The Bradley House/Presque Isle Historical Museum

The Bradley House/Presque Isle Historical Museum. Historical Marker No. 24. , The large craftsman-style bungalow that we know as the Bradley House was built in 1913-14 by carpenter and planning mill operator George Radke for his family. Radke was still finishing the trim work on the house in 1914 when he succumbed to a massive heart attack at the age of 37. The following year, his wife Isabel decided to move into a smaller home about a block away and she put the expensive Michigan Avenue home up for sale. , On April 17, 1915, the house was purchased by H.L. Marsters, general superintendent at the Calcite quarry, for $3,616. There is no evidence that Marsters and his wife Katie ever moved in. However, in June of 1915 the local newspaper carried a report that "Bradley is enhancing the appearance of his beautiful new residence property with an ornamental fence." Apparently, they didn't know that Marsters and his wife actually owned the home. , Property records show that after the remodeling of the home was completed in October, Carl and Emma Bradley purchased the home from Mr. and Mrs. Marsters for $3,616, the same amount they had paid for it five months earlier. There is reason to believe that Bradley might not have had enough money to purchase the house when it went on the market in the spring, and that he asked J.L. Marsters, his close friend, to buy it and hold it for him. , In 1916, Bradley renegotiated his contract with Michigan Limestone and Chemical Co., and added a provision that required the company to purchase his property in Presque Isle County if he died or was fired. Consequently, when he died in 1928, the company purchased the home for $15,000, and they decided to make it the official residence of their top official at the Calcite Plant. Over the next 30-year period, the home was occupied, in order, by John G. Munson, Irving L. Clymer, and Joseph Valentin and their families. In 1958, a modern ranch-style home was built for the next head of the quarry and the former Bradley home was donated to Rogers City for use as a library. When the library outgrew the facility in 1980, the building reverted to U.S. Steel, then the parent company of Michigan Limestone. They had no interest in the house and sold it to the Presque Isle County Historical Museum for $1. It was opened as a museum the following year. In September of 1991, the home was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. , A portion of the cost of this marker was provided in a grant from the Community Foundation of Northeast Michigan. Photos and text were provided by the Historical Museum and the marker was installed by the Public Works Department.