MANISTIQUE, Mich. (WJMN) — An Upper Peninsula historical society now has a place to call home for its new museum in Manistique. It’s a building just happens to have been built in the 1890s.
On Thursday, the building was moved from its original location on River Street over the Manistique River to its new home in a small park. The move was only about 300 yards in total distance, but the effort to preserve this piece of history was substantial.
“We’re trying to move this historic old building that either had to be moved or torn down so they can develop the boardwalk along the Manistique River. So that’s why the city was going to tear it down. But they decided they would give it to the historical society if we would move it,” Jim Weber, who is on the Schoolcraft County Historical Society Board of Directors, said.
The building was originally a laundry facility. Years later, it became a location for coal sales. The Manistique Lumber Company then used it as a warehouse. Weber said it has been vacant for the last 15 years.
Before the building could get off its old foundation, Kris Grover, the Schoolcraft County buiding administrator and Manistique zoning administrator, had some work to do.
“The Historical Society approached me and wanted to know if I could help them. So I opted to not bill them or charge them for any permits for the move to help save them some money because they have very limited funds to be able to preserve this building,” Grover said. “And I did it on both the county building side and also the city zoning side. I did take the time out to make sure that everything was in compliance with the local and state building codes, didn’t charge anything for it, in hopes that this move will in turn help generations to come understand the history of the city of Manistique.”
That includes Grover’s own future generations.
“I have two daughters, Katelyn Grover, which is 12, and Clara Grover, which is 9. They think that what that does is completely awesome of the community because they get to go with me sometimes on inspections and get the kind of point things out. So going forward, they’re going to know that, hey, we kind of had a hand in this, too, because they’ve actually inspected the foundation over here and they’ve been a part of some of the zoning meetings, and they’re going to think it’s really cool. And that, to me, long-term, is something that they can carry with them for the life,” Grover said.
Now that the building has been relocated, work can begin to give it new life will be as a museum.
“We’ll have we have a ton of artifacts that we can’t display right now because we’ve got just small areas to display them,” Weber said.
Weber said the historical society is always looking for new members. It is also selling ceramic plaques to help decorate the new museum.
“You can have them engraved with your name or your ancestor’s name or your company’s name. And we’re going to have a wall on the side of this building. Once it’s in position, there’ll be a little bit of an alcove, kind of like a little patio park area, and we’re going to have all these ceramic plaques on display,” added Weber.
You can learn more about the Schoolcraft County Historical Society here.
