This Memorial is Dedicated
to the Men and Women
Who Served Their Country,
State, and Community
With Courage, Dedication,
and Sacrifice
in War and in Peace.
They Will Not Be Forgotten. — — Map (db m190677) WM
In 1891-92 the Chicago and West Michigan Railway, precursor to the
Pere Marquette Railroad, extended the line between Traverse City and
Petoskey through Spencer Creek. William Alden Smith, the railway's
general counsel, advocated building the . . . — — Map (db m190676) HM
This building began life in 1881 as a print shop and offices for Bellaire's first newspaper, The Bellaire Breeze, run by Albert S. Abbott. It's the oldest standing building in the Bridge Street business area. Alice Jane White was born in Ionia . . . — — Map (db m284962) HM
In 1883, the Kearney Township Hall was built here on land purchased for $100. Township offices were on the first floor. The second floor was the Opera House with space for dances, travelling shows, and other community activities. The Antrim . . . — — Map (db m284957) HM
This block of buildings that now houses Short's Brewery is on the
site of the former Bellaire House Hotel. The hotel was enlarged to meet
the needs of the new county seat and sold in 1901 to Ira Adams.
Adams already had a small general store . . . — — Map (db m284950) HM
Antrim County sheriff Henry Stewart built a small barn here in 1887. It became a livery business, and George Stanley, who acquired it in 1900,
made many improvements. In 1906, Edward Maltby took possession, and it became the most important . . . — — Map (db m284959) HM
Born in 1850, William J. Nixon was raised in southern Michigan. In the 1870s, he moved to Antrim County and partnered in a grocery store with his brother, Allen, becoming sole owner when Allen moved away. He married Emma Richardi in 1883. She . . . — — Map (db m284951) HM
This property was home to the 1st Congregational Church of Bellaire from the 1880s until it disbanded in the early 1920s. In 1922, Harley Smith bought it and built a barn. In 1932, after drilling test wells in several places in town, the village . . . — — Map (db m284953) HM
As the new county seat, the Antrim County Board of Supervisors recognized in 1879 that Bellaire needed a jail and a sheriff's house. They were completed in 1881 at a cost of $5000. The sheriff lived in front and the jail was attached behind. . . . — — Map (db m284960) HM
In Honor of
the Men and Women of Bellaire
who Served in World War II
and
In Memory of
Those who made the Supreme Sacrifice
Girdon Grannis Leon Rauch
Cleveland Patton Walter Watrous — — Map (db m284955) WM
The first pioneers of Antrim County
settled along Grand Traverse Bay
near Elk Rapids in the 1850s. Later
settlers moved inland, and urged
that the county seat be transferred
from the bay shore closer to the
geographical center of the . . . — — Map (db m234153) HM
Before America was discovered, indigenous people hunted and fished the Grand Traverse region for thousands of years. As far back as 8,000 B.C., the waters of Grand Traverse Bay, Elk River and the 14 lakes of Antrim County's Chain of Lakes had been . . . — — Map (db m98175) HM
In this photo you are standing on the other side of the Elk River and to the left side of the photograph. This picture of Elk Rapids is from the 1890s and the view is from the top of the Elk Rapids Iron Company's Furnace. What is left of this . . . — — Map (db m98173) HM
In 1856 Dexter and Noble Company began building an empire with their sawmill and mercantile business. In 1872 they built an iron smelting plant, one of the largest charcoal furnaces in the country. At each step of their building that empire, . . . — — Map (db m98125) HM
Elk Rapids thrived in the late
nineteenth century due to the
lumber industry boom and local
iron and chemical manufacturing
plants. When the economy declined,
people left to find work. Between
1910 and 1920. the town lost two-thirds of its . . . — — Map (db m234256) HM
The brick ruin near this marker was
the hearth of the Elk Rapids furnace,
during the 1870s one of the nation's
greatest producers of charcoal iron.
Forty-seven feet high and twelve
feet in diameter, it was begun in
1872 and produced the first . . . — — Map (db m257300) HM
As shown in the above photograph taken in c1910, the Elk River and Chain of Lakes provided a means of transporting logs to the Dexter & Noble sawmill and a shoreline site where cord wood was made into charcoal fuel for the iron furnace. This . . . — — Map (db m98151) HM
In the late 1850s traveling pastors
began to conduct Methodist services in
Elk Rapids and nearby communities.
First Methodist Episcopal Church was
organized in the early 1870s. Services
were held in a former school and then a
former . . . — — Map (db m234753) HM
Native Americans have hunted and fished the Grand Traverse region for thousands of years, perhaps as many as 10,000 years before white settlers appeared. The waters of the Bay, Elk River and the 14 lakes of Antrim County's Chain of Lakes had been . . . — — Map (db m98128) HM
US 31 in its present location was built in 1953. In the 1960s, the Rotary Club of Elk Rapids began to develop the land between the highway and Elk River. With the help of other local organizations, the area became a park, named Rotary Park in . . . — — Map (db m98118) HM
Look carefully westward to see what remains of the Elk Rapids City Dock. This dock was one of
three docks situated within the village limits. It served the community of Elk Rapids from 1905
to 1911. The pier extended 1,440 feet out into East Grand . . . — — Map (db m247432) HM
The Elk Rapids Iron Company began operations at this location in 1873. You are standing in front of the base of the smelting furnace. The tall rectangular
elevator tower was used to dump iron ore, limestone and charcoal into this furnace. . . . — — Map (db m257299) HM
Edwin S. Noble (1838-1922) designed
and built this house for his family in
1865. Noble, an expert accountant,
was associated with the Dexter Noble
Company, first as secretary-treasurer
and later as a full partner. The company
was involved in . . . — — Map (db m234603) HM
Native Americans first came to this area to plant their gardens. Immigrants from many countries were drawn to the Antrim Chain of Lakes
primarily to harvest the vast stands of hardwood growing nearby. The Elk Rapids Iron Company was built on the . . . — — Map (db m257306) HM
Memorial to those who gave their lives in the service of their country.
World War II. John Bachi Robert Barnes Donald Banninger Byron Hassett Lynn Hansen Willard Banninger Ralph Hirt Mark Mamagona Wayne Martinek William . . . — — Map (db m247405) WM
Designed by Charles H.Peale
and built in 1883 near the
site where the earliest
white settler, Abram Wadsworth had lived, the Elk
Rapids Township Hall has
served as a social and
political center
center for over
ninety years. Largely due
to . . . — — Map (db m234752) HM
It has often been asked, "Why the stumps in the river?"
In a way, the stumps tell the story of Elk Rapids. In the beginning the trees grew there while the land was still dry. As one can see in the photograph of the blast furnace, which was . . . — — Map (db m98135) HM
At the beginning of 1901, a
reporter visiting Essex noted thirty to forty houses, a
large sawmill. a stave factory, a shingle mill, one store,
a telephone office, a blacksmith shop, a livery stable
and a post office. A 1902
Central Lake Torch . . . — — Map (db m234152) HM
On November 10, 1881, the Antrim County Herald ran an advertisement about the village of Wetzell that read: "New Town, New Store; Everything New!" Earlier that year the Wetzell brothers had platted the village and opened a sawmill. As the . . . — — Map (db m215768) HM
n 1885 Bohemian immigrants founded Saint John
Nepomucene Catholic Church,
named for the patron saint of
Czechoslovakia. The settlers,
most of whom emigrated from
Prague, named their community Praga. This Gothic
Revival church was built as
a . . . — — Map (db m234149) HM
