In 1868 the Williams Township Board of Health authorized a township burial ground and voted to purchase land for that purpose. In 1871 the board purchased five acres previously designated for school purposes from the state of Michigan for twenty . . . — — Map (db m163589) HM
When Bay City's sawmills opened in 1885, mill owners notified workers that wages would be 12 to 25 percent lower than in 1884. On July 6, 1885, Bay City millhands began to walk off the job. Their slogan, "Ten Hours or No Sawdust," represented . . . — — Map (db m162453) HM
Abraham Lincoln Dedicated to the Grand Army of the Republic and The Women Who Served Daughters of Union Veterans of Civil War 1861-1865
Lincoln’s Address Delivered at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863.
. . . — — Map (db m131778) HM WM
After being housed in various buildings since 1869, the east-side branch library found a permanent home thanks to the Carnegie Corporation, local leaders William Clements, James E. Davidson, and Charles R. Wells, and the government and citizens of . . . — — Map (db m198353) HM
One of the first attempts in America to produce beet sugar was made in Michigan at White Pigeon late in the 1830's. The venture did not succeed though the future governor John Barry went to Europe seeking to learn its production methods. In 1888 Dr. . . . — — Map (db m180634) HM
Center Avenue presents one of the most spectacular displays of late nineteenth and early twentieth century residential architecture in Michigan. Between 1870 and 1940 Bay City's prominent citizens favored Center Avenue as "the" place to live. Early . . . — — Map (db m33961) HM
Center Avenue presents one of the most spectacular displays of late nineteenth and early twentieth century residential architecture in Michigan. Between 1870 and 1940 Bay City´s prominent citizens favored Center Avenue as "the" place to live. Early . . . — — Map (db m161001) HM
Charles came to Bay City in 1864 from Ithaca, NY, to work for sawmill owners Henry Sage and John McGraw, eventually buying the Bay City Dredging Co. His home's architecture is Shavian Manorial, a Queen Anne/Tudor Revival style named after the . . . — — Map (db m33909) HM
Before the advent of the World Wide Web, indeed even before the advent of telephones and automobiles, it was the railroad that kept us connected. Communities to communities. Businesses to customers. People to one another. Americans to their . . . — — Map (db m131789) HM
Side 1
In 1848, James G. Birney and his wife led Bay City's earliest Presbyterian services in a schoolhouse. Birney, an elder in the church, twice ran unsuccessfully for president on the antislavery ticket. The Reverend Lucius Root organized . . . — — Map (db m33696) HM
The introduction of chicory into Bay County, at the beginning of the twentieth century brought a ___ industry into the area and provided the farmers with a profitable cash crop. Chicory was a popular beverage in Europe at the time. The chicory root, . . . — — Map (db m180656) HM
Frankenlust
One of four colonies in Michigan settled by people from Franconia, Germany, Frankenlust was founded by Pastor Ferdinand Sievers and fourteen immigrants who established Saint Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church in June 1848. On July . . . — — Map (db m138097) HM
George began as a laborer in his father James' lumber business, eventually managing what became Shearer Brothers when his brother James B. joined the firm. The lumber, real estate and insurance company operated out of the Shearer Brothers Block at . . . — — Map (db m131779) HM
This 9-inch Dahlgren Cannon is a true replica of those in place at Battery Park from the early 1900s to 1942. The originals were part of the arsenal aboard the USS Hartford, the flagship of Rear Admiral David G. Farragut. During the Civil . . . — — Map (db m182351) HM
(Side 1)
In 1926 the Bay City Chamber of Commerce recognized the economic benefits that could be derived from a local airport. That year the chamber decided to build one and dedicate it to Bay City men killed during World War I. The . . . — — Map (db m180636) HM
This plaque is issued by the Historical Society of Michigan in recognition of Keit’s Florist founded in 1856 for more than 100 years of continuous operation in service to the people of Michigan and for contributing to the economic growth and . . . — — Map (db m131787) HM
The Midland Street Commercial District comprises fifty buildings in a four-block area that was the business hub of West Bay City. Prior to 1830 the area was occupied by Sauk and Chippewa Indians. In response to depleted eastern timberlands resulting . . . — — Map (db m163221) HM
Spend some time wandering around Bay City and you'll notice a few names appearing time and time again...on buildings, streets and parks. Some identify the person responsible without a hint of their accomplishments. Others reflect the early . . . — — Map (db m182354) HM
Established in 1847, the Ogaukawning Indian Mission, the first church in present-day Bay County, served Chippewa Indians at the nearby Kawkawlin settlement. First ministered by Methodist missionaries, it soon came under Indian trusteeship and still . . . — — Map (db m182297) HM
This boulder is erected
to the memory of
O-Ge-Ma Ke-Ga-To
Chief Speaker of the Chippewas
Born about 1794,; elected chief, 1815;
spoke at treaty, 1819; spoke before
Congress, 1837; died, 1840
First buried on property now known . . . — — Map (db m180642) HM
Henry W. Sage (1814-1897) founded the village of Wenona (later West Bay City) in 1863. A merchant and philanthropist, he was also a founder of the Sage, McGraw and Company sawmill. In 1881 he donated property, building funds and $10,000 for books to . . . — — Map (db m163167) HM
This bay derives its name from the Sauk Indians who once dwelt by its shores. Adrien Jolliet, on his voyage down Lake Huron’s western shore in 1669, first made it known to the white man. In the late 1800's an immense lumber industry flourished in . . . — — Map (db m182360) HM
St. Joseph was the first Catholic parish in the Saginaw Valley when it was founded in 1850-51 by missionary Joseph Kindekens. Dedicated on March 19, 1911, this building is the third to serve St. Joseph. During the late nineteenth century St. Joseph . . . — — Map (db m162342) HM
St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church
In the second half of the nineteenth century, Polish refugees who escaped Prussian domination settled in Bay City. In 1874 they formed a society under the patronage of Saint Stanislaus Kostka of . . . — — Map (db m161004) HM
During the 1870s, Swedish immigrants arrived in Bay County. By 1880 many Swedes had settled in West Bay City. In October of that year, fifty people organized the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Sion Church, affiliated with the Augustana Synod. A year . . . — — Map (db m163096) HM
Historic photographs show two traffic control shacks located on Center Avenue east and west of the railroad tracks that ran down what is now Jefferson Avenue. These hexagon-shaped buildings housed guardsmen when trains left or arrived at the F & PM . . . — — Map (db m182352) HM
Trinity Church
Trinity Church grew from a small group of settlers served by Episcopal missionaries beginning around 1842. Church records credit William and Ann Fitzhugh with founding the church. On March 4, 1854, fourteen people, led by the . . . — — Map (db m33912) HM
This 13-inch mortar cannon is a true replica of those in place at Battery Park from the early 1900s to 1942.
The originals were thought to be part of the Confederate arsenal at Fort Sumter, which is recognized as the official beginning of the . . . — — Map (db m182353) HM
St. John Evangelical Lutheran German missionary Pastor Ferdinand Sievers organized St. John Church in June 1852 to serve a colony of German migrants, some fleeing the turmoil that followed the European revolutions of 1848. Initially, the church . . . — — Map (db m180379) HM
In 1894 William Jennison, a yachtsman for fifty years, founded the Bay City Boating and Fishing Club. The first clubhouse, located on the Saginaw River, was moved across the ice to this site around 1902. A larger, stylish building was soon erected. . . . — — Map (db m163334) HM
The first successful beet sugar factory in Michigan was built in 1898 by the Michigan Sugar Company on Woodside Avenue in Essexville. A year later the Bay City Sugar Company built a competing factory across the street. The two plants merged in 1903 . . . — — Map (db m163255) HM