Interior of the Middlebrook Grocery located on Manistique’s Westside. The stock included a mixture of grocery, dry goods and hardware items. The shelves were lined with canned goods and signs in the rear of the store advertised “Mexoja” high grade coffee and Oleo margarine.
William Middlebrook was born in Lindsley, Steuben Co. New York on July 22, 1864. He received his early education in Lindsley and then went on to attend Allen’s Business College in Elmira, New York. Middlebrook worked for a time as a bookkeeper in New York before coming to Manistique in the spring of 1886. Here, Middlebrook found employment with the Weston Lumber Company and was placed in charge of the Clothing and Dry Goods Department of the company’s general store on Deer Street. He married Dora R. James in a ceremony at Manistique on June 2, 1887.
Middlebrook worked at the Weston Lumber Company store for three years before entering the grocery business in 1889 in partnership with George Chantler. He became the sole owner of the grocery in 1895. Middlebrook spent a total of 53 years in the grocery business in Manistque before his retirement in August of 1942.
February 1930 photo of Middlebrook’s Delivery Truck (G. Leslie Bouschor Collection)
During his long career in Schoolcraft County, Middlebrook was very active in civic affairs. Within two years of his arrival, he was elected as Hiawatha township treasurer when much of the Westside of Manistique was attached to Hiawatha township. He later served on the Manistique Village Board. Middlebrook was elected mayor of Manistique in 1908 and held that office until 1918. He served a second stint as mayor from 1927-1930. He later was elected to several terms on the County Board of Supervisors and also was appointed to the County Road Commission.
Always concerned with the public good, Middlebrook was active in the campaign to wipe out tuberculosis, which took place following the First World War. He served as chairman of the Schoolcraft County Tuberculosis Committee which operated a tuberculosis sanitarium.
Middlebrook dealt with another public health crisis during the 1918 flu pandemic while he served as mayor. So many people became ill with the flu that a hospital was created on the second floor of the C. L. Hardware building to care for them. Middlebrook also served as the first president of the Schoolcraft County Fair Association and was instrumental in the building of the first fairgrounds.
William Middlebrook died on November 17, 1949 at age 85. He was survived by his wife Dora, a daughter, Dorothy Shipman, and a son, Harold Middlebrook.