Platts Drug Store, Port Sanilac c.1930
Step onto Port Sanilac’s main corner in the early 1930s. Platts Drug Store serves medicine, sodas, and gossip as Model A-era cars roll past. A tiny Lake Huron village stands at the edge of big changes.
Category: History
We examine stories and events that shaped the history of the Upper Thumb and Michigan. While we focus on the Thumb region, other Great Lakes historical events are covered. Major events include the lumbering era and the 1871 and 1881 great fires. We cover major pioneers and personalities that shaped the region. To hear many of our best stories, visit and subscribe to our Podcast, “The End of the Road in Michigan.”
Our best Michigan history posts are found below.
Detroit’s 1910 Elks Arch – When Woodward Turned into a Parade Gate
In July 1910, Detroit built a towering “Welcome” arch over Woodward Avenue for the Elks national convention. For one week, Grand Circus Park turned into a ceremonial gateway for parades, streetcars, and early motorists, offering a vivid snapshot of a rapidly modernizing Motor City.
Curwood Castle, Owosso MI, c. 1925 – An Unsurpassed Writer’s Riverfront Studio in Owosso
In the reel image from about 1925, Curwood’s Castle rises behind bare trees along the Shiawassee River. The small stone-and-stucco building looks like something lifted from a European story, yet it stands in Owosso, a mid-Michigan city about 40 miles northeast …
The Underground Forest – Michigan’s Lost Roadside Wildlife Tunnel
North of Grayling, Michigan, the Underground Forest drew 1950s families into a 240-foot tunnel lined with taxidermy wildlife scenes. Built into a sandy hill along Old US-27, this odd roadside stop thrived on vacation traffic until I-75 opened and the cars — and the cave — slowly disappeared.
History of Wolverine Michigan: From Logging Boom to Tourism Stopover
The History of Wolverine Michigan tells how a rough Sturgeon River logging camp grew into a busy rail village, collapsed when the pines were gone, and slowly rebuilt around a state fish hatchery, US-27 highway traffic and modest tourist camps in northern Michigan.
The Pontiac Asylum for the Insane – Michigan’s Grand Psychiatric Experiment
In the 1910 postcard, the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane looms over a bare yard in Pontiac. Tall brick towers, steep roofs, and long wings stretch across the frame. It looks more like a grand hotel than a hospital. Yet …
Steamer at Port Hope Dock, Mich., c.1910
We’re standing at the crowded dock in Port Hope, Michigan, sometime around 1905 to 1913. A Great Lakes steamer, its name on the bow blurred but appearing to read “Flora” or “Lora,” presses so close to the pier it almost scrapes …
Stump Battles of Edmore Michigan
These scenes from around Edmore Michigan, in Montcalm County, show what came after Michigan’s great lumber boom. Once this ground held a deep white pine forest; by the early 1900s, it was a sea of stumps. Crews of farmers and hired …