Michigan History Magazine

Breaking News! Or should we say, breaking “mews…”

The Iron County Museum has two new staff members: Buck and Holly Barry, a pair of cats who have been charged with keeping the society’s facilities free of mice! The society is planning to build an outdoor catio for its new residents. Buck and Holly Barry have also been featured prominently on their page—go take a peek and see what else the museum is up to!

Keep up with Michigan historical news big and small with Michigan History magazine. Check out our award-winning publication at https://hsmichigan.org/read/michigan-history

At 9 p.m. on Friday, January 2, 1920, Detroit police and federal agents launched a series of coordinated raids to arrest suspected anarchists, communists, and political radicals. Their main target was a building known as the House of the Masses. The three-story hall at Gratiot and St. Aubin on the city’s near-east side was widely known as the headquarters of the Socialist Party of Detroit. Author Jefferey Samoray explores this building’s storied history in the feature article “House of the Masses: A Hub of the Socialist, Communist, and Labor Movements in Detroit.”

Several notable speakers lectured at The House of the Masses as it became a magnet for progressive and radical voices of the era in the early 1920s. Some of the most famous speakers included Max and Crystal Eastman, the brother-sister cofounders of The Liberator magazine; Eugene Debs, five-time Socialist Party candidate for U.S. President; William Z. Foster, radical labor organizer and leader of the 1919 Great Steel Strike; Charles E. Ruthenberg, founder of the Communist Party USA and one of five Americans interred in the Kremlin Wall, and many more.

Learn about the building’s full history as a community center that hosted fraternal and social organizations to an eventual home for organized labor and forum for international political thought. Get the full issue of Michigan History magazine at https://hsmichigan.org/read/michigan-history

When you think of a historic saloon, what comes to mind? Bursting through the swinging double doors? Perhaps a gruff “this town ain’t big enough for the two of us?” The Empire, Michigan, area has its own saloon history closely tied to its lumber boom in the 1980s—and its on display at the Empire Area Museum!

The Roen Saloon was opened around 1895 by Andrew Roen, a Norwegian immigrant who worked for the Empire Lumber Company during its heyday as a lumber exporter. Roen helped form a community south of the mill called Norway Town, which mostly housed other Norwegian immigrants working in the sawmills. The saloon, also, became a gathering place for men who had spent all day working in the mills. It served a few hundred residents and people passing through on the new railroad line. The saloon shut down in around 1925 after a fire burned down the mill and with Prohibition on the horizon, the bar was taken to the Roen property in sections. The bar and its original light fixtures, along with a schooner, taxidermized animals, original cash register, and musical devices now make up the modern iteration of Roen’s Saloon in the Empire Area Museum, and it’s even complete with the original liquor license from 1917! Cheers to historical preservation!

Interested in learning more about Michigan’s history? Check out this issue’s “Facts & Finds” section when you grab your copy at https://hsmichigan.org/read/michigan-history

Congratulations are in order—Lansing’s airport recently turned 100!

The first planes flew from the Capital City Airport on May 1, 1926, but it did not officially open until July 1928, and passenger service began in 1929. The city of Lansing operated the new airport for two years before turning it over to the new Michigan Board of Aeronautics. After the Second World War, when planes were confiscated by the federal government to support the war effort, the airport hosted prospective pilots in the Civilian Pilots Training Program and War Training Service. Capital Region Airport Authority took over management and ownership of in 1971, and additional terminals and other improvements were made throughout the early 1990s. In 2008, the airport attained official “Port of Entry” status. Its first international flight to Cancún, Mexico, was completed in 2009, and the airport was renamed the Capital Region International Airport at that time.

Michigan Milestone Awards celebrated in each issue of Michigan History magazine! Keep up with the latest in Michigan history at https://hsmichigan.org/read/michigan-history

For many years, the Whitcomb Hotel in St. Joseph was home to a local celebrity: a green and yellow Amazon parrot named Polly. From her perch outside the hotel’s Tropical Room, Polly delighted guests, staff, and locals alike with her entertaining antics. Polly’s popularity continued even after she was adopted by the local fire department following the death of her original owner. From her time in the Whitcomb Hotel until her death, Polly the parrot was beloved by the local community.

Read all about the Whitcomb Hotel’s colorful companion, including the time she was kidnapped—birdnapped?—in the FREE full article athttps://hsmichigan.org/sites/default/files/2026-08/PUB-MHM-Sample%20Story.pdf

When was the last time you bowled at The Garden Bowl, Detroit’s oldest operating bowling alley? Did you know that The Garden Bowl is also thought to be the oldest operating commercial bowling alley in the United States? Its history is chronicled by Lisa Schomisch in the article “The Working Man’s Country Club: Inside Detroit’s Garden Bowl” in Michigan History magazine:

“In those early days, bowling was an upscale sport for men, and bowling alleys were considered the working man’s country club. They catered to workers from the fledgling automobile industry, offering a place to eat, socialize, and bowl several nights a week. Players wore ties and white shirts and were greeted at the door by a concierge. According to Garden Bowl lore, customers could receive concierge-type services from Henry, the counterman, as late as the 1960s. Dressed in a smock and a small leather bow tie, Henry would reserve customers’ bowling balls, check and brush their coats, provide ci**rs, and polish their shoes. Henry would also book their numbers and horses.”

Discover how bowling and gambling went hand-in-hand, how the bowling alley became fully automated over the years, and how it was protected during the 1967 Detroit Rebellion in the full article! Check it out at https://hsmichigan.org/read/michigan-history

Happy Labor Day! Will any of our followers be participating in the Mackinac Bridge Walk today?

What began as a simple march to honor the Mackinac Bridge’s opening in 1957 has become an annual celebration of this engineering achievement and the unity of Michigan residents. The first Mackinac Bridge Walk took place on June 25, 1958, when Governor G. Mennen Williams and a sixty-eight-member party made the five-mile trek across the bridge to commemorate the momentous achievement of its completion. The second Mackinac Bridge walk took place on Labor Day in 1959 and has been an annual tradition ever since. The walk attracts tens of thousands of participants each year, and no registration or fee is required to participate. We hope some of you are out making the trek this morning!

Please note that our office is closed today while our staff is enjoying the long holiday weekend. We will be back in office tomorrow morning, Tuesday, September 8 at 8:00 a.m.

Do you remember The Great Michigan Moose Lift?

In the mid-1980s, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources hatched an ambitious plan to replenish the state’s dwindling moose population. Moose hunting was banned in Michigan by 1899, but after over a century of being hunted to feed miners and loggers across the state, it was already too late to recover the population. In 1984, the DNR announced that Michigan and Ontario, Canada, had reached a deal: 150 wild Michigan turkeys would be sent to southern Ontario, and in return, Michigan would receive 30 Ontario moose out of an Algonquin Park herd. Each moose was tranquilized, blindfolded, and fitted with a tracking collar before being slung from a helicopter—yes, you read that correctly—and airlifted over the icy forests up to 14 miles away to its new home. The first moose, a 925-pound pregnant cow, arrived at its new home on January 23, 1985, followed by 28 more moose over the next two weeks. In February 1987, 30 more moose were released into the same area, and this time, hundreds of people attended the releases to watch the moose acclimate to their new home.

Did the Great Michigan Moose Lift succeed in boosting the moose population in the U.P.? Find out in the full feature article of the Sept/Oct issue of Michigan History magazine! Learn more at https://hsmichigan.org/read/michigan-history

The Antique Toy and Firehouse Museum in Bay City is the premier place to learn about the history of Michigan’s emergency responders, and it's currently featured as a History Hot Spot in Michigan History magazine!

Founded by Jimmie Dobson, the museum is the culmination of his lifelong effort to collect antique toys and firehouse-related paraphernalia. The museum features more than sixty motorized fire trucks, including the FDNY Super Pumper. Visitors can learn about fire-fighting technology and peruse more than sixteen thousand collectible toys on display at the museum before ending their day with a ride in an old fire truck. The museum is also in the process of renovating a defunct Bay City firehouse downtown, which, when complete, will be a satellite location geared toward community engagement.

Keep up with historic hot spots all over the state with Michigan History magazine at https://hsmichigan.org/read/michigan-history

Did you know Michigan History magazine promotes non-fiction books by Michigan publishers? Check out this summary of “Stepping Off the Boat: Stories from North Manitou Island” by Susan Hollister Wasserman and published by Leelanau Press:

“With nearly four hundred historical photos presented alongside newspaper clippings, maps, and informative text, Stepping Off the Boat brings the development of North Manitou Island to vivid life. Sharing stories of immigrants, lumbermen, farmers, fishermen, sailors, and government surveyors who initially took up residence on the island, and incorporating information from a variety of sources, the book covers the development of the island from its initial function as a “highway stop” for Indigenous peoples and French fur traders to its current identity as a summer vacation resort community.”

Check out Leelenau Press at https://www.leelanaupress.com/bookstores to discover where you can buy this book and to discover lots more fascinating titles!