Looking Back
Compiled by Ryan Schlehuber

Members of the Harrison and Knoy family of St. Ignace enjoy an August day on Mackinac Island in 1957, sitting in front of Fort Mackinac in Marquette Park. The pathways behind the women are no longer there. To the right is the Father Marquette statue. Pictured are five generations of the Harrison- Knoy family including (from left) Vera Harrison, holding her one-year-old daughter, Lynne, Ruth Knoy, Gladys Sullivan, and Vera Bolin. Mrs. Knoy and her parents worked on the Island and her husband was a bridge construction worker. The baby, Lynne Piippo, is now the director of the St. Ignace Visitors Bureau. (Photograph courtesy of Lynne Piippo)

115 Years Ago

The St. Ignace News

Saturday, May 21, 1892

Mackinac County's state tax this year will be $2,511.86.

School was dismissed in Miss Ramsay's department at LaSalle school Thursday forenoon, on account of a smoking stove.

Papers were signed yesterday, making Frank S. Walker and Joseph LaFountain proprietors of Orth's Opera House for the next five years. These gentlemen will at once commence making general repairs, and have ordered new scenery.

Now let the Pt. LaBarbe beach drive be pushed with all possible speed. The street committee has set aside $60 to open up Graham avenue to the city limits, to intersect with the beach drive. Both jobs should be completed within the next 20 days.

Robert J. Burrows closed his school at Point LaBarbe last Friday, having taught a successful term of four months.

90 Years Ago

The St. Ignace Enterprise

Thursday, May 24, 1917

President Wilson Friday ordered that a division of regular troops, commanded by Major General John J. Pershing, be sent to France at the earliest practicable date.

The president's proclamation provides that all men between ages 21 and 30, inclusive, must register. Any person failing to register or who registers falsely shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

The entire Upper Peninsula as well as other portions of the state is covered with a blanket of snow varying in depth from two to six inches.

John R. Pollock, superintendent of the Les Cheneaux Club, was a visitor of St. Ignace the first of the week.

50 Years Ago The Republican-News & St.

Ignace Enterprise

Thursday, May 23, 1957

All persons serving tourists in St. Ignace and Mackinac County will be invited to become "experts" on construction details of the Mackinac Bridge Saturday, June 15. Called "Bridge Education Day," employees of local businesses will tour the construction site.

Kenneth "Red" Smith was elected manager of the 1957 edition of the Saints St. Ignace baseball club.

Rita Smith, 18, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Smith of Marquette Island, Les Cheneaux, has been chosen to christen a Great Lakes steamship of Bradley transportation line in honor of Cedarville. The former ore carrier, A.F. Harvey, converted to a selfunloader, will be christened Str. Cedarville.

The annual graduation program of Thomas W. Ferry school, Mackinac Island, will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, May 26, in the community building, announces Leo J. Pintal, superintendent of the school. Exercises will be for the kindergarten, eighth, and 10th grade students.

A pure, white albino porcupine, killed by a car on M-134, was brought to Mrs. Melina Hill this week, who took pictures of the rare animal. One of the Kammers boys accidentally struck it while driving on M-134.

More than 200 4-H members celebrated Achievement Day in St. Ignace May 11.

35 Years Ago The Republican-News & St.

Ignace Enterprise

Thursday, May 25, 1972

Susan Theut and Terry Crouch are the valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively, for this year's graduation class of LaSalle High School.

Michigan Mayor Exchange Day dawned bright and sunny Monday morning as the mayor from Coleman, Cecil Yager, and his wife, Beverly, were guests of the City of St. Ignace. Bruce Dodson, Michigan Week chairman, and City Manager Steve Walters welcomed them at the north end of the bridge.

15 Years Ago

The St. Ignace News

Thursday, May 21, 1992

The Welcome, used as an "exhibition boat" from 1972 to 1989 by Mackinac State Historic Parks, has succumbed to rot and budget cuts. She needs a new home and an estimated $100,000 to $150,000 of repairs. She was made by antique tools and shipbuilding techniques common to the 18th century.

Bruce Dodson, who will have completed a decade as St. Ignace's mayor when his current term expires next year, is Citizen of the Year for 1992 in St. Ignace.

Success in field events was the key to the Class C regional title for the St. Ignace boys track team Friday, May 15, at Munising, while the Saints girls team finished second to Munising.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The St. Ignace News is seeking original prints or reprints of old photographs depicting areas in the Eastern Upper Peninsula to be scanned into the archives and for the Looking Back column. Photographs to be loaned or donated to the Michilimackinac Historical Society can also be dropped off at The St. Ignace News.