Arts
& Humanities
Don't Know Much About (U.P.) History? - Claudia Drosen
Let's face it—it's not
always a blistering beach day in our picturesque corner of the world.
Sometimes the temperature even feels like late March. The kids are
sick and tired of playing video games (it can happen, you know,
after being out of school for a while), and you've all seen every
first- and second-run movie at least once. Your back's not really
up for eighteen holes of golf, you've pulled every weed out of the
garden that you can see without a microscope and you're up for something
different. What is there to do around here? Hmmm. Well, you could
log on to yadayada.com, or you could go out and learn something.
Now wait a minute. Don't stop reading. There won't be a test anytime
soon, and you won't even have to admit it if you have some fun in
the process.
Okay. Get in the car. Come on. The whole family. No
excuses. And head off to (no, not Chuck E. Cheese's), but one of
the area's many places with the words "Historical Society"
in their names. You may not even have to take the car at all to
reach our first destination. Did you know that right on Marquette's
doorstep sits a building chock full of not only local history, but
neat stuff? Visitors to the area will be just as entertained as
Marquette natives with the offerings going on this summer and for
a full year at the Marquette County Historical Society. They are
featuring "Signs of the Times: A History of Advertising and
Marketing in America." And they bring you things old, new and
fun. On the old side, colorful trade cards from the 1800, toot the
horns of products from back in those days.
Upstairs is a diorama of the quintessential door-to-door
salesman: a Hoover vacuum representative. Window displays recreate
places such as the Getz Department Store of the 1880s. You'll see
brewery advertisements and the Advertising and Politics exhibit,
which focuses on the role of the war in the ad business.
On the new side, downstairs you won't want to miss "Day
in Your Life," which illustrates how our culture has become
bombarded with advertising in one form or another. In a "schoolhouse,"
children wear advertising on their T-shirts, backpacks and boots
(Pokemon, anyone?).
The fun continues with a model of a Jack's IGA grocery
store, a showcase of sports advertising memorabilia, and last but
most assuredly not least, a fiberglass Big Boy coming at you straight
out of the 1960s. In the third gallery you can always view the permanent
Marquette County History Collection. If you haven't learned too
much already, you can look for the colorful and varied Native American
exhibit.
Joy Bender-Hadley Curator of Exhibits says that this
close-to-home treasure at 213 North Front Street has been called
"the best kept secret in Marquette County." But she adds,
"We'd rather not be." Don't disappoint her. Scope it out.
If you want to go a bit further you can head down south.
I'm not talking about the Deep South here, just Escanaba. The Delta
County Historical Society is open seven days a week from 9:00 a.m.
to 5:00 p.m. and it's a museum-and-a-half. Take your time here,
or come back more than once (it's only sixty-some miles away). This
historic venue boasts artifacts from World Wars I and II and the
Spanish-American War. It's located across the street from the Escanaba
Yacht Harbor at the northeast end of Ludington Park. If you're lucky,
Mary Lift may greet you. She knows her way around the museum and
likes to talk about the "war rooms." But she'll also fill
you in on the other exhibits, one with old musical instruments including
pianos and violins and a phonograph circa 1891. And don't forget
to see the remarkable porcelain-headed dolls.
A recently added highlight is the huge marble fireplace
and safe door from the Sawyer-Stoll Building. A complete railroad
room features a sitting room with fainting couch and other authentic
period furnishings. Logging, fishing and carpentry tools and implements
are on display as well as household items.
Have you ever heard the story of Belle Harvey? A haunting
mannequin of this little girl wears the actual dress she wore 104
years ago, when she was lost for three nights and three days in
the U.P. woods. Come and see this historic figure for yourself and
read what happened to her. And before you check out, check out the
Native American display. In July, a Civil War reenactment will be
held at the museum.
West of Eskie is a rather unusual museum in a place
called Hermansville, (population 1,000). It's open through Labor
Day from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. (Central Time). When you find this little
village on the map, take Route 388 (across from Wildwood) south
five blocks, then right for three blocks. Hermansville is the home
of the IXL Historical Museum. Built in 1882, it was once the office
of the Wisconsin Land & Lumber Company, the largest hardwood
floor manufacturers in the country at that time. The IXL logo (meaning
I excel) was known in the U.S. as a symbol of fine quality. The
museum opened in 1983, and employee Rose Schultz is very proud of
her workplace. You can hear it in her voice. She tells of C. J.
L. Meyer from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, the founder of Hermansville,
and inventor of the matcher machine that made the first precision
tongue and groove hardwood flooring. This completely changed the
flooring industry. Rose tells us, "The floors never wore out."
People had their homes torn down a hundred years after they were
erected, but the IXL flooring was still alive and well. In the 1890s,
IXL flooring was chosen for use in two pretty classy venues—the
Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City and the large inn at Yellowstone
Park.
But floors are not the main issue here. It's the building
itself that is the exhibit here, and it's worth a look. The ornate
architecture makes a striking first impression. But when you go
inside you'll feel as though you're stopping time. A newspaper man
writing about the museum after his visit commented, "It looks
as though the crew has gone to lunch." The building houses
old office equipment from the 1870s, such as Edison rolls for dictation
and mimeograph machines. A great display of tools and machinery
is featured, and the living quarters contain lovely antiques and
an exquisitely restored hand-painted ceiling. Many photographs of
the era can be examined, and even the caged offices remain. If you
drive too quickly you could miss Hermansville altogether. So slow
down. And keep your eyes open for the Wildwood Restaurant. All that
history can stir up quite an appetite.
You'll need to head east of Marquette for our next place
of historical interest. The Gitche Gumee Agate and Historical Museum
in charming Grand Marais which opened last year. The intimate views
in the area, particularly of Grand Marais Harbor once a busy fishing
port, are unforgettable. This establishment was started by a fine
Finn named Axel Niemi. Things changed rapidly in the commercial
fishing business after the lake trout were run out of the area by
the lamprey eel. But the Niemis, a couple admired in the community
for their environmental concern, had a plan. They loved nature,
history and children, though they themselves had no sons or daughters.
Their dream was to open a museum which would preserve slices of
Grand Marais life for the following generations of kids. In the
beginning Gitche Gumee was strictly an agate museum. (It now houses
an incredible variety of rocks and minerals collected over a period
of more than seven decades). However, as people from the area supported
the Niemis' cause, displays of other items began to grow. Folks
donated much of what you'll have the pleasure of seeing here: Journals
written in the 1800s tell of the hardships of these brave souls,
old neighborhood artifacts like the first barber chair, and the
dogsled which had to carry the mail when the railroads stopped running
from 1910 to the 20s.
Niemi's idea was to show kids that life was not always
cushy. Things were rough up here. You'll also will see a boat called
a fish tug—this was the last one made with wooden boards which
were bent by hand. Karen Bryzs has been the owner of this museum
for the past six years, and she says her goal at Gitche Gumee echoes
that of Mr. Niemi, i.e., "to create a perspective for visitors
of life now versus life one hundred years ago in the Grand Marais
area." This museum is a delight for rockhounds and history
fiends alike.
On your historical jaunt, you won't want to overlook
Houghton County's many outstanding locations. A good choice for
the family is the Copper Range Historical Society and Museum. It's
not far from Houghton in South Range, and it showcases various aspects
of life when copper mining was at its peak. A popular exhibit is
of a pregnant miner's wife baking pasties. Her husband, in full
miner's garb, holds a bucket, waiting to have it filled with the
Cornish delicacy to nourish him on his shift at the mine. In a depiction
of a typical wash day, a woman hangs quits and her daughter pumps
water.
Other items to view are miners' boots, lanterns, and
oval dinner pails which held hot water in the bottom to keep the
food warm. Helmets, which were essential protection for the miners'
heads, came equipped with various kinds of lighting. There are sewing
machines which were turned by hand before electricity came to the
Copper Country, old-fashioned spinning wheels, kitchen utensils,
old baby buggies, and of course samples of copper, also called float
copper, native to the area. The copper trade pervaded every aspect
of life in the old days; even schooling. Children were picked up
and dropped off by copper trains instead of school busses. Hal Seppala
volunteers at the Copper Range Museum and he urges people to "come
see life on the copper range." He says the kids who visit can't
believe people used to live the way they did.
It's a scenic ride from Marquette to South Range, so
give it a whirl. Stop in Monday through Saturday from 11:00 a.m.
to 4:00 p.m.
Consult the Gallery Guide in this issue for specific
phone numbers, addresses and hours for the museums mentioned in
this article. And if these suggestions don't satisfy, there are
many more historical havens waiting to be discovered. Don't know
much about (U.P.) history? Just wait.
—Claudia Drosen
