An unassuming black binder was unearthed in the Local History Collection at Traverse Area District Library (TADL) this past month, which tells the forgotten story of the disastrous fire the Wilson Furniture Company survived in 1955. The fire started on the ground floor shortly after closing time, and first blew out the great display windows facing Union Street before quickly spreading through the four-story building. It was considered a serious disaster, resulting in over $200,000 worth of damage, and forcing the Company to close that location for a full two years.
When the store reopened in July 1957, it was to many accolades published in the Traverse City Record-Eagle by fellow Union Street businesses, like the Hubbell’s Service Station ad pictured here:
Advertisement from Hubbell’s Service Station on the reopening of Wilson Furniture Company on Union Street, Traverse City “Record-Eagle,” 15 July 1957.
The binder of material actually came not from the archives of Wilson Furniture Company, as one might expect, but from the papers of their insurance agent, Jack Coddington Fitzmaurice. Jack was the owner of Fitzmaurice Insurance Agency, which later became Fitzmaurice Garwin Insurance when Jack took on partner Gary Garwin.
Image copyright The Camera Shop, Traverse City (Mich.)
It’s an interesting look into how insurance claims were handled in 1955. Although brief, the correspondence included is explicit about F.D. Leonard’s, then President of the Wilson Furniture Company, satisfaction with Jack and his work. Jack coordinated the efforts of the Michigan Millers Mutual Insurance Company (which he was an agent of) and the Employers Mutual Companies to ensure that Wilson’s not only received the funds needed to rebuild, but to ensure that the staff was retained and compensated.
Three aged and cancelled checks are included with the collection, all from the Michigan Millers Mutual Insurance Company, totaling $76,201.27 paid out in workers’ lost wages. Does that name sound familiar? It should! You will recall in February 2017, the Grand Traverse Journal revealed that Millers Mutual is the long-time home of Queen City No. 2, the second steam-powered fire engine operated in Traverse City.
When we published that story, local historians were at a loss as to how Millers Mutual came to own the engine. Discovered amongst Jack’s papers was an article clipped from a 1965 Record-Eagle, revealing the provenance as the steamer was sold from one private owner to the next, ultimately ending up in the Millers Mutual collection.It is more than satisfying to find these disparate pieces of history and find a cohesive narrative within them.
Image is copyright The Camera Shop, Traverse City (Mich.)
Look at these rediscovered photographs, and imagine the front of Wilson Antiques as it looks today. I suppose we need to thank Jack for that astounding transformation!
TADL’s Local History Collection is made up of stories like Wilson Furniture’s, Jack’s, and thousands of others. What will you find?
Amy Barritt is co-editor of Grand Traverse Journal.
by S.A. McFerran, B.A. Environmental Studies, Antioch University
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette recently weighed in on aquaculture. His opinion is that aquaculture would subordinate public uses of open waters in favor of private control.
The open waters of Lake Michigan have been used for commercial purposes in the past and are currently used for commercial purposes. Aquaculture is a commercial use, as are marinas and trap nets already in common usage by commercial fishermen. Trap nets are set in the Spring and often remain on the lake bottom until fall. They are checked regularly and the fish are sorted and the nets returned to the lake bottom. A net pen for aquaculture is similar and like a trap net would not interfere with public use of open waters. With proper siting, scale and monitoring, pollution is minimal. (1)
What tools do the architects of an ecosystem have? Add species, subtract species (as with the sea lamprey), improve habitat and change goals. Fishery departments know a lot about the limnology of the lakes. Using that knowledge, places favorable to aquaculture could be identified. Limited operation could be allowed in those places.
A worthy goal is the local production of fish by Michigan citizens in Michigan waters. Just as enthusiastic farmers sell vegetables at local markets, small aquaculture operations could offer fresh local fish at market. Large corporate fish operations should not be the goal. The goal is a citizen-led entrepreneurial process that allows aquaculture on a local basis.
If government is making a determination on how many fish can be raised in the Great Lakes, it would be informative to know what the historic population of fish was. It is clear to anyone reading historic accounts of fishing in the Great Lakes that the population of fish was, in the past, much greater than it is now. In 1872, 39 million pounds of fish was taken. The total fish population was more than twice the present populations. (2) That alone puts to rest the argument against the resiliency of the Lakes.
Additionally, other technical problems of aquaculture can be solved in Michigan as they are being solved in the rest of the world. (3) The State of Michigan has learned a lot about how to operate aquaculture in places like Platte River. That hatchery was once a big polluter of Platte Lake but they cleaned it up and now raise millions of fish pollution free.
Another local success story concerns Harrietta Hills Trout Farm LLC, on the AuSable River, which has operated for five years without incident. The Department of Environmental Quality issued a permit for the farm that holds the operators to high standards which “requires weekly monitoring for phosphorus, which cannot, on a seasonal average basis, exceed 15 parts-per-billion in the 8.64 million gallons-per-day”. (4)
Ecosystems are complex. In recent history, marketing the experience of catching fish, and sport fishing in general, has subordinated any other possible use of the Lakes, including aquaculture. Both have a place in the Lakes. The Waters held in “public trust” are held for all the “public,” not just sports fishermen.
S.A. McFerran B.A. Environmental Studies, Antioch University Platte River, Michigan
(1) Diana, Jim, quoted from personal correspondence with the author, February 2017. Dr. Jim Diana is Director for Michigan Sea Grant, and is involved in leading the statewide program in its research, education and outreach efforts on critical Great Lakes issues, such as sustainable coastal development and fisheries. When asked about pollution issues, specifically if Aquaculture pens can be operated without polluting the Lakes, his response was: “Absolutely. There are 11 licensed operations in Lake Huron on the Canadian side, and no damages have been determined from them as of recently. There was a problem in one area, with nutrient addition causing some algal blooms, but they moved to another location and all has been fine since.”
(2) Bogue, M.L. Fishing the Great Lakes – An Environmental History. University of Wisconsin Press, 2000.
(3) “On January 11, NOAA published a final rule implementing our nation’s first regional regulatory program for offshore aquaculture in federal waters. In doing so, NOAA is expanding opportunities for U.S. seafood farming in the open ocean. NOAA and our partners are working to advance and expand U.S. aquaculture.” NOAA Fisheries. “NOAA Expands Opportunities for U.S. Aquaculture.” Accessed March 20, 2016. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2016/01/offshore_aq_rule.html
Is aquaculture—growing lots of healthy eating fish inexpensively through fish farming—a great idea? NO! The basic problem with raising many animals in a small space is poop. Large net-pens (fish cages) producing hundreds of thousands of fish will generate untreated fecal waste in huge amounts. This is essentially the same problem with other CAFO’s (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations)–too many fertilizing agents headed downstream which wind up producing massive toxic algae in larger bodies of water. The Lake Erie and Toledo, OH water pollution disaster of 2014, is a perfect example.
Some have argued in support of aquaculture that the waters of the Great Lakes are a public trust, but that argument, to me, is precisely why aquaculture should not be permitted to pollute these waters. According to Jim Olson, attorney with For Love of Water (FLOW), the waters of the Great Lakes are “a shared public commons for the benefit of citizens for navigation, boating, fishing, health, and sustenance.”
And, according to Dr. Howard Tanner, former Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries director, “…one net-pen operation can produce the equivalent of phosphate emissions from a sewer plant for 10,000 people. This fish sewage will create filamentous algae, which will wash up on nearby beaches and rot and stink.”
Only in self-contained aquaculture facilities can the waste products of the fish be controlled and kept out of the people’s waters downstream.
Another problem with fish farms is the antibiotics used to control disease. Again, the leftovers get flushed down the river or are mixed in with the lake waters and are then consumed by you and me.
Economics are another part of the big picture. Lake Michigan sport and commercial fishing is a billion dollar industry. Aquaculture can’t compare to that in generating jobs or money.
Michigan’s Attorney General Bill Schuette is on the side of protecting the environment. He has ruled that fish farming does not improve the public trust for the uses listed above, and would necessarily interfere with or impair them. Thus, it is illegal in his opinion. He says that fish farming in the Great Lakes does not fall within the definition of “aquaculture facility” under the state aquaculture law, because the definition only allows fish farms in privately controlled waters. Under the Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act as well, it is illegal to “occupy” public waters for primarily private purposes such as fish farming.
So my suggestion is to NOT purchase Rainbow Trout in the supermarket or order it in the restaurant. That is the species usually raised in commercial fish farms. Instead, go fishing in a nearby lake or stream in which trout swim and grow naturally and where it is legal to keep them. Try to catch one or two, yourself. It’s quite enjoyable and they are good for you, too.
About Charlie Weaver
Charlie Weaver is a retired fly fishing river guide on the Au Sable, Manistee, and Pere Marquette rivers. He serves as a board member on the Northern Michigan Environmental Action Council, and belongs to the Anglers of the Au Sable (Adams Chapter of Trout Unlimited) and to the Clearwater Conservation Committee of the Sierra Club.
PO Box 1308 Kalkaska, MI 49646 ctejedor AT copper.net
A Murder in Eastport: An 1870 Family Story of Racial Profiling
By Norton Bretz, President of Eastport Historical Society
Sunday, April 9th, 1pm
This talk will examine a fascinating 1870 murder that echoes issues our country still deals with today.
On June 12, 1870, a black man named William Swan was walking along what is now US31 near near Eastport. William and his family had been living in the Charlevoix area for over five years, the only black residents of the county. He was was shot and killed by two Civil War veterans, for no apparent reason. The shooters would be acquitted.
Come hear Mr. Bretz, a descendant of these veterans, give a lively recounting of this event and its aftermath.
Norton Bretz is President of the Eastport Historical Society. He spent his career as a nuclear physicist at Princeton University. He is a Michigan native who grew up spending summers in Eastport.
Program is free and open to the public. Program will take place Sunday, April 9th, from 1-3pm, at the Traverse Area District Library, Children’s Story Room, 610 Woodmere Ave.
Stop by to discover what the Boardman River Nature Center (BRNC) has to offer! From 10:00-12:00pm, GTCD and the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assistance Program (MAEAP) are holding a FREE domestic drinking water well screening. For more information, click here.
Visit us from 1:00pm-2:30pm to join our educator as we learn all about the Boardman River. We will work with our indoor stream table, hike along the Boardman, and create a fun craft to take home. Ideal for ages 4+. These Saturday events are free and open to the public.
When: Multiple Wednesdays – April 5th, April 12th, and April 19th, from 9:30am-12:00pm
Where: Various parklands throughout Grand Traverse County
Shortly after snowmelt is a great time of year to remove unwanted debris and miscellaneous items from our local parklands. In addition to cleaning up the parks, small scale park enhancement projects will take place. Contact us today to learn more about which parklands will be of focus this year, and what you can do to help!
Registration: RSVPs are required; contact Reb Ratliff at rratliff@gtcd.org or 231.941.0960×27, or Tom Vitale at tvitale@gtcd.org or 231.941.0960×19.
Historians love it when they find a new source of information that sheds light upon a subject they are interested in. So it was when, after idle searching on the internet, I came across IndustrialChicago, Volume 6, Logging Interests, a book that offered plentiful information about Perry Hannah, Albert T. Lay, and the Hannah Lay company, the firm responsible for the building of Traverse City. Reading the book in the comfort of my home, I learned about the company not from the limited perspective of local history sources, but from Chicago-based ones. In addition to information about the company itself, the narrator told anecdotes about founders of the company, Hannah and Lay, stories that had lain untold so far in the telling of our history.
Some information simply confirmed what we thought we knew.Did the lumber taken from Northern Michigan help rebuild Chicago after the great fire of 1871, the fire allegedly started by Mrs. O’Leary’s cow?Indeed it did.We are told that the Hannah and Lay yard lay south of the fire’s devastation.The company was well positioned to supply lumber for the rebuilding process.
Exactly how profitable was Hannah Lay?The reader of Industrial Chicago is given figures about board feet of lumber produced at mills of the Hannah Lay empire, but these are difficult to interpret.How much is a billion board-feet after all?A better indicator is this: In 1895, the year of publication of the book, the company owned the Chamber of Commerce building at the corner of LaSalle and Washington outright.It was valued at the time at three million dollars, a sum in today’s money that would total closer to 35 million.A postcard from the time shows its magnificence: fourteen floors with astounding ornaments—a palace, which has been replaced, sadly, by the Chicago Board of Trade building.
Perry Hannah.
What does Industrial Chicago tell us about the founders of the company?About Perry Hannah, it revealed not much that we didn’t know.I found it interesting that he obtained a Common School education probably consisting of ‘reading, ‘writing, and ‘rithmetic, before he moved to the Port Huron area with his father at the age of 13.There he learned the art of rafting logs to be sent down the St. Claire river to sawmills to be sawn into lumber.His roots were close to the working class, unlike his partner Albert T. Lay.
Lay was educated in private schools until the age of 16, presumably a more rigorous education than the public schools at the time.His father was a legislator to the US House of Representatives for the state of New York.Is this why young Lay’s signature appears bold and competent, in contrast to Hannah’s—that reading and writing were activities he had spent much time doing?At first, he stayed in Traverse City to set the new mill near the mouth of the Boardman River to working properly, but five years after arriving at the rude settlement carved out there, he and Hannah resolved to change places.Perry Hannah would stay in Traverse City and Lay would handle the Chicago operations.Lay, perhaps because of his superior education, would be involved in the more intricate dealings with suppliers and major customers.
Tracy A. Lay.
Albert T. Lay’s early years in Traverse City have not been described by previous historians.We know that in 1853 he ran against James Strang, the Mormon leader at Beaver Island, and lost that election to the Michigan legislature.He oversaw the construction of a steam-powered sawmill at edge of Grand Traverse Bay.He probably approved the building of the first Hannah Lay store, just 16 x 20 feet, the ledgers of which still remain at the Bentley Historical Library in Ann Arbor.
Lay named Traverse City.In 1853, seeking a postal route for the settlement, he presented the name “Grand Traverse” before officials in Washington, D.C., later accepting their suggestion to strike out the “Grand.”It would be Traverse City, the “City” element added later.
What does one do to found a city?In the past, Harry Boardman and his son Horace were given credit for founding Traverse City.They bought land here, built a sawmill in 1847, and began the production of lumber at that early date.A hundred years later, in 1947, historians convinced city leaders that the centennial celebration should occur in that year.The settlement began with Boardman’s acquisition of land and the subsequent logging of the trees on the property—no matter that the Boardmans never put down roots here.They bought the land and sold it soon after.
The whole question of who founded the City–and when–seems silly to Native Americans who had set up camps here from prehistoric times.Still, there is something in a name.Whoever names a place deserves credit for that act.By that rule, Albert T. Lay founded the City.
One story about the rude, uncivilized nature of the Traverse area tells about Lay and a judge friend from Manistee who had come north to visit the logging operation at the foot of Grand Traverse Bay.The judge promptly identified a man in the sawmill crew as a run-away criminal wanted for the murder of his own daughter.Quickly, he made Lay the deputy sheriff of the new region, and then named him deputy county clerk, deputy county treasurer, and deputy school inspector.In short, Albert T. Lay temporarily held all the offices for the soon-to-be Grand Traverse county.After the sawmill was stopped to secure men for a jury, the trial proceeded apace, the defendant declared guilty.He was tied to a post at the mill (since there was no jail), and was sent downstate to serve a life sentence in prison there.Justice was done with the aid of the young owner of the sawmill at the mouth of the Boardman.
In praising Lay, I do not want to disparage Perry Hannah’s contribution to Traverse City.After all, he did stay at this ramshackle outpost for 47 years, keeping away from the enticements of a grand city—Chicago—only a day away by railroad or steamer.He pushed to have the Northern Michigan Asylum located in Traverse City and personally guaranteed support to the Carnegie library, thereby assuring it would be built on Sixth Street, opposite his home.He donated land to churches and generally treated people fairly and with generosity.When Traverse City was a small settlement, he—and his company—ruled the town, but for all that, he was a benevolent despot.We could have done much worse.
At the same time, we should not neglect the other founder of Traverse City, Albert T. Lay.A small park on Union Street bears his name, but few persons remember what he did for the community.There is no statue, as there is of Perry Hannah across Union street, though a plaque is mounted on a boulder that reads: Lay Park: To commemorate Albert Tracy Lay, pioneer lumberman, who, with Perry Hannah, in 1851 founded the first permanent settlement on the site of Traverse City.”What elegant simplicity!The two together founded the city.
Why are some trees species eager to leaf out early in spring while others stay dormant until much later?Poplars and maples break dormancy quite early, sometimes before the last frost, while black locust, oaks, and catalpa bide their time, often waiting until late May.Certainly, as with most things in nature, many factors explain the difference, but here I would like to concentrate on one of them: the kind of wood trees make.
Longitudinal view of tracheid cells in wood.
Wood is the water-conducting tissue of a plant.Under the microscope it appears to be made up of long, torpedo-shaped cells liberally sprinkled with holes to let water pass through.Wood is mostly made of these cells–called tracheids.Pine trees have no other specialized cells to carry water up the tree, but broadleaf trees do, vessels.
Vessels are not torpedo-shaped at all, but resemble soda straws.You need a microscope to see them, but they are quite large as cells go, and that size can be a drawback.If air bubbles form inside them or ice crystals form in a late spring frost, they can be damaged so that no water goes up to service the expanding leaves.
Trees with large vessels are especially at risk.Just when buds need water from the roots, none is forthcoming.The solution, for such trees as black locust and oaks, is to manufacture a ring of vessels early in spring to carry the water up.The trouble is, it takes time to do so, time which the tree yields to other species that do not have to form a fresh layer of vessels, maples and poplars.That means those species get the jump on those working to make new vessels.Trees that make vessels lose out for a time in the battle for sunlight.
Cross-section of ring-porous wood. The large cells are vessels. The lines represent boundaries of growth rings.
For all that, they are quite successful.Black locusts are “weed trees,” growing rapidly like weeds, whole groves of them joined together with underground rhizomes.A white oak takes a different pathway, putting its energy into growing a single individual.Both trees have a ring of vessels laid down in early spring, a ring clearly visible in the wood’s annual growth rings.They will serve as the major plumbing system until dormancy in the fall.
However, some ring porous trees leaf out early.The explanation, according to one researcher, is evolution: they simply evolved in a warmer climate, spreading later to the North.Science is never straightforward in the answers to questions it provides.
Shrubs leaf out early for a different reason.They need to get as much sun as possible before the large trees expand a dense canopy of leaves above.This year, see if that is not so: Do smaller native shrubs leaf out before the trees of the canopy overhead?
Image taken from the educational materials at Budburst.org
The time of leafing out—budburst some call it—varies according to the year, the habitat, the species, and the weather.Naturally, a warm spring hastens the process, while days of frost inhibit it.In these days of climate change, trees spread their canopies earlier on average than they used to.They flower sooner, too, and they change color later in the fall.In recent decades southern species do better than before in northern climates: Will pecans enjoy the newly changed winters of Northern Michigan?
One project —budburst—seeks to enlist amateur scientists in charting the leaf-out times for different tree species.If readers wish to join this year’s study, they can sign up this year at budburst.org
All plates taken from; Mauseth, James D. “Plant Anatomy.” Benjamin/Cumming Publishing Company, Inc.: Menlo Park, California, 1988.
In the broadest sense, aquaculture means growing water plants and animals for food, but in the Great Lakes area, it refers mostly to fish farming, raising fish in ponds or within nets in a defined area. The practice is controversial with entrepreneurs claiming it can be done without harming the environment and environmentalists countering that it can threaten important ecosystems. Whether it should be done in Lake Michigan or Lake Huron raises still more questions. In this feature, two of our contributors, Stewart McFerran and Charles Weaver, take up the issue, each supporting opposing sides.
Kathy Firestone on “The History of Power Island,” March 19th
On the 3rd Sunday of every month, the Traverse Area Historical Society presents a program on local history. This month, we welcome author Kathy Firestone, who will speak on the History of Power Island, that famed plot of land in West Grand Traverse Bay that was the playground of the likes of Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Thomas Edison and Babe Ruth.
Program is free and open to the public. Program will take place Sunday, March 19th, from 1-3pm, at the Traverse Area District Library, McGuire Room, 610 Woodmere Ave.
OAC’s 2017 Class Schedule is Online and Registration is Open!
The Oliver Art Center is pleased to announce its 2017 Summer Class Line-up! Registration can be done on our website, under the ‘Classes’ tab on the top menu or by calling the office at (231) 352-4151. Students will find classes in painting, drawing, collage, furniture, writing, ceramics, quilting, cooking, and special classes just for youth.
Returning favorites such as Peggy Hawley, Edee Joppich, Cedar Kindy, Beth Bynum and Tony Couch are joined by new instructors Julie Keck (copper enamel jewelry making), Jenni Bateman (silk painting), Heidi Finley (marbeling on paper and silk) and Karen West (iPhone and abstract photography). Douglas David returns this year with still life painting and David Abeel is back with Windsor woodworking.
The culinary arts program welcomes back Joe Muer with four classes on seafood and fish as well as Jim Voltz with classes on brunch and soups. Oliver Art Center is pleased to welcome Sara Hartley from Cherry Republic with four baking/pastry classes.
Youth classes are back in drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture and felting. Register early for these popular summer activities. The ceramics program is growing as well! Every Thursday is Open Studio and no experience is required. Keep an eye on the website for more beginner adult and kid ceramics classes.
“This year’s line-up is one of our best yet. We conducted a community survey late last year and asked what our community was looking for in classes. We took all the comments into consideration when booking this year’s classes and we hope that the community responds well to what we are offering. We are also looking to attract more youth to our center with many different classes for all ages” says Mercedes Michalowski, Executive Director.
By Bob Wilhelm, author and historian of Traverse City
The Grand Traverse Journalalready published the first three chapters of the late Bob Wilhelm’s history of the Wilhelm family in the November, 2016 issue. Now we wish to continue the project with this excerpt describing the Bohemian community along Union Street in the 1880’s and the construction of Wilhelm’s clothing store at the corner of Union and Eighth Street (now the AT&T store). We plan to offer Bob’s book online in its entirety at an early date.
CHAPTER 9: Entrepreneur on South Union Street
Around 1880 when Anthony Wilhelm took up residence in Traverse city, Union Street was “paved” with sawdust its full length from downtown to Sixteenth street. The wooden South Union Street bridge was low and the slope from Seventh Street to the river provided fine sledding for the young.
In the spring when the pork barrels were low, people could be found on the banks of the river with dip nets and spears catching suckers, bass, pickerel and trout.
Two local Indians, Louis and Jake, who lived in a slab wigwam on Sixth Street near the river sold fish to the neighborhood. The price was always 25 cents regardless of the size or amount of the fish.
When the pigeons returned along the river, rifle fire was common.
There were only a few buildings from Seventh to Tenth streets. On the west side of the street at the corner of Seventh and Union was the Franz [?] Wilhelm’s meat market. Other buildings were the homes of Mrs. Furtsch, the Bartaks, E.P. Wilhelm, Charles Dupres, and Harry Holdsworth.
Union Street ca. 1870, showing Boardman River House, now Brady’s Bar. Image courtesy of Traverse Area District Library, Local History Collection.
On the east side of the street were the Boardman River House, Chaloupka’s Saloon and Prokop Kyselka’s home at Eighth and Union. Further up the 500 block was the Dezorme home, the convent, Mattison Drug Store and the residences of Morris Sabin and the Weidenhamers. South of Tenth Street was a forest of second growth and poplars.
Unlike so many of the lumberjacks, Anthony Wilhelm managed to save a few hundred dollars from his many years in the lumber camps. He joined his cousin John Wilhelm buying and selling real estate. On the north side of Eighth Street near Union they purchased several lots. John kept two and built his home.
In 1883 Anthony exchanged the remaining parcels for lots 19 and 20 at Union and Eighth.
The March 26, 1885 issue of the Grand Traverse Herald reported:
Ant. J. Wilhelm is getting the material on the land for a brick building on the corner of 8th and Union Street. The building will be 25 x 60 feet, two stories and basement. It will be built entirely of white brick.
“Wilhelm, Anthony J., Wilhelm Brothers, Dry Goods, Clothing and Carpets.” Image taken from a collection of photographs of Traverse City Businessmen, held at the Traverse Area District Library.
The April 23 issue of the Herald reported:
Work will begin soon on the fine brick store for Ant. Wilhelm corner Union and Eighth. The present building has been bought by Jas. Dunn and is being moved to his lot corner Eighth and Cass St. He is putting in a cellar and brick foundation. This building was the first dwelling on the south side of the river. The new building will be 25 x 60 feet. The foundation will be quarry stone. The west and south fronts of the best pressed brick, the first floor front of iron and glass and the front iron. E. Adaley has the contract and J.G. Holliday will have the carpenter work. The building will cost about $3,500.
The existing building formerly occupied by Caloupaka’s Saloon was raised and placed on the crib and moved on rollers. A large log would be dug into the street with a windlass. Ropes would run to the building and teams of horses or oxen would turn the windlass and slowly move the building.
Since all the brick production of the J.W. Markham’s brick yard on West Bay road was being used to build the Northern Michigan Asylum, it was necessary to go out of the area for supplies. White bricks were purchased in Zeeland and moved to the Lake MIchigan coastline to be transported by boat to Traverse City. The limestone foundation was purchased from the owner of a lumber schooner who had used it for ballast. The beams were two by twelve inches. In the front of the store were cast iron girders. The reason for the twenty five foot width was that this was the maximum width that could be constructed without extra support.
The building was constructed as a millinery shop for his sister Christine, but never opened. While visiting her brother Charles in Milwaukee, she met William Theopolis Bunce at a church party in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. The couple was married April 13, 1889 at the Congregational church in Milwaukee. Bunce worked for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway from the early 1880s until his retirement in 1942. In May 1946, Bunce was featured in Ripley’s Believe it or Not because he “has worn a fresh carnation in his lapel every day for the past 65 years.”
With a vacant building, the Bohemian community urged Anthony Wilhelm to open a clothing store to serve the needs of the neighborhood. Anthony and his brother Emanuel formed the Wilhelm Brothers partnership in 1885. The business opened in 1886.
Emanuel (“Em”) Wilhelm in fishing gear. Image from the Bob Wilhelm Collection, Traverse Area District Library.
Emanuel Wilhelm had returned to Traverse City after spending three years in Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. He was employed in cattle ranching, railroad work and mining. With his wanderlust satisfied, he moved to Milwaukee where he took several business courses and worked seven years before returning to Traverse City to join his brother.
With the establishment of the partnership a second 25 s 100 foot addition was constructed on the north side of the original building.
The Northern Michigan Asylum was nearing completion so bricks could be purchased locally from the J.W. Markham brick yards. The cost was $3.00 per 1,000 bricks.
Advertisement for the Wilhelm Bros. store, from the “Grand Traverse Herald,” March 4, 1886. Full issue of newspaper is available for download from the Traverse Area District Library Local History Collection: http://localhistory.tadl.org/items/show/3752
The first advertisement announcing the opening was carried in the March 4, 1886 Grand Traverse Herald:
NEW GOODS
A large invoice of Spring Clothing just received. Men’s and Boy’s Suits in all styles and qualities at prices that will surprise you. No shoddy or second hand goods in stock. It will be to your interest to inspect our goods and learn our prices before purchasing. We will have a well selected and complete stock of dry goods about April 1st, 1886. It will be our aim to give our customers honest goods and perfect satisfaction in every respect. South Side Brick Building Wilhelm Bros.
Two iron loops are buried in the wood of this White Oak, located on the shores of Boardman Lake, on the Highland Assisted Living Center grounds. We speculate that the tree, given its current size, was already very large a hundred years ago, especially since White Oaks grow so slowly . What were they used for? We will give you our hypothesis next month!
Locally-produced digital magazine featuring nature and local history from the Grand Traverse Region.
