By JULIE BERRY TRAYNOR

Cleaver Guest Writer

News of the fires raging in California is foremost in the minds of many these days. What we see on our screens is so much worse than we can imagine. Many of us cannot imagine the scope of the inferno. There is fire experience and stories of loss in all communities and in most families. We all know fire stories, be it witnessing a building burn or the personal loss of a home. My grandparents’ house burned from a chimney fire in 1933. For my dad and his siblings, as long as they lived, time was divided between before and after the house burned. 

Clare County is no stranger to fire. During the course of Michigan’s history forest fires raged periodically, consuming thousands of acres. Logging operations could be both responsible for, and the victims of, fires. The coming of the railroads also increased wildfires. Countless homes and businesses were lost because of wood stove or chimney fires, and many schoolhouses went up in smoke. Winterfield’s first Grandon School, a wooden structure, was lost in 1912. The school was replaced in 1914 with a cobblestone structure which stands today. 

Temple lost its first train depot in a fire caused by a Pere Marquette steam engine. Temple also suffered the loss of two school buildings, a township hall and several businesses in her history. Last year saw three structure fires, one with loss of life. 

In August 1921 wildfires were consuming many acres across northern Clare, eastern Missaukee, and Roscommon counties. In that hot and dry season sparks flew and ignited more fires far ahead of the flames. The Winterfield Township Hall, located at the corner of Cook and Haskell Lake roads, in the center of the township, was set ablaze by flying embers as the fire neared the Clam River. 

Miles s Davis was the Supervisor at that time and lived across the road from the hall. Due to some recent issues and security concerns, not to mention the …   More

Harrison Storm and Leota Cyclone and Fire- 1909, 1912 or ?

By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

When I mentioned not a lot of photos of the Leota area exist to Julie Berry Traynor she sent me two photos of an interesting weather event in Leota. The cards were sent between Julie’s grandmother’s sisters. Their parents were at Leota at Dunham’s Mill at the time. Surely such a catastrophic event was mentioned in the newspapers.

Since we don’t have an archive of the Cleaver before 1930, I searched in the Clare papers for news articles and found none. I put this research to the side until last week when I found a clipped-out article from the Cleaver in a scan of a scrapbook shared with by a local family. Julie’s family postcards put this event in 1909, a reliable date as they were mailed but the news clipping has a handwritten date of 1912.

The Clare Sentinel reported a cyclone in Gladwin County in July of 1912. No mention of any such cyclone/fire in Harrison or Leota in the Clare Sentinel or any other paper of the time. It’s hard to know whether the event in the postcards is the same event in this clipping that may be from 1912.

The clippings marked 1912 read in part:

About half past five Sunday afternoon a storm broke over the city of Harrison which surpassed in violence anything within the memory of any of the present inhabitants. The storm was first seen in the northwest as a dark thundercloud and approached at a great speed, catching nearly everyone unprepared, so sudden and unexpected was its arrival. A short period of rainfall, during which the downpour was so dense that it was impossible to see buildings across the street, was followed by a violent wind and a terrific bombardment of hail, the whole being accompanied by lightning. This lasted about ten minutes and then the storm was gone as quickly as it had come.

LEFT DESTRUCTION -IN IT’S WAKE

An immense around of damage was done by …   More

EARLY CLARE COUNTY LEGAL CASES

HERSEY  v  HERSEY

SEPTEMBER 5, 1906 – IT’S ALL ABOUT MONEY AND CHICKENS, BAWK, BAWK, BAWK

George H. Hersey, age 52, filed a Complaint for Divorce on September 5, 1906, against his wife, Mary A. Hersey, age 49, alleging desertion as the ground for divorce.  He stated a marriage in Mt. Pleasant on December 20, 1903, and that on September 3, 1904, defendant Mary “willfully deserted and absented herself  . . . without reasonable cause for the space of two years and upwards”.  The Chancery Subpoena was served on defendant Mary in the City of Clare on October 6, 1906, by Under Sheriff C.B. Lloyd.  The usual default papers were filed.

Testimony to support one of the 8 statutorily permitted grounds of divorce was obtained on December 11th by Judge Peter F. Dodds.   Plaintiff George testified to re-marrying and living with defendant Mary for 8 months before she left.  Also, that he was previously married to her when he was 19 and she 17 and then divorcing about 4 years previous, re-married as to the present matter, and seeking to be “redivorced”.  He stated that he really didn’t know why she left except for the fact that “she insisted upon buying more land and raise more chickens.  I told her though we had a plenty; . . . we had 150 then, -- all she could take care of.”  And, “all she thinks of is money, money.”

Plaintiff George indicated a 15-month space of time between their marriages and that on re-marrying they had entered into a contract with each to keep their own land – defendant Mary with 64 acres of 160 acres.  On re-marrying they purchased a house and lot in the City of Clare, he owning 2/3rds and she 1/3rd with a plan to both furnishing the house.   According to plaintiff George, defendant Mary did not totally unpack her belongings and “seemed to be …   More

By JULIE BERRY TRAYNOR

Cleaver Guest Writer

    A big part of Christmas is memories; both making new ones and recalling old ones. For many those warm thoughts are triggered when they trim the tree or pull-out Christmas treasures or photos from days and people gone-by. For me, it can be both, and often the memories are unexpected.

This year I gave some much-needed attention to a strap of old sleigh bells. They belonged to my great-grandparents Ward, who farmed 120 acres in Isabella County’s Deerfield Twp., before the turn of the 19th century. My grandpa and his four brothers had a deep attachment to those bells and ownership was passed along to each, in turn. I suspect this was largely because of the wonderful memories they brought each of them and collectively. The bells, strapped around a favorite horse, brought their youth again and the days when behind a horse was the only way to travel for work or pleasure.

The memory these bells hold for me is the look on my grand Uncle Charlie’s wrinkled face when he passed the bells to me on a hot August day in the 1980s. I could see the childhood glee in his eyes as he recounted the wonderful sound of the bells on a crisp winter day. That sound meant Christmas to him.

Along with the Ward sleigh bells were four other sleigh bells, with a different story to tell and acquired in an unusual way. These sleigh bells also carry special memories, these days just for me. My dad literally dug them up near the site of the long defunct Redding Township settlement of Pennock, sometime in the early 1960s. I will explain.

We spent a lot of time traveling the two-track roads of northwestern Clare County when I was a kid. Sometimes we indulged in our favorite pass-time of “dump digging”, which is not quite what the name implies. I still define it technically as the act of seeking, locating and digging through the remnants of long forgotten farm dumps, outhouse sites, roadside …   More

By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

If you research Clare County history a lot, you’ll realize items from Lake are hard to come by. It has always been a small community, and photos, ephemera, and other historical items don’t pop up every day. It can even be difficult to research. If you search “Lake, Michigan” on search engines, auction sites, and antique sites you can imagine what you get; a lot of results that are not from Lake, Clare County, Michigan.

Recently, two postcards popped up on an auction site bearing the postmark of Lake, Michigan. Both were real photo postcards, which means it is probably the only one, and generally not mass produced. It was labeled Lake, Michigan Town Hall and had a Lake postmark. The building didn’t fit with anything I knew to exist in Lake, so it was puzzling. My friend Andy Coulson suggested it could be Brinton. A quick look through the Brinton Centennial guide in the Harrison District Library found the exact photo and it was sure enough it was Brinton. Brinton is just to the south of Lake in Isabella County. Brinton had their own post office from 1888 to 1906 so it makes sense for mail from Brinton to postmarked at Lake after 1906.

When I actually inspected the postcard. In the body of the message at the top it said Brinton and was dated Nov. 19, 1911, but postmarked in Lake, Nov. 21, 1911.

The message reads, “I will you this card to let you know that I have not forgotten you. This is our hall. This ___ of this building is directly across the street. This is where I am every Saturday night. The man that stands with his hand on the pole is the shopkeeper in the lower hall Berk Clark. The women are Rebeckahs just out of lodge. When you come up I will show you all about it. So goodnight. From your ever true friend. J.A. F.”

 This all made sense until the second card popped up and was a store front again with a postmark of Lake. They were written …   More

By Julie Berry Traynor

Cleaver Guest Writer

Everyone who is old enough to remember what happened felt the shockwave across America, recall exactly where they were when they heard about the assassination of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. These days, 61 years later, a good share of us who carry that vivid memory were in a school somewhere in America, large or small, north, south, east, west, black or white.

Friday, November 22, 1963, dawned clear and cold in these parts. Enough snow had fallen earlier in the month to please the deer hunter invasion on the 15th. Almost everyone had deer season ‘company’ and a buck or two hanging from an apple tree or in the barn. It was business as usual in Winterfield, late in the year.

At the Grandon School, deer season excitement and general restlessness for the much-anticipated short school week was running high. Thanksgiving was just six days away. The break would begin on Wednesday at noon. Thanksgiving Day fell on November 28, just as it did this year.

Our bus, piloted by Melvin Berkompas, delivered us, as usual. We settled into our daily routine at Winterfield’s two-room, eighth-grade Grandon School by 9 a,m. The twenty or so students composing the higher grades of 5th through 8th worked through the last hours of education before the weekend. All went as usual and uneventfully, including lunch and the noon recess. By1pm we were into the afternoon class routine. Restlessness aside, the week would soon be done.

About 1:45pm the classroom was jarred by a rare occurrence. We all stared at the phone for a long moment, including Bob Dunn, our teacher. If there was any place where a phone could ring and startle everyone, it was in our classroom. Calls to our school were never a wrong number. The ring of the phone meant important news for someone, or all of us.  

Bob Dunn (this is what we called him), the newly minted teacher of the upper grades, rose from his …   More

By Julie Berry Traynor

Cleaver Guest Writer

               The truth told, I don’t know if there is a legend of any kind attached to the person Norman Sanders or not, but there just might be. I can tell you that his name and his work came into our household in the 1980s and have never left. Okay, but how does this name figure into Clare County history, you ask? I’m not sure if it does, but I am sure that someone out there has the answer to the question we’ve been asked more than once, “Who is Norman Sanders?” 

               Let me explain, and of course, it’s a bit of a story. 

               I’ve known Lake George my whole life and it’s given me great friends, an entire family, and memories. When I was a kid Shingle Lake was the first place my dad ever took me fishing. I was five. We had hamburgers at the Swiss Inn, dad let me try to row the boat, and I didn’t land a fish. I got a doozie of a sunburn and had a great and memorable time with my dad. Nearly twenty years later I met my husband in Lake George, and some years after that, I met Norman Sanders on Arbor Drive.    

               In the mid 1980’s my sis-in-law and I made a great sport of going to all the yard sales we could find at Lake George. Treasures abounded. It was on one busy July 4th weekend of yard sale going, that I met Norman Sanders. He was sitting on a table in a shady yard, surrounded by the usual sale fodder.  He was patiently waiting for someone to come along and see what a great piece of woodcraft he was/is. 

               Norman …   More

By JULIE BERRY TRAYNOR

The neighborhood country school was a mainstay of public education and social interaction for generations of children everywhere. For many of our not-so-distant ancestors, learning the fundamentals of reading, writing and arithmetic at the neighborhood country school was the sum and total of education. In the middle of the last century, Clare County counted 85 rural, one- and two-room school districts operating within the county.

Just a few years later, when the 1961-62 school term began, only Winterfield Township’s Grandon School, the Temple School in Redding, and the Dover School in Grant Township remained. At that time, Grandon was the largest of these remaining districts. 

Grandon was a two-room, eight-grade school with an enrollment of 52 children, located on the corner of Partridge Avenue and Forest Road in southern Winterfield. The first Grandon, or the Fleming School, was built here in 1899; destroyed by fire in 1912, and a new cobblestone structure replaced it that same year. 

At the start of 1950, the Winterfield School District No. 1, serving children from the northern and central parts of the township, burned in January. It was decided that the township would purchase a bus, employ a driver and send all K-8 students to the Grandon School. A second classroom and additional bathrooms were added for the booming elementary grades. The original, or upper school, served fifth through eighth grades. High school students were transferred to a Marion bus at the county line. 

The Grandon School enjoyed a standard not afforded to many rural schools. Thanks in large part to tax dollars brought to the district by Clare County’s oil and gas boom, the basement was remodeled to accommodate a kitchen and cafeteria, and a cook was employed to cook hot meals five days a week. The school library was enlarged, and textbooks upgraded. At Grandon, students did not pay for lunches. The school district paid for …   More

By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

On a recent visit to the Rustic Owl shop in Harrison the owner Malissa Dinnan shared with me a beautiful ‘junque journal’ that our mutual friend Lisa made for her. Lisa owns Lismore Paper and has done line drawing art and other projects for the Cleaver in the past as well as is one of our print customers. The journal is a shabby chic styled journal with envelopes for tucking in other papers or letters and unique pieces of paper old and new to create writing pages. Of course, it has an owl on the cover!

I had never heard of a junque journal by name, but I instantly recognized it as familiar. A junk or junque journal is a book of recycled or found materials or old papers used to write, draw, paint, or whatever the owner would enjoy. It’s often used for journals or an idea book.

The concept was familiar to me because my friend and co-author Cody Beemer had shared such a book from the 1920s and 1930s with me several years ago. Beemer’s great aunt Marie Beemer Bailey had a used a large 16x11, leather bound journal from the Wilson Bros store in Harrison and retrofitted it as a diary and scrapbook. Beemer and I lamented at first that the ledger which dates to the late 1880s in Harrison was partially covered in girlhood poems, diary entries, photos and other entries which covered names and business information from that era. For history lessons, Marie’s musing and memories proved just as interesting or more as an old store ledger.

I’ve written other articles about Marie Beemer Bailey in the past as she is a compelling and interesting citizen of Harrison’s past.

The ledger originally kept track of sales and payments for the Wilson Bros store and includes entries for many businesses, citizens, the village of Harrison and even the infamous James Carr, all customers of the store in 1887. The Wilson family founded most of Harrison with their sawmill, ice works, …   More

View of Harrison businesses and homes in 1991 from the Centennial collection at the Harrison District Library. While the talk of the town this year has been the gray and black colors on newly remodeled and constructed buildings, in 1991 Harrison was in its “brown era.” It makes one wonder in another 30 years what color will be trending!   More

By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

This photo hangs in the Harrison District Library, formerly the Surrey House Bar and Restaurant. We get a lot of questions about just who Mother White is. I usually edit photos that have writing in them, but I didn’t frame this particular photo and I’m glad the original writing is still on it. The woman in the shown in this photo of Second Street was Mary Etta Reese (1876-1955). It was taken in the mid-1920s.

Mary was born in 1876 in Ohio. She married Samuel Trowbridge in 1894 in Eaton County, Michigan. They had a son, Ira J. Trowbridge in 1895 and Samuel passed away in 1896. Later she married Richard White, and they had one daughter Gladys and a son Howard.

The April 30, 1943, issue of the Clare Sentinel reported this item under their Harrison News column. “Mrs. Ira Trowbridge and son, Wayne, and Mother White were Midland and Bay City callers Thursday of last week.”

At the time this photo was taken she was in the restaurant business and ran the Sanitary Café on Second Street. She passed away in 1955 at age 78. She is laid to rest in Maple Grove Cemetery in Harrison along with her husband Richard. In 1955 the Cleaver published her obituary and in part it reads, “She was a devoted wife and other and her cherry disposition endeared her to all. The many beautiful floral pieces silently bespoke the esteem in which she was held.”

The family moved to Harrison in 1912. Ira J. Trowbridge (1895-1956) graduated from Harrison in 1915. He later became mayor and was a respected citizen. He married Marion McNaughton of Carson City, Michigan and they had three children: Wayne, Doris and Donna Faye. He worked and in lived in Midland for a time before moving back to Harrison.

Many locals may remember Wayne Trowbridge and his wife Beverly (Merrill) Trowbridge. Wayne and Beverly both graduated from Harrison Schools in 1946. They worked in local banking and were prominent …   More

A photo from the May 29, 1958, edition of the Clare County Cleaver announcing new vehicles in use for the Clare County Road Commission. The article reads in part, “Along with the above shipment of highway trucks of a heavy nature were several pick up trucks used extensively by the employees of the road commission. Every county road truck was received by the county with a state highway insignia and the Clare County Commission marking painted in black and silver. It's a good way to announce to visitors in the area that they are observing one of the best road commissions in the state, you can bet your life on that.”   More

The real photo postcard of the Tampa Barbeque in Harrison was taken in the late 1920s. The drive-in/walk-up eatery was on the corner of Maple and First Streets in Harrison just to the south of Walraven’s Car Wash location today. Stacks of lumber can be seen in the background, no surprise since that area was the former site of Wilson’s Mill. The area was platted in 1923 as Wilson’s Third Addition to the City of Harrison. The railroad right of way is just behind the newly platted lots on First Street. Wilson’s Third Addition to the city added parcels to the City of Harrison from the Harrison Elevator Company to Wilson State Park, which land had previously been part of Wilson’s Lumber Mill and Ice Works.   More

Mrs. Ester Hileman is a long-time subscriber and called us about this photo postcard that ran the Cleaver last week. She identified three out of the five of the men in the photo. Donny Case, left, Bill Case to the right of the bear with his father Horton Case behind him. Identifying the men led to an article in the Clare Sentinel from May of 1949. The man in conservation uniform is most likely Don Bell. Bill Case and Don Bell were WWII veterans. Bill Case was Mrs. Hileman's brother-in-law. Thank you, Mrs. Hileman, for giving us more information that led to the rest of the story in this photo!

Clare Sentinel, 6 May 1949

There was quite a lot of excitement around Mann Siding Friday night when Cecil Hubel saw a big bear attacking a colt, belonging to Eddie Hubel’s D & D Riding Ranch, about a mile and a half west of US-27 on the south side of the Mann Siding Road, as Cecil was driving by at about 5:00 o’clock. Cecil threw a stone at the bear, which turned on him and drove him into his car. He then ran into the bear with the car, knocking bruin into the ditch, but he got up and attacked the car. Not desiring a “hand to hand” encounter with the 200-pound beast, Cecil drove to the Horton Case home, where Horton and his two sons, Bill and Russell, armed themselves with a 30-30 and 32 special rifle and 20 and 16 gauge shotguns with buck shot and slug loads, and returned to find the bear standing near a fence not far from where Cecil left him. They shot the bear with the 32 rifle and knocked him down, but he got up again and ran into the woods, with the men in hot pursuit firing as they ran. They knocked the bear down several more times and Case finally killed him with a slug load from his shotgun. Conservation Officer Don Bell was called from Clare and Horton Case dressed the bear, which was taken to the Mt. Pleasant State Home and Training School and added to their meat supply. The colt, although mauled and scratched up considerably …   More

By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

When thinking of women in Clare County history Anna Marie Beemer Bailey stands out. Marie, as she was called, was born to Oliver and Lena (Gosine) Beemer on October 31, 1901, in Clare County. Her father Oliver was a legend in the county and also to Marie. Marie wrote a lengthy essay about her father’s merits, but this article is about Marie and perhaps I can share that another time.

She married Frederick Bailey (1898–1954) in 1922. She changed her name with marriage but all her life she was known as Marie Beemer Bailey. Marie’s brother Art Beemer married Fred’s sister Thressia. Such is the tangled web of pioneer family trees when populations were smaller. In 1964, Art, Bill, and Fred Beemer were the founders of Beemer’s Sand and Gravel run by Art’s grandson Cody Beemer today. That business celebrates 60 years of continuous business this year.

Cody holds Marie’s diaries and other family history. Some of that collected history was used in the 2014 book Harrison that Cody and I coauthored through Arcadia Publishing. In the 1970’s Marie intended to write a history book about Harrison but never did. She kept detailed diaries about her life with over 30 volumes in total. I’ve only read through one, but they detail her life from small things such as who she had lunch with or who she called on to noting family or community member deaths. The diaries are a glimpse into small town life seen through the eyes of a busy and vigorous member of the community.

Marie was a schoolteacher for over 53 years in various positions in Clare County. She started teaching school in 1917 at the one room schoolhouse in Leota. Many news items ran in the Cleaver over the years similar to this 1943 clip from Frost Township, “The children of the Frost School enjoyed a program and Christmas tree at the school Wednesday morning. The children exchanged gifts and the …   More

By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

My friend, Clare resident and local metal detector/bottle digger Matthew McCown recently purchased a bottle he shared with me. Of course, he wished he had found it digging but couldn’t resist buying it when he found it for sale. The bottle is marked ‘Anna E Mussell & Son Central Drug Store, Clare, Mich.’ and it’s in almost perfect condition.

Local bottles are rare. And bottles that feature a woman running a business near the turn of the century are even rarer.

Anna Mussell was born Anna Husted in 1865 in Oakland County Michigan. She was the daughter of Julius and Francis Husted. Julius Barton Husted went by Burton or Burt and ran a hotel, saloon, opera house and other businesses in Clare beginning the 1870s. He also had a store and saloon in Gladwin. He was a businessman all of his life. He married twice and Anna had nine siblings.

Anna married Robert Mussell July 11, 1882, in Clare when she was 17 years of age. They had one child, a son born in 1885. After her husband’s death in 1902 she ran their drug store. She told a reporter that she had become a pharmacist in 1885 after passing the examination given by a traveling State examiner.

Her son Arthur was a doctor and also a pharmacist and lived in Clare most of his life. He graduated from Loyola Medical College in 1912 and served in WWI. He died in 1956 when Anna was 91 years old. The undertaker took his casket to their home for several hours to console Anna on the death of her son as she had been bed ridden by that time for 9 years. She was cared for by her various nieces for the last decade of her life.

In 1955, the Cleaver reported, “Mrs. Anna Mussell was remembered by friends Sunday honoring her 90th birthday anniversary. M.s Jennie Sersaw is her bedside companion and caretaker, and she remains interested in local activities in spite of the years confined to her bed.”

In 1956, Anna was featured …   More

By ANGELA KELLOGG-HENRY

Cleaver Managing Editor

I recently purchased a set of color slides from an online auction. I was really excited at first because they are in color and from the 1950s. They were taken at the Wildlife Park of John “Spikehorn” Meyer. While still a great find, I was disappointed the man himself wasn’t a subject of any of the slides. My assumption would be by the time the photos were taken Spike was aging and probably in Gladwin at the nursing home where he died in 1959.

The song by Jamey Johnson, “In Color” was running through my mind when I first saw the slides. The only other color photos I have seen of Spikehorn was a short clip from a 1950s era tourism promotional film. The clip is on YouTube, and I will link it when this article is online on the Cleaver website.

Born in Ohio but raised on a farm near Shepherd, Spikehorn came to the Harrison area in the late 20s. On 80 acres south of Harrison he continued various businesses such as his Green Mountain Tree Company. Already claiming to be in his 80s he began Spikehorn’s Bear Den and Wildlife Park in the 1930s. Wearing homemade buckskins and sporting a long beard, his business was visited by 1,000s of tourists each year.

The Chambers family began working with Spikehorn in 1951. They quickly assumed nicknames; Lonnie Chambers, alias Chief Red Eagle, his wife Willa Maye was “Starr”, his son “Little Beaver” or “Blue Eagle”, his oldest daughter “White Horse” and the youngest “Little Violet” as part of their “Indian” personas. They were not Indigenous people but a Black family from the Detroit area.

Disagreements between Spikehorn and his associates were not unusual and usually involved non-payment. Chambers had his share of disputes with Spikehorn. Spike would defend Lonnie and his family claiming heritage as “Indians in the Blackfoot Tribe” and later he would …   More

Slightly more exciting than my local matchbook collection is the centennial book collection I began for the Harrison District Library. While we are committed to keeping our collection local Clare County items and specifically, Harrison, the centennial books are an exception. They are fun to read through and a contain a lot of genealogical information.

Small towns throughout northern Michigan began creating commemorative centennial guides when their community turned 100. That puts most of the books published between 1960 and 1980 considering a lot of northern communities were logged and settled after the Civil War.

The books are simple, unsophisticated, and usually self-published in each locality. The photos aren’t great quality. There was no Amazon print on demand or internet self-publishing. What they lack in print quality they make up for in content. Histories of founding families, businesses, churches, local lore, and lots of photos. The photos are usually labeled who donated them or where they came from which makes a great lead for finding out more from the families today. Most of the folks that produced those books are gone now but their knowledge of local history is preserved.

The books were a lot of work and was almost always done by volunteers. A committee usually was formed to compile, organize, and edit a large amount of local history. The end result is local history preserved and shared for generations.

Harrison produced a Diamond Jubilee guide in 1966 when Harrison celebrated 75 years as an incorporated city. It is a photo heavy book and has pages of sponsored ads which are a great source of information about local businesses. It’s worth noting that the cover art on the 1966 jubilee book is incorporated into the City of Harrison logo today.

Harrison did a centennial guide in 1991 with the title Timber and Rail Dominion of Old. Both guides, though 25 years apart had covers designed by local artist Thelma “Tem” …   More

Don Morton happened to come into the Cleaver office to do some business and his paperwork was in a Morton Hardware envelope. The Morton’s have made several donations to the new history room at the library, so I asked him if he had any more of the envelopes. I collect ephemera and advertising items from local businesses. Well, you all know…I’ll collect anything local.

Don returned a short time later with more than just envelopes! Don brought in a custom clock, ashtray, envelopes, postcards, and a seat cushion. All the items will be available to view soon in the history and genealogy room at the Harrison District Library.

Morton Hardware was founded in 1948 by Howard Morton on Second Street in Harrison. Howard passed away a year after the 40th anniversary of the store and it was taken over by his son Don Morton. Previous to 1948, it was Harrison Hardware.

The clock is not only special because it marked the 40th anniversary of Morton Hardware but it was made by Thelma Hubbell as a gift to the Morton family. You may remember Hubbell created the original 20 Lakes in 20 Minutes sign I wrote about last week.

Thelma Hubbell was a local commercial artist who worked for Murton Gas and Oil and ran her own business. She was a volunteer at the Harrison Community Library for many years and made a puppet theatre, a historical village representing historic Harrison, and many children’s displays. She was a prolific and serious artist, a military veteran, and community staple in Harrison for decades.

Hubbell’s gift of the handmade clock included a custom storage box.

Don’s donation also included an ashtray. Probably from the 1950s or 60s. This seems quite funny today, but most businesses gave away free matches at their checkout counter and branded ashtrays were a common giveaway to advertise one’s business.

A seat cushion was also donated. It was sold by the Kiwanis as a fundraiser and features a who’s who of …   More

Most people who are familiar with Harrison have heard the phrase and the area’s claim to fame, “20 Lakes in 20 Minutes.” A sign with arrows pointing in the general direction of those 20 lakes has been on First Street in Harrison for over 70 years.

The first mention of the slogan “20 Lakes in 20 Minutes” in the newspaper is in a 1933 Cleaver article. It touts the areas trout streams, lakes and natural beauty.

The “20 Lakes” sign at Murton Oil Company was branded with their name and the Texaco brand. They also sold Firestone brand tires and offered tire repair. The Murton station also had a slogan of their own which was “Be Certain, See Murton.” And “Harrison’s Downtown Station.”

The original sign was created by Thelma Hubbell, artist and longtime Murton Oil Co. employee. It was located near the station across the street from the State Saving Bank in the area near the current Rite Aid parking lot. The bank can be seen in the oldest photo of the sign.

The “20 Lakes in 20 Minutes” slogan was originally coined by Harrison resident J.M. Van Deusen but widely used by real estate developer James A. D’arcy. D’arcy used the slogan in advertisements selling small cabins and lots in subdivisions he developed.

James A. D’Arcy purchased a large tract of land from the Weatherhead family, and it was platted into the Weatherhead-Hughes subdivision and included all the lake lots north and south from Hughes Point on Budd Lake. D’Arcy developed the unique idea of selling cabins and lots as a package deal. The affordable, ready-made vacation getaway between $495 and $795 was marketed to factory workers in the Detroit area. D’Arcy also originally developed the Snow Snake Mountain Ski Resort in the late 1940s.

D'Arcy also developed the Piney Woods subdivision just north of Harrison. The draw for these small cabins was the proximity to lakes and state …   More