Lazarus Rosenthal – Dry Goods & Clothing Merchant

Posted on February 17, 2016February 23, 2016

Circa 1904-06 image of Rosenthal’s Clothing Store (last two awnings far right)

Lazarus Rosenthal was born on November 4, 1874 in Syracuse, New York to Saul and Celia (Rubenstein) Rosenthal. He came to Manistique in 1895 and operated a dry goods store for four years under the name of Rosenthal & Blumrosen. Rosenthal married Rachael Blumrosen in a Jewish ceremony in Detroit, Michigan on January 28, 1898.

Becoming sole owner of Rosenthal’s Clothing Store in 1899, he remained in business in Manistique for 27 years. In February of 1926, he sold the clothing store to Henry Neville and W. J. Raredon. The Rosenthal building later housed the Lauerman Department Store. While in business in Manistique, Rosenthal was active in civic affairs and a great booster for Manistique and Schoolcraft County. Read More...

Central School Essay Contest – 1924

Posted on January 24, 2016January 24, 2016

The Central School building was erected in 1882 with an initial enrollment of 76 students. It was replaced by the new Junior High building in 1931

During the fall of 1924, the Manistique Women’s Club sponsored an essay contest at the Central School concerning the early history of Manistique. They hoped to kindle an interest in local history among the community’s young people. The Pioneer Historical Society had just been organized a year earlier, so there was little written material available for research. But the students had an even better source of information to draw upon—the pioneers themselves. Many of Manistique’s earliest settlers were still alive and residing in the area. The essays that the students produced are a treasure trove of information, but leave us wishing for even more. The winning essays were read before a school assembly at the Central School and were later published in the local paper as follows: Read More...

Last Log Drive of Big Pine Era – 1929

Posted on January 16, 2016January 16, 2016

Log Drive on the Manistique River (1890’s Photo)

In July of 1929, the largest remaining stand of Michigan’s virgin white pine forest floated down the Manistique River toward the Stack Lumber Company sawmill in the town of Manistique. The giant pine had been scattered over 3,200 acres of swampy forest at the head of the Driggs River, a tributary of the Manistique River—in an area previously considered too inaccessible for logging operations. The 1929 drive included 600,000 feet of Norway and white pine, 1,000,000 feet of hemlock and 800,000 feet of hardwood (birch, oak, maple, elm and basswood). The log drive marked the end of big pine lumbering in Michigan which began along the Saginaw River valley in 1833. Once thought inexhaustible, the great pine forests were all logged off in Lower Michigan by 1895 and in Upper Michigan by 1905. A total of 190 billion feet of lumber had succumbed to the woodman’s axe. Read More...

Blumrosen Store Closes After 43 Years In Business – Nov. 1923

Posted on December 22, 2015January 20, 2016

The A & P store occupied a portion of the former Blumrosen building, moving there from River St. in 1929. The building is still in existence today on S. Cedar Street.

Moses Blumrosen and his brother Bernard were born in Russian occupied Suvalk, Poland in the years 1862 and 1864 respectively. The brothers immigrated to the United States in 1872 and arrived in Manistique by boat in the spring of 1880. Hardworking and ambitious, they went into business selling clothing and dry goods. The Blumrosen’s first store was located on the future site of the A. S. Putnam drug store and was little more than a shack. Old timers claimed that the original store was built with lumber costing less than two dollars. Determined to become successful, they traveled to nearby communities peddling goods from their backpacks. Gaining a reputation for quality and honesty, their business grew and prospered right along with the booming lumber town. Read More...