thing. A shoot grows from its base, a shoot of black oak, the same species as its grandparent tree. Is it a symbol of the resilience of the Odawa tribe that used to inhabit these lands?
For this month’s Mystery Photo, we show you two sides of scrip, a currency Traverse City city leaders issued in 1934, the height of the Great Depression. This money could be redeemed at many Traverse City businesses in exchange for goods. At one point teachers were paid in scrip since there was no other money available to them. The question is—why is the back filled with stamps? What goal did that accomplish? Good luck, history buffs!
The stamps were placed on the back on a weekly basis to ensure wide distribution. Every merchant supplied a stamp and after twenty stamps, the scrip could be turned in for a real dollar!
A quote from the Traverse City Record-Eagle at the time indicated there were problems with stamps falling off, but the system worked reasonably well.
Out of the eight bridges in Traverse City, which one is this one? Bonus question: Which organization was this bridge dedicated to in 1930?
To date, January 2018s mystery photo has created the longest debate in the history of our publication! Thank you for being engaged and keeping your editors on their toes!
This image is easily one of your editors’ favorites! Taken about 1910, here is Boardman Lake, taken from the northern end and looking south. In the photograph, we see a number of fun-loving Traverse City residents ice skating, playing hockey, and in general enjoying a perfect frozen lake with no piles of snow to contend with. Solve the mystery of this image: What is that large factory shown on the background on the left? Bonus question: What building now sits where that factory was?
Congratulations to reader Biff Martin, who successfully identified the factory on the far left (with the three tallest stacks) as the Oval Wood Dish Company!
The bonus question raised some debate, but Mark Roberts answered successfully: the Boardman Lake Apartments is the former site of the Oval Wood Dish Factory.
Between the Factory and it’s famous family owner-operators, the Hull family, there’s a real story to be told! Maybe you would be interested in researching and writing that history? Let us know!
For this month’s Mystery Photo, we show you two sides of scrip, a currency Traverse City city leaders issued in 1934, the height of the Great Depression. This money could be redeemed at many Traverse City businesses in exchange for goods. At one point teachers were paid in scrip since there was no other money available to them. The question is—why is the back filled with stamps? What goal did that accomplish? Good luck, history buffs!
This stairway is all that remains of a formerly well-known nightclub in Traverse City that operated from the 1930’s up to 1970. It is located where Maple Street crosses over Kid’s Creek. What was the name of that nightclub? (Hint–the Kid’s Creek name might suggest the answer!)
Thanks to reader Mark (with a little help from fellow readers Larry and Mozelle), we have our answer! “The Brook” was a happenin’ nightclub, a real jazzy joint, the old timers might say.
This image is easily one of your editors’ favorites! Taken about 1910, here is Boardman Lake, taken from the northern end and looking south. In the photograph, we see a number of fun-loving Traverse City residents ice skating, playing hockey, and in general enjoying a perfect frozen lake with no piles of snow to contend with. Solve the mystery of this image: What is that large factory shown on the background on the left? Bonus question: What building now sits where that factory was?
Indeed, it happened in 1934, a year to remember. The school children occupied Perry Hannah’s home for the next school year. Imagine listening to the teacher in the same room Perry Hannah occupied thirty years before. Wild!