Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By IAN MINIELLY
Bessemer — The Bessemer Historical Society Thursday heard from Dick Steiger of a recent donation the society received.
Steiger said Jim Maccani gave the society an old ledger from the Sylvania Club, near Watersmeet. Without digging into the new historical artifact yet, some names leapt off the pages of the tome.
A.D. Johnston, the namesake of the school in Bessemer, was one of the initial investors and a frequent guest at the club.
Henry Ford also stayed and left his name in the ledger.
Looking at the different names, the dates they arrived and left, and where they were from leaves an individual with an impression that the Sylvania Club was quite the tony establishment.
Of course there are many names with home addresses across the Upper Peninsula, but there are many entries from as far as the Pittsburgh area who made repeated visits, to much closer locations across Wisconsin and Minnesota. Steiger said the ledger catalogues the visitors from around 1901 to World War II.
Steiger said the Sylvania Club and the land it owned was shared by a number of investors, who slowly over the years sold their interests in the location until the final owner sold the land to the state of Michigan, which turned it into the Sylvania Wilderness Area.
In other news, the historical society will read the Declaration of Independence for the fourth year running during the Bessemer Blast and is keeping extended hours during the lengthy celebration from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m daily.
