Relief Shacks

Relief Shacks. Site No. 7. In the Metz area, 84 of 110 families were left homeless in the aftermath of the horrendous fire. With frost already settling over the area and the brutal northern Michigan winter not far off, providing adequate shelter for the survivors was a major concern. , James D. Hawks, vice-president and general manager of D&M, sent all the railroad's construction crews into the Metz area to build 14-foot by 16-foot wood and tarpaper shacks with dirt floors to house the survivors. Even the rough lumber used to build the shacks had to be brought in by train since the lumber town of Metz was without lumber. Almost all the logs, lumber, and sawmills in the entire Metz area had been destroyed in the fire. , Each shack had three small rooms, two of which were equipped with bunkbeds. A boxcar load of small woodstoves that could be used for heating and cooking was donated by the Detroit Stove Company and transported to Metz by the D&M. It is estimated that about 165 shacks were constructed. Only one is known to still be in existence. , This photo shows a cluster of relief shacks erected on the site of the former Nowicki Hotel. In the foreground are the hotel's concrete steps and stone foundation. It appears that the four homes shared a single outhouse, the small structure just to the left of the closest shack.