Christopher Columbus Smith 1861 - 1939
created the sport of motor-boating in 1893 by installing a motor in a wooden boat and launching it in the St. Clair River at Algonac — three years before Henry Ford installed one in the first . . . — — Map (db m123945) HM
This Greek Revival home was built by Charles H. Beers around 1849. In 1914 it became the home and office of Dr. Walter E. Bostwick, who died in 1943. His widow, Cordella Sheill Bostwick, lived in the house until her death in 1948. In 1949 the . . . — — Map (db m123876) HM
Saint Andrew's Parish
Beginning in 1845 the Reverend Andrew Jamieson, an Anglican missionary, served Saint John the Baptist Church on nearby Walpole Island, Ontario. In the early 1860s, Jamieson (1814-1885) established a mission in Algonac. . . . — — Map (db m123873) HM
The St. Clair River is part of the connecting channels between Lake Huron and Lake Erie. It is a 40 mile strait that flows south from Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair. The river serves as a navigational passage as well as an ecosystem for a great . . . — — Map (db m124058) HM
The St. Clair River is part of the connecting channels between Lake Huron and Lake Erie. It is a 40 mile strait that flows south from Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair. The river serves as a navigational passage as well as an ecosystem for a great . . . — — Map (db m124059) HM
For more than a century, Algonac has played a leading role in ship building, from sailing cargo ships to large pleasure craft, racing boats and World War II landing craft. Between 1921 and 1932 Christopher Smith and Gar Wood built ten Miss . . . — — Map (db m123847) HM
Scottish immigrants from Glasgow settled in Berlin Township in 1841. Ten years later, twenty-four of them founded the Almont Society of the New Church. They followed the teachings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-17720), a Swedish mathematician, . . . — — Map (db m155039) HM
Side 1
In the 1830s, numerous Catholic settlers immigrated to the Anchor Bay area. Having no formal church, the settlers were intermittently pastored by missionary clergymen. In 1847, Etienne (Stephen) Rose and his two sons constructed a . . . — — Map (db m152884) HM
Side 1
Led by Bishop John Samuel Foley, the Diocese of Detroit purchased this land from Ephise Rosset in February 1914. The property became a new burial ground for Immaculate Conception of Blessed Virgin Mary after the church's first . . . — — Map (db m155896) HM
Side 1
In 1830 Etienne (Stephen) and Mary Rose arrived in Detroit from Montreal. They settled with their children near here. Rose and his sons supported the family by cutting and selling wood at fifty cents a cord. In 1840 the Roses bought . . . — — Map (db m155892) HM
Capac's Early Railroad Depots
In 1870 the Port Huron and Lake Michigan Railroad Company, later the Grand Trunk Railroad, opened a rail line and depot in Capac. Judge Dewitt C. Walker, Capac's founder, later recalled that "the shrill noise . . . — — Map (db m155045) HM
Built in 1925 by the Chicago Bridge and Iron Works, this steel-framed water tower was the main water supplier for "The Colony on the Ste. Claire" — a secluded residential community established in Clay Township during the 1920s. The Colony . . . — — Map (db m152071) HM
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish
Father Lawrence Kilroy established Catholic churches throughout St. Clair County during the early nineteenth century. In Kenockee he founded a cemetery and the "log church," the precursor of Our Lady of Mount . . . — — Map (db m155047) HM
Lake Huron Water Supply Project
In 1968, to serve the water needs of a growing population, the Detroit Metro Water Department began work on the Lake Huron Water Supply Project. This massive feat involved erecting a submerged intake crib . . . — — Map (db m88947) HM
The state legislature set off Wales Township from Clyde Township on March 27, 1841. It was considered one of the finest agricultural districts in St. Clair County. In 1889 citizens voted to build a town hall. On November 8, 1890, the township board . . . — — Map (db m154892) HM
This house was likely built in stages between around 1855 and 1885 and reflects the prominence of David and Laura Rice Lester. David Lester (1823-1890), a shipbuilder, a ship owner, and a salt producer, played a key role in Marine City's economic . . . — — Map (db m41189) HM
East China Township was set off from China Township in 1859. In 1868 Harriet J. Comstock, an heir of pioneer Andrew J. Westbrook, sold a parcel of land to School District No. 2. A frame school, built on the site prior to 1853, was replaced by this . . . — — Map (db m123723) HM
City Hall of Marine City was built in 1884 designed by the firm of George Dewitt Mason and Zachariah Rice, Detroit. Mason, principal designer, chose to reflect a style popularized by the Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson and now known as . . . — — Map (db m123788) HM
Father Gabriel Richard received this triangular plot of land by way of a grant from President John Quincy Adams on April 1, 1825. This area, known as Catholic Point, contains, among other buildings a church, a rectory, a convent, the former high . . . — — Map (db m41196) HM
Built in 1884 at a cost of $12,300, this edifice has served continuously as the seat of local government. Marine City was incorporated as the village of Marine in 1865. It became Marine City in 1867. The first village president was David Lester, a . . . — — Map (db m123786) HM
Emily Ward established the Newport Academy about 1845 to provide educational opportunities for area children. Miss Ward was a niece of Samuel Ward, the founder of Newport (now Marine City), and the sister of Eber Brock Ward, a shipping magnate and . . . — — Map (db m41199) HM
This range light was originally located in American Waters, east of the mouth of the Detroit River, just north of the international border and north east of Pêche Island, Ontario, Canada
It was brought to Marine City in 1982 through the . . . — — Map (db m123840) HM
Commissioned in 1921, the Huron began service as a relief vessel for other Great Lakes lightships. She is ninety-seven feet long, twenty-four feet in beam, and carried a crew of eleven. On clear nights her beacon could be seen for fourteen miles. . . . — — Map (db m41197) HM
This is the Fort Gratiot Station. It welcomed immigrants, settlers, military and other travelers to Port Huron during the late 19th century. The Grand Trunk Railway built this depot in 1858 and launched daily passenger service to Detroit the . . . — — Map (db m76020) HM
People first crossed the St. Clair River using logs, rafts and canoes. Steam-powered ferries began carrying freight and people in the 1840s. The river current pushed tethered swing ferries from shore to shore. Later other ferries were used, and . . . — — Map (db m76014) HM
This boulder and tablet
were placed here by
The Department of Michigan
Woman's Relief Corps
in memory of and dedicated to
The Civil War Veterans.
1861 - 1865
"They are sleeping in the valleys,
They are sleeping 'neath the . . . — — Map (db m76102) WM
October 6, 1988
This structure, which has served as
the Port Huron, Michigan Customhouse since
1874, was dedicated as a Historic Bicentennial
Customhouse in honor and recognition
of U.S. Customs steadfast and vigilant
service to the . . . — — Map (db m76103) HM
Thomas Alva Edison was seven years old in 1854 when he and his family moved to Port Huron. They moved into a house on the Fort Gratiot Military Reservation, a short distance south of here. This is where young "Al" conducted his first experiments . . . — — Map (db m76049) HM
In 1825, A lighthouse was established near the mouth of the St. Clair River, at the southern end of Lake Huron. It sat just north of Fort Gratiot, a military outpost that would give the lighthouse its name. That light, of poor construction and . . . — — Map (db m76077) HM
This lighthouse, oldest in Michigan, was built in 1829 to replace a tower destroyed by a storm. Lucius Lyon, the builder, was Deputy Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory and later a United States senator from Michigan. In the 1860s workers . . . — — Map (db m156750) HM
Built near here in 1686 by the French explorer Duluth, this fort was the second white settlement in lower Michigan. This post guarded the upper end of the vital waterway joining Lake Erie and Lake Huron. Designed to bar English traders from the . . . — — Map (db m41194) HM
[Side A]
On November 7-10, 1913, two major storms collided over the Great Lakes. This created hurricane like winds that lasted over 16 hours, producing waves over forty feet tall. As the storm intensified, temperatures dropped below . . . — — Map (db m76068) HM
The Harrington Hotel opened amid much fanfare in 1896.
A unique blend of Romanesque, Classical and Queen Anne architecture, the hotel thrived for many years. As business declined due to the popularity of automobile travel, expressways and . . . — — Map (db m76104) HM
Many people coming to the United States from other lands entered through this depot. By 1881, more than 77,000 immigrants first stepped foot on American soil here. Port Huron folks gathered here to see and hear the new arrivals, fascinated by . . . — — Map (db m79067) HM
This tablet marks the intersection of the eastern line of the Indian Reservation surveyed in 1810 provided by the treaty made Nov. 17, 1807 between the U.S. Government and the Chippewa, Ottawa, Pottawattamie [sic], and Wyandotte Indians with the . . . — — Map (db m76101) HM
Daily Duties of a Keeper......
• Hand carry fuel up to the lantern room and fueling the lamp.
• Trimming the wicks (later, replacing the mantles and pumping up the oil vaporizer).
• Regularly cleaning and polishing (with jeweler's . . . — — Map (db m76100) HM
Lake Huron's basin was formed by glacier movement over 20,000 years ago. The lake was created when melting ice filled the basin gouged by the glaciers. Lake Huron took its present shape around 3,000 years ago.
Lake Huron is the second largest . . . — — Map (db m76081) HM
The Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada opened the first track between here and Detroit in 1859. As years passed, other railroads reached Port Huron. A line to Flint opened in 1871. Another extended into the Thumb in 1879.
In 1886, the Port . . . — — Map (db m76046) HM
(Side A)
This congregation dates from 1849, when people worshipped in log barracks within Fort Gratiot. Known as the Mission of Fort Gratiot, it was served by circuit riders until 1859 when the Reverend Samuel Clemens began his tenure. The . . . — — Map (db m41198) HM
Archaeologists found evidence of a native village (circa 1000 A.D.) located one block north of where you are standing. These prehistoric people fished the waters of Lake Huron and the St. Clair River, hunted game and gathered foods in nearby . . . — — Map (db m76016) HM
In 1902 the city of Port Huron secured money from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to erect a municipal library. Two years later, this grand, Beaux-Arts-style building was completed at a cost of $45,000. Chicago architects Patton and Miller . . . — — Map (db m76105) HM
Evolution of Lighting the Way
It has long been documented that the first shoreline lights were wood burning fires set on hillsides. Later, these wood fires were moved to the top of man-made towers. Wood however proved to be inefficient, as . . . — — Map (db m76076) HM
Dense fog on Lake Huron could spell disaster to vessels filled with passengers and valuable cargo. When fog was present and visibility was poor, mariners were forced to rely on sound to navigate their way into the St. Clair River. Early fog . . . — — Map (db m76083) HM
The St. Clair River has always been an important part of the Great Lakes system. For centuries native people traveled throughout the region in canoes, as did the early French fur traders. In 1679, LaSalle's Griffon was the first sailing . . . — — Map (db m76015) HM
On August 4, 1900, the "Fontana" sank while in these narrows. Several weeks later, on September 25, 1900, the "Martin", a 225 foot schooner with a load of iron ore, was being towed downbound from Lake Huron by the steamer "Grover". In attempting to . . . — — Map (db m41203) HM
The Great Storm of 1913 lasted from November 7th through the 11th. It is often referred to as the "Big Blow", the "Freshwater Fury" or the "White Hurricane". The storm hit four of the five Great Lakes, and was particularly ferocious in Lake . . . — — Map (db m76080) HM
The Grand Trunk Railroad depot to the right is where 12-year-old Tom Edison departed daily on the Port Huron-Detroit run. In 1859, the railroad's first year of operation. Tom persuaded the company to let him sell newspapers and confections on . . . — — Map (db m76017) HM
Prior to the Civil War, African American slaves, in brave and desperate attempts to flee from slave owners in the Southern states, passed through Port Huron via the Underground Railroad. It was not a real railroad but a system of routes where . . . — — Map (db m76050) HM
Fort Gratiot was built by the U.S. Army in 1814 to guard the strategic junction of Lake Huron and the St. Clair River. Troops stood ready to defend Michigan and the U.S. against British forces in Canada.
As settlement moved westward, the fort . . . — — Map (db m76048) HM
This Queen Anne style structure was erected in 1899 by Scottish-born James Livingston. He gave the house to his daughter, Louise Livingston McColl. During the late nineteenth century, Livingston and his son-in-law, James McColl, produced linseed oil . . . — — Map (db m154915) HM
This plaque is issued by the
Historical Society of Michigan
in recognition of
The Yale Expositor
founded in 1882
for more than 100 years of
continuous operation in service
to the people of Michigan
and for contribution . . . — — Map (db m154906) HM
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