The Jamestown Ski Tower

1940’s view of the ski tower located on the sand hills across from Jamestown Slough.  Vern Linderoth Photo

     Preparatory work began in the fall of 1940 for the construction of a ski jump, ski trails and a toboggan slide on the sand hills opposite Jamestown Slough. The effort was spearheaded by the Manistique Winter Sports Club and relied exclusively on volunteer labor. The poles and lumber used for erecting the ski jump were also donated. By January of 1941 the new winter sports park was opened for use. The youngest skier to brave going down the new Jamestown ski tower was nine-year-old John Paul Quick.     Read More...

The Alva Kepler Log Cabin

The Alva Kepler Log Cabin, Photo courtesy Lee Ekblad

     The Alva Kepler log cabin in Manistique’s Pioneer Park dates back to the 1880’s and was once part of the Byers’ settlement in Hiawatha Township, 12 miles north of Manistique. The cabin became a source of controversy in the mid-1890’s, when Abe Byers and Walter Thomas Mills formed a cooperative community known as the “Hiawatha Village Association.” People who joined the colony promised to move into association housing as soon as it became ready. When Civil War veterans John and Alva Kepler refused to do so, the firestorm it ignited lead to the demise of the Utopian experiment in Schoolcraft County. Read More...

Manistique’s Civil War Cannon Mystery

Manistique’s Civil War Cannon on the Courthouse grounds. Photo Courtesy Mary Riley

     

     In 1896, the United States Navy Department donated a Civil War era cannon to Manistique’s George F. Fuller Post of the Grand Army of the Republic. The cannon had seen service on the James River in Virginia during the years 1861-65. After it arrived in Manistique, the cannon was placed on the Courthouse grounds where it soon became an honored emblem of national pride. The cannon played an important role in the life of the community. It was paraded through the streets of the city on Decoration Day and on the Fourth of July.  Its thunderous boom could be heard on National holidays and on extraordinary occasions, such as at the death of President McKinley in 1901, when the Presidential Salute was given. It took two men to fire the cannon, and the duty fell to Civil War Veterans, Henry Brassel and John Gayar. Read More...

Manistique’s Indoor Baseball Team

The 1902 Manistique Indoor Baseball Club. Top row from left: Harley Garland, Victor Deemer, John Forshaw. Middle row from left: Dean Crowe, J.C. Wood, Ben Gero, Sr. and Ed Jewell. Bottom row from left: F. Paulson, William S. Crowe, John “Jack” Williams and F. Guinan. Photo courtesy Wm. S. Crowe Collection.

           During the early 1900’s, the month of November marked the beginning of the indoor baseball season. Fans flocked to the Star Opera House to watch an indoor version of the national pastime.  Season tickets cost a dollar and a quarter. Indoor baseball was invented in the 1880’s and was the forerunner of modern fast-pitch softball. In Manistique, the fraternal societies organized a “city league” which included the Masons, Legionites, Maccabees, Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Read More...