You've never heard of Michelson, MI....Really?
This was the place to be on Friday nights......in the years around 1909-1924 after Michigan's booming lumber industry rebounded in the early 1900's.
I was recently turned on to this nearly non-existent (anymore) piece of forgotten Michigan history when I learned that where our family was going camping this last weekend was very near to where this once thriving town where steam whistles blasted, saws echoed across the Muskegon river, and a town of over 500 held weddings, and raised their children who recalled the days the carnival would come to this long lost town.
I'm speaking about Michelson, MI which had it's own Post Office, General Store, Express Agent for the rail that used to run into the center of town, a hotel, confectionery, lumber yard, dray, milliner, livery and garage, boarding house, and of course the Michelson Shingle mill that brought this town to life from 1909-1926. The original mill lasted only a short 2 years prior to being destroyed by fire and being rebuilt.
With the mill ending it's cut in 1924 the town dwindled, while a handful of people stuck around (some till their deaths) it didn't take long for it to become a memory aside for some abandoned rail road tracks (now also mostly long gone) and a few foundations to be found by a dedicated explorer. We did such that this weekend. As much as I had hoped to find more, the reality is that the Reedsburg Dam, which was built in 1940 creating the Dead Stream Flooding took care of that for us, as much of what used to be land is now under water. We did locate many foundation pcs which appear to be location correct for the mill, we also found a large house foundation near the end of the 1/2 mile long road that used to be lined with cookie-cutter company owned white-washed rental houses. From the size of this foundation I would have to assume it was not one of these, and from other records these were all long gone many, many, years ago.
A few short miles (if that) from the epicenter of Michelson we also located what was one of the last original towns-person's dilapidated farm establishments. Also believed to be one of the final remaining still standing buildings dating to the living days of Michelson. Glenn Robinson was also the person who ran the General Store and his wife took care of the town millinery needs.
I can only put a few pics here, but I have uploaded many into an album of which I will link in this thread. I myself found this to be a blast to do the research on as it's something that there were still living, breathing people who lived this history during my lifetime. As little as we turned up when the boots hit the dirt on the initial outing I find myself still trying to dig up more ammunition to head back with in the future. I am aware that in the Houghton Lake Historical Museum there is a re-creation of the Michelson Town Hall which also has a model displayed which was built by one of the original town people as well. Unfortunately it's not currently open due to the busy season being over. If anyone has been there, and by chance snapped pics of this model of Michelson I would LOVE to see the pics, or any other historical pics that may have been forgotten about you may have. I'll take info tooFor now though, here's some pics;
An original shot of the mill. The man who took this shot worked for the Lake City paper, and lived to be 92 yrs old only passing away in 1977. I wanted to get a shot from the same vantage point which proved to be impossible due to water, and cat tails which cover the area. It was like a flippin' jungle out there now, and even better, it had rained earlier in the day, can you say, soaking wet head to toe? Totally worth it though!
Michelson.jpgRobinson Farm.jpg
The link to the 2nd page of the album, this starts you at at the Robinson Farm pics, the foundation remains are on page 1 of the album.
http://www.motownmuscle.com/forums/a...mid=537&page=2
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Originally Posted by Stormy81
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