The above photo from Oct. of 1940 shows the county draft board being sworn in by Circuit Judge Joseph F Sanford. The first draft quotas were filled by volunteers.

Flu Epidemic of 1918

In September of 1949, a full page ad appeared in the Muskegon Chronicle, announcing the "FIRST" Sound Motion Picture to be Written and Filmed in Greater Muskegon. The movie "That Kid Buck," promised An Action Packed Story That Will Thrill Your Soul!
SEE And HEAR: Scenes shot along Scenic Drive; Sheriff Axel Pederson and his deputies; Speeding squad cars in Muskegon Heights; Buck falls from a cliff and is injured; Buck in Muskegon County Jail! The movie was produced by Baptista Films and was intended to fight Juvenile Delinquency and promote Youth Haven, a rehab facility for kids in trouble with the law. The ad claimed the picture would be seen in all 48 states as well as every English speaking country in the world.

PS To anonymous: thanks for your note.

Muskegon Boys in France

The Muskegon Chronicle showed "the prettiest hat of the season" in this April 29, 1910, photo. It featured Persian silk with flowers and feathers. Suitable for a royal wedding?

2011-04-28T18:13:00.001-04:00

In April of 1952, Muskegon's shorelines were beginning to suffer major damage due to historically high water levels in the Great Lakes. Thus began an era of eroding beaches and lake cottages toppling in the water due to washed away foundations. The amount of damage for the whole County would more than pass $1 million over the next several years.
A number of fixes were tried, including building steel jetties into Lake Michigan and hauling in huge quantities of sand. Nothing really worked well, and the only real solution was eventual lowering of lake levels.
One of the more interesting aspects of the erosion was the uncovering of an old lumber schooner. (See picture above.) The wreckage came to light on the Lake Michigan beach north of the channel. Coast Guard Chief Leslie Furst estimated the overall length of the vessel at 100 feet, with a beam of 30 feet. It carried two masts of about 45 feet in height.
The name of the schooner was never determined, nor the circumstances of its wrecking-- whether it had gone down at sea and washed in to shore, or rather was beached during a big storm.

This Week in Muskegon History

2011-04-21T16:50:00.005-04:00

This week in 1952, a man walking along the lake shore found a message in a bottle. A note inside read: "A agent of this department has placed many bottles in Lake Michigan for the purpose of ascertaining the movement of the water. The finder should enter on the enclosed card the locality where found, the time when found, together with his name and address, and mail promptly." The note promised "one dollar" as a reward. It seems the bottles were placed in the lake by the Chicago Department of Public Works in 1886, or 66 years earlier. The message concluded with the statement: "This offer terminates Jan 1, 1887."

Scenes of Muskegon

2011-04-21T16:31:00.003-04:00

The above Hardy's Department Store ad appeared in the Muskegon Chronicle for Easter 1933.

Muskegon's Pioneer Photographer

2011-04-21T16:28:00.001-04:00

(This was taken from a story in the Muskegon Chronicle, April of 1903.)
William McComb grew up on Prince Edward Island, Canada. He became fascinated with photography when he was 15. In that summer of 1859, a man came from New York and set up a temporary photo gallery. McComb apparently volunteered to be the man's assistant, and so learned the photographic process and the business.
After working in photo galleries in Ottawa and Montreal for some time, McComb decided to move to the United States. At a photo shop in Chicago, he met J. D. Westervelt, then a photographer in Muskegon. Westervelt urged McComb to join him in Muskegon and they worked together for a year. In 1879 McComb went into business for himself.
McComb's soon became the most popular photo studio in the city. His gallery was located over Jiroch's cigar store on Western Avenue. In 1895 a disastrous fired destroyed McComb's equipment and 40,000 negatives. Insurance covered the loss of the building and furnishings but couldn't replace the negatives. At that time a photographer's stock of negatives was highly prized, since much of his income derived from reorders on existing negatives. Luckily a collection of negatives of Muskegon's pioneering families, kept in a separate room, survived. Shortly after the fire, McComb opened a new studio in the Lyman Building on Western Avenue.
McComb also had in interest in weather forecasting. Beginning in the spring of 1893, he worked part time for the U.S. weather bureau. Each day of the navigation season he put up a weather flag on a steel tower next to the Union train station. The flags of either welcome or warning told local mariners what to expect in the way of weather on the lakes for that day.
NOTE: many of the old photo portraits in the Museum's archives have the Wm. McComb logo on them.

Shaw Electric Crane

2011-04-14T12:27:00.003-04:00

The recent demolition of the remaining buildings of Shaw Electric Crane in Muskegon Heights, called to mind some highlights of the company, which once reigned as the largest manufacturer of cranes and hoists in the world.
The picture above shows one of eight cranes installed on the Panama Canal before World War I.
Having lasted for 120 years under various ownerships, the company was Muskegon Heights' oldest manufacturer. The Crane works was brought here by the Muskegon Improvement Co. in 1891, with an offer of free land and a new factory building.

update

2011-04-07T09:06:00.000-04:00

No update this week-- just got back from Akron.

update

2011-03-30T10:56:00.000-04:00

No update this week!

This Week in Muskegon History

2011-03-24T11:43:00.004-04:00

This week in 1912, Standard Oil Company purchased property along Lake Shore Drive which had once been the site of the McGraft lumber mill. The oil company would build five large storage tanks for gasoline and other petroleum products, making Muskegon the distrbution center for all of West Michigan. The story noted that the land was covered by a two-foot layer of sawdust.

Scenes of Muskegon

2011-03-24T11:21:00.003-04:00

The above ad was one of the many in a special section of the Muskegon Chronicle, advertising the city's first Better Homes Show. The date was March 21st of 1925.