River Park Campground, Menominee, Michigan
Morning view.
See the ship in the background?
There’s not a whole lot to do in this area, so today we walked the town – – out of the campground, through the Kmart parking lot, and up the road to the Michigan Welcome Center.
Look! A moose!
And a bear!
The woman working there was very helpful, including checking on the condition of the “washed out” campground we’re headed to soon. It seems the campground is fine, and the woman there gave an alternate road to get there since our main route truly is washed out. I hope we can make it!
She was so excited when we asked for information on the UP (Upper Peninsula)! She said no one wants brochures and magazines any more. 😊
One of the things she gave us was a brochure on the walking tour of the Menominee Historic District. And so, we walked up and down the main street trying to find the buildings listed on the brochure. It wasn’t as easy as you might think. There were other buildings besides the “historic” ones, and nothing was labeled. So it became sort of a treasure (scavenger) hunt!
This is the Menominee Court House built in 1874, with an entry added in 1909.
I don’t remember what church this is.
First Methodist Episcopal built in 1908.
First Presbyterian
The sign out front says they’re celebrating 150 years, so that’s 1868.
A portion of downtown
First National Bank, built in 1908, and the oldest banking house in the county.
Menominee Harbor
We were hungry and in need a lunch spot and sort of randomly chose the Ogden Club. Blaine remembered reading Tripadvisor reviews, which said it was good. So, in we went! It was just after 11:30am and no one was there. Not a single solitary patron. Gulp! But we were greeted warmly and seated immediately. (Of course we were! No one was there!)
The place was practically spotless, which made me wonder if it was a restaurant in an old building, but no. Turns out it’s been in business since 1925!
Be sure to read the bottom line. : )
But this isn’t the same building, of course.
And the food was terrific! We ordered Spicy BBQ wings and burgers served with homemade chips. Everything was made fresh while we waited!
Just as we were finishing up, another couple came in. I think they must have been locals because it seemed like the three person staff (that’s including the cook) all knew them.
Curiosity got the best of me and I complemented our server on our positive observations and then asked who owned the place. She told me there were six men who owned it together. When I mentioned that we were surprised that with such good food, etc., there weren’t more people there, she said, “Well, to be honest, it’s a political thing. One of the owners is pushing for the mine and since people are protesting the mine, they’re boycotting the restaurant, even though we have nothing to do with the mine.” Too bad! : (
So guess what I did? Go ahead. Guess!
Yep. I looked up what’s going on. Especially since we also saw signs in people’s yards that said,
Meno minee (and some other things that I can’t remember)
Apparently, a Canadian company wants to mine in Menominee. The Indians don’t like it because they say it will mess with their land. Environmentalists don’t like it because it could potentially harm the wetlands and the river. In fact, the EPA disapproves as well. But according to an article I found that was dated June 6th, the project has been approved provided the company does everything it said it would and provides it’s exit plan after they abandon it in seven years.
The company expects to pull 532,000 ounces of gold, 721 million pounds of zinc, 74 million pounds of copper, 4.6 million ounces of silver and 21 million pounds of lead from the Back Forty site at a total cost of $261 million.
I guess a lot of people don’t want the mine. It’s just too bad they’re boycotting the wrong place.
Since we left with near-to-bursting bellies, we needed to walk some more, so we checked out more of the town before going in search of a local lighthouse.
This may or may not be the former armory. It has the right date on it, and nothing else in the brochure has this date. . . .
There was a clothing and stationery store on the first floor and the Armory Hall was on the second.
It’s construction is unique becasue it’s a building within a building. For a number of years it was City Hall and later a home for a Drum and Bugle Corps.
They call this the Harter Block.
In June 1890, Philip Harter, a shoemaker since 1872, finished building his store and opened for business. he sold boots and shoes for he entire family and also custom made ones and did repairs, calling himself “The Old and Reliable Shoemaker”.
The Schale building was originally used as a saloon for the Menominee river Brewery with apartments upstairs. An Italian restaurant was in the basement.
Barclay’s Livery Stable, still sports a working freight elevator that was used to lift the carriages and sleighs to the second floor storage area.
There’s a ramp to the basement where the horses were kept.
This used to be the Post Office, and I’ll bet it says that under the “Marmen Computing” sign.
It was built in 1900.
A view looking back up the street from the former Post Office.
I don’t know what that building is, I just thought it was a pretty incredible view. But then again, I think they all are around here!
The Menominee Opera House built in 1902.
Construction was completed in just 4 months! It was “financed by local businessmen who preferred New York shows that came in by train. Artists stayed at the Hotel Menominee.
Seats were covered in maroon plush and the fire curtain was a painted scene from Longfellow’s, ‘The Courtship of Miles Standish.’ There were 8 boxes, 2 horseshoe balconies – a box cost $100, a seat $10 and the second balcony 50 cents.
It was gutted by fire in 1950 and the exterior has been recently stabilized.”
On the left is the Opera House.
Another street view
Formerly Fire Station No 1
The engines were pulled by a team of horses and exited through the double front doors. Equipment was on the first floor, sleeping on the second and the bell was in the tower.
We didn’t see a tower . . .
The Paalzow Building, built in 1887.
It’s a rare example of America’s first attempt at pre-fab architecture. The components of the cast iron facade were ordered from a St. Louis, Missouri company’s catalog, which architectural detail and design which could be put together in various ways according to taste.
We found the lighthouse, but it was too far away to walk there today.
This is called “Tourist Park”.
Seems to me that if a town went to the trouble to name it that, it should be more condusive to attracting tourists, don’t you think?
It was overgrown, and the bathrooms weren’t very nice. Hmmm . . . .
We still had to walk home and it was quite warm out and blazing sun by now, so we settled for a glimpse, with a promise to return another time.
Time to find our way back home.
Blaine took me from the historic streets, through the industrial area. 😊
But we discovered why the train we heard twice during the middle of the night was so loud, and the rumbling noise we also heard during the night was a paper plant. There was also the early morning loudspeaker noise that sounded just like Charlie Brown’s teacher, wahwahwahwah . . wahwahwah . . wahwah . . .
Ugh! Not much sleep last night! And it’s really hot back here around all the industry!
On the way home . . .
How confusing is this???
More industry
And there’s the source of the rumbling!
Ha! Look at that!
That’s my maiden name!
And there’s the train tracks.
See the campground sign in the background?
Back home,
we picked up the Jeep and headed back to the lighthouse.
Good luck reading this!
Teeny print on a big sign.
Nothing I could do to make it better.
Cute gift someone left!
It’s been moved three times since it was originally built in 1877.
In 2016, it was renovated at a cost of $350,000. The money was donated by a private donor. Wow!
More teeny print, but you may actually be able to read this one . . .
I put my phone tight up against the window so I could see what, if anything, was inside.
Looks like they must open it up occasionally. There’s postcards and what looks like a registration book.
The new and improved light.
Humphf! No charm whatsoever! Who’s gonna wanna come see that in a hundred years?
We didn’t spend as much time here as we normally would have because the local teenagers were hanging out all around it. Some were even jumping into the icy cold water! Brrrrrr…….
Now that I know how it grows, Cottonwood is pretty cool.
Now if I can just convince my stuffed-up head of that fact . . .
Tomorrow . . . . . is another day! (can’t you just hear Scarlett saying that?? 😊)
FYI – as I’m publishing this on 6/27, I want to let you know that we may be out of service for the next three days. We’ll see . . . .