Historical Society Campaign Surpasses $2M Mark
Historical Society Campaign Surpasses $2M Mark
Major Fundraising Campaign to Create Historical Corridor
Major Fundraising Campaign to Create Historical Corridor
Boater Information for Blessing Parade
Participant Information for the Blessing of the Fleet Boat Parade in Harbor Springs
Five Historic Boats to Bless the Harbor
Five Historic Boats to Bless the Harbor
Historical Society receives two grants for building and technology improvements
The Harbor Springs Area Historical Society recently received two grants which will help with building repairs and technology upgrades. The first grant of $5,000 was awarded by the Great Lakes Energy People Fund and will cover the cost of repairing two widows on the historic 1884 city hall building. The building, which now houses the Harbor Springs History Museum and Historical Society offices, was originally been built as the county courthouse. After the county seat moved in 1902, the building then housed city offices. After the city offices moved in 2003 the building was renovated by the Historical Society and...
Two MCACA Grants Awarded to the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society
Two MCACA Grants Awarded to the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society
Shay Locomotive coming to Michigan
Moving operations began in early October 2021 for the 36 ton Shay Locomotive C/N 2005 located outside the Forestry Building of Stephen F. Austin State University.
Northern Michigan Park to be home of “Aha”
Harbor Springs – A 130-year-old ship is being restored with plans to move it to a city park in northern Michigan. The Harbor Springs Area Historical Society and the Industrial Arts Institute in Onaway are working together on restoring the Aha, the Petoskey News-Review reported. Once the work is done, the vessel is expected to be taken to Shay Park in downtown Harbor Springs, about 300 miles northwest of Detroit.
City Council Approves Plan
The Aha, a 1891 vessel that was built by Ehpraim Shay, is currently being restored in a project partnership between the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society and Industrial Arts Institute. And now, that vessel will likely find a fitting home– Shay Park, which is located beside the intersection of Main, Judd and Bay Streets in downtown Harbor Springs– following Council’s support of the concept during their meeting Monday, March 1. “Staff is fully supportive of locating the Aha at Shay Park: it fits with the growing theme of making this section of town the ‘historical’ area; it provides a meaningful...
Restoration of the Aha
Historical Society looks to create “historic district” with addition of Shay’s Aha boat on display in park …
Northern Origins: A Collaborative History Journal
While we are all at home due to COVID-19 many of us are looking for something new to do, read, or experience. With that in mind, the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society is proud to announce that we partnered with the Harbor Light Newspaper to create Northern Origins. Northern Origins features nearly a dozen articles written by Historical Society staff on various aspects of our community’s history. You can read the journal online here. Physical copies will be printed in the coming months.
Restoring History Begins at the Ephraim Shay Hexagon House
Last week, the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society began its work to “Save the Shay.” The Historical Society, which was gifted the Shay Hexagon House in late 2016, is in the first stages of a campaign to restore this historic treasure for the enjoyment of generations to come. The Shay House, built by Ephraim Shay in 1892, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is remarkable not only for its architectural quirks (the interior and exterior are clad in stamped steel) but because of the man who lived there. Shay is best known for his invention of...
Historical Society Evaluates Stabilizing the Historic AHA Boat
A familiar sight to anyone passing by the Harbor Springs bus garage on Fairview Street is Ephraim Shay’s rusty relic, the Aha. The Harbor Springs Area Historical Society owns the Aha and is looking into possibilities to display this important piece of Harbor Springs history. To that end, the Industrial Arts Institute of Onaway was commissioned to move the 1893 boat to their facility for further evaluation. The project is slated to be a thorough review of stabilization and restoration options with associated costs, and research into a final display location. Ephraim Shay, one of Harbor Springs most notable residents,...
Regatta History in Harbor Springs
It’s Ugotta Regatta weekend in Harbor Springs and our town is filled with boat enthusiasts and community members eager to watch the racing. Did you know that this annual tradition dates back to 1891 when the Little Traverse Boat Club (now the Little Traverse Yacht Club) was first established? An article in the Daily Resorter from July 21, 1891 reads “IT’S A GO. THE AUGUST REGATTA AN ASSURED EVENT. Organization of a Permanent Association to be Known as the Little Traverse Boat Club.” The article chronicles the history of other boat races on Little Traverse Bay, like the regatta held...
HSAHS Board Hires New Executive Director
The Harbor Springs Area Historical Society’s Board of Trustees has selected Kristyn Balog to serve as the organization’s Executive Director. “After an extensive search, the Board of Trustees is excited to welcome Kristyn Balog to lead the Historical Society into the future,” said David White, President of the Board. “Kristyn has been with the Historical Society since April 2018 serving as the organization’s Development & Campaign Manager. More recently, she has been serving as Interim Executive Director. She is innovative, energetic and has great experience with community building. Under her leadership, the Historical Society has already taken steps to implement...
Zorn Park Cannon
Imagine the excitement local residents experienced in December 1909 when an authentic Civil War cannon arrived by rail in the Village of Harbor Springs. For over a century, the cannon in Zorn Park has stood sentinel along our historic waterfront yet it speaks little of its own history. The IX-inch Dahlgren cannon saw service in the Union Navy during the Civil War aboard the USS Powhatan. It weighs over 4½ tons and was capable of throwing a 90-pound shell two miles. Many decades after its Civil War service, the cannon arrived in Harbor Springs. On December 7, 1909, the Petoskey...
Historical Society Announces New Board Chair
Last month, the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society’s Board of Trustees welcomed its new president, David C. White. White succeeds past president Tim Tippett who finished two terms on the Historical Society’s board. “This is an exciting time for the Historical Society,” said Tippett, a Harbor Springs graduate and elementary educator. “2017 was a big year with the gift of the Shay Hexagon House. I’m proud of the progress we have made as an organization.” Incoming president David White and his wife Cathy retired to Harbor Springs about three years ago after many years of visiting northern Michigan. A Michigan native, White...
Shay Hexagon House gifted to Historical Society
The year 2017 marks the 125th anniversary of the historic Shay Hexagon House located at 396 East Main Street. Ephraim Shay, notable creator of the Shay geared locomotive, built the Hexagon House in 1892 where he lived until his death in 1916. But this year marks another important reason to celebrate this remarkable stamped-steel building. The Harbor Springs Area Historical Society (HSAHS) is excited to announce that it has acquired the historic Shay building from previous owner Mary Cay Bartush Jones. “The Historical Society is honored and humbled by this ultimate gift of history,” said Mary Cummings, executive director of the...
Myrtle “Myrt” Johnston
Welcome to the fifth and final installment of our blog series celebrating Women’s History Month. In this blog you can learn more about restaurateur Myrtle “Myrt” Johnston. Myrtle Johnston was born in Cross Village in 1917 to Edna and George Kruzel and was raised there. Later she attented Harbor Springs High School before marrying Samuel Johnston in 1934. Known for her hardworking nature and generous spirit, “Myrt” took on the chores that face the wife of a would-be dairy farmer while earning extra money by working at the Old Trail Inn. Her summer routine was to arrive at 7:00 am to...
Josephine Darling Ford
Welcome to the fourth installment of our blog series celebrating Women’s History Month. In this blog you can learn more about Josephine Darling Ford. The 1960s and early 1970s were a difficult time in Harbor Springs despite its distinction as a summer resort town. In the mid-1970s the charming yet sleepy town was reborn, and Josephine Darling Ford helped foster that rebirth. Born in Harbor Springs in 1911 to Willard S. and Bertha (Stutsman) Darling, Josephine Darling Ford loved her home town and the people in it. She showed that love through service to the community on the school board...
Margaret Blackbird Boyd
Welcome to the third installment of our blog series celebrating Women’s History Month. In this blog you can learn more about teacher and Odawa leader Margaret Boyd. Margaret Blackbird Boyd (pictured at right as portrayed by local artist Jane Cardinal) was born in Harbor Springs around 1817. She is best known for her role as an educator and for defending Odawa land rights during the 1870s and 1880s. Margaret grew up in Harbor Springs with her family, including her brother Andrew J. Blackbird, but in her life also ventured away from the Little Traverse Bay. Around 1825, missionaries and local...
Alice Clementina Erwin
Welcome back to the second installment of our blog series celebrating Women’s History Month. In this blog you can learn more about conservationist and author Alice C. Erwin (pictured at right). Alice Clementina Erwin was born in 1880 in Athens County, Ohio to Albert and Ellen Young. Later in life she married Charles Fayette “Fay” Erwin and lived in Harbor Springs, where she was adopted by the local Odawa tribe in honor of her efforts to protect wildlife, forests and wetlands. Alice passed away at the Petoskey hospital in 1938 and is buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Harbor Springs. Alice...
Elizabeth Whitney Williams: A Child of the Sea
“On the end of the Point stands the lighthouse with its red light flashing out at night over the waters, looking like a great red ruby set with diamonds as the electric lights are shining around the bay and harbor. What more is needed of nature’s beauty to make the picture complete?” Elizabeth Whitney Williams (pictured at right) wrote these words in her autobiography, A Child of the Sea, and Life among the Mormons, about the Little Traverse Lighthouse on Harbor Point, Michigan where she was the keeper for 29 years. Her story, much like the Fresnel lens she describes...
Celebrating Traditions
Harbor Springs loves its traditions particularly those associated with holidays. In 2015, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of a community Christmas tree placed in town, a tradition started by local contractor George B. Hartung. As a young man, Hartung cut and hauled a Christmas tree into downtown Harbor Springs for the townsfolk to enjoy. Of the first community Christmas tree gathering, the Petoskey Evening News reported in their December 27, 1915 issue that two thousand people were in attendance at the event held on Christmas Eve in Zorn Park. “Ideal weather conditions combined with 100 percent pure Christmas enthusiasm made Harbor Springs’...
Collections Corner: Quill boxes
In this post we are taking you inside our archives to look at some of the most beautiful artifacts in our collections – small, handmade quill boxes. These unique Native American objects are still made today by the local Odawa people and have a rich cultural tradition that dates back centuries. Quill boxes are constructed using birch bark, sweet grass and porcupine quills. Traditionally, the Odawa used birch bark for making boxes and baskets because its natural antibacterial properties made it perfect for storing food. Porcupine quills were harvested from animals hunted for food. Nowadays they are gathered from animals...
A Rainy Day at the Little Traverse Lighthouse
Despite the very wet weather throughout the day Saturday, October 4 the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society’s Little Traverse Lighthouse Tour was a big success. In fact, the cloudy, drizzly weather was actually a perfect teaching moment for Terry Pepper, the Executive Director of the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association. Terry was on hand during the tour and described how the day was a great example of “thick weather,” or weather where early sailors would have needed help from lighthouses and fog signals to navigate. There’s nothing like learning new historical lingo while dashing through a downpour! The Historical Society’s...
Lifelong Learning
Are you a life-long learner? Are you always on the lookout for new opportunities for growth? The Harbor Springs Area Historical Society’s Board of Trustees and staff like to consider ourselves life-long learners. In this spirit we periodically hold training sessions to help us be the best stewards of Harbor Springs’ unique history. Recently, on August 11, the board and staff gathered for one of these sessions led by Pam Evans of the NorthSky Nonprofit Network. The session highlighted new ways for the board and staff to tackle strategic planning, fundraising, educational outreach and more. From our morning session with...
Harbor Springs Students “Learn Local”
“History is not just something that happened long ago and far away. History happens to all of us all the time. Local history brings history home, it touches your life, the life of your family, your neighborhood, your community.” – Thomas J. Noel The Harbor Springs Area Historical Society is thrilled to have been visited by a number of school groups this winter, from second to eighth grade! As the quote above suggests, connecting students to our local history, to their history, engages them in a way that textbooks often don’t. All of us here at the Historical Society are...
A Sweet Service – Volunteer at the Museum
Although we serve up great local history at our monthly Harbor History talks, we are also well known for our hospitality, specifically homemade goodies. Last month we had a number of requests for this amazing recipe created by one of our wonderful volunteers. These “club cracker cookies” were a hit at our last talk and we wanted to share the recipe with you. Do you have any great recipes you’d like to share? We are always in need of volunteers to make homemade treats for our talks and for other events throughout the year. Our programs and events are always...
Historical Society honored by Emma 25 with lifetime account
The Harbor Springs Area Historical Society is thrilled to announce that we have been granted a lifetime of free email marketing and communications services from Emma, Inc. We were selected as part of the 2013 “Emma 25” program which annually awards charitable organizations free email marketing tools. This year, Emma received hundreds of applications, from every state in the U.S., and we were picked as one of the 100 honorees! To learn more about the Emma 25 program, click on the image below! We urge you to sign up for our email newsletter as we put this free Emma subscription to...
The Harbor Springs Area Historical Society joins Historypin
Here at the historical society we are always exploring new ways to make the rich history of Harbor Springs more accessible to the public. With this in mind we are proud to announce the launch of our own channel on Historypin! Historypin.com is a website that utilizes Google Maps to allow photographs, videos and other content to be “pinned” to a digital map. Users can search anywhere on the globe and find interesting photographs and stories tacked to specific locales and can add their own material as well. Below is an example of how amazing this site really is. Shown...
The Harbor Springs History Museum Turns 5!
December was an important month for the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society and for the Harbor Springs History Museum which celebrated its fifth birthday on December 7! An open house was held in celebration of this special day with a chance for visitors to see both the permanent and temporary exhibits downstairs and Christmas crafts and refreshments upstairs. Over one hundred guests attended the open house and helped us end 2013 on a high note. In preparation for the open house, several new elements were installed in the permanent exhibit gallery. Dick Babcock volunteered his time to install two large...
Local World War
With the new year comes a new exhibit! The temporary exhibit case on the 2nd floor has been changed out and an exhibit of local artifacts and letters from both World Wars have been put on display. These include ration stamps and tokens, letters, and articles that pertain to our local area during World War I and World War II. We also have our first Harbor History Talk of 2013 this week. Join local resident, artist and author Jane Cardinal as she delves into the history of the Good Hart area and its transition to a resort community. Cardinal recently...
Winter is Here!
Winter is here! The snow may have left us for a little while, but anyone can tell you that it will surely be back! It’s hard to imagine how people coped without snowplows and snowblowers but somehow they did. I imagine that there were some hardworking horses before automobiles and tractors became more common in the snow removal industry. Our Holiday Open House is taking place on Saturday, December 29 from 11:00am to 3:00pm. The 20 man bobsled pictured above will be out and we will be showing a slide show of other historic winter photos from Harbor Springs...
Past and Present
One of the most fascinating things about going through older photographs of Harbor Springs are the glimpses of the past that they bring. You can recognize buildings and places in these old photographs and see how they were 100 years ago. Often as a child, I would look at the world around me and wonder how it looked in the past, without paved roads, cars, or houses. What activities went on in these familiar places that I knew nothing about? This is the reason that photographs of recognizable places are so exciting to me, it shows how they looked in...
Temporary Election Exhibit
Hello everyone! My name is Talia and I have been working as an archivist and collections manager at the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society since June. I grew up in Harbor Springs but I have never been so aware of the history of the town as I have been going through the archives. There are so many great things here on a large array of subjects that I can’t wait to show them all to the town! Recently, in honor of the upcoming presidential election in November, I gathered together interesting items from the archive on the subject of older...
Warming up to Winter
At a recent gathering of historical society and museum folk, our group facilitator started off our meeting by asking us to introduce ourselves, our organizations and, as an icebreaker of sorts, tell what we like most about living in northern Michigan in January. My answer was simple. I like January because, slowly but surely, the days are getting longer. Those who know me well know that winter generally takes fourth place in my favorite season rankings. January ranks equally low amongst my favorite months. But in this new year, something was different about January.
Celebrating 20 Years of HSAHS History!
That’s right, the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society is turning 20. Can you believe it? The date was March 6, 1990, when founders Marge May, David deWindt, Linda Rosenow, Jan Morley, Nancy Morton, Nancy Gurney and Arthur Barnes had their first official meeting.
A Happy New Year Indeed!
Last month, the Harbor Springs Area Historical Society learned that we are the recipients of a 2009 Award of Excellence given by the Builders Exchange of Northwest Michigan in Traverse City. Our museum project was nominated by Spence Brothers, the general contractor for the renovation that was completed in December 2008.