The Mackinaw Area Historical Society (MAHS) began with a dream and an initial meeting on July 22, 1996. The next page is the opening of the minutes from that meeting with the statement "An informal meeting of people in Mackinaw City who are interested in starting a Historical Society"-. From that simple beginning, MAHS was born. The "Articles of Incorporation", amazingly, were filed by August 21^st of the same year. On that same date the Internal Revenue Service granted tax exempt status to the fledgling organization.
This determination and get at It attitude have been hallmarks of MAHS in the ensuing fourteen years.
In the first years of the 21^st century, sitting on a porch overlooking the Straits of Mackinac, a few MAHS members and supporters had another dream: A Historic Village where the history of the Straits area could come alive! In 2004, through the tireless efforts of officials from the Village of Mackinaw City, Emmet County and MAHS, a forty-three acre parcel of land previously owned by the McCormick Foundation and then owned by Emmet County, was transferred to the Village of Mackinaw City. This was for the express purpose of constructing a Historic Village as a partnership between Mackinaw City and MAHS.
The Historic Village's period is from 1880 through 1917, a period of unparalleled changes in lighting, transportation, communication, housing, disease and nearly every other aspect of Straits area living. It also reflects an era from which some are still living, a precious few buildings are still standing, and stories told by parents, grandparents and great grandparents abound.
An 1880's one room school from the community of Freedom, a Mackinaw City pest (pestilence) house from the same era, the sawmill that cut the logs for the locks at Sault Ste Marie right after the turn of the century, an 1890's
Mennonite hewn log farmhouse, a tar paper work shack, a vintage base ball field (yes, it was two words back then), an artifacts building, and community gardens all grace the property. Educational programs are in place or are being developed to bring each to life. A pavilion/ a machine shed, a railroad hand car storage building/ a replication of a prominent family's farm house, and several other projects are slated for completion in 2010 or the near future.
Our most treasured objective is to educate children through exciting interpretation, participation, and enthusiastic retelling of the history of that time. In 2009, 537 school children from 11 school districts visited the Historic Village. This year 417 third, fourth and fifth grade teachers throughout a large portion of Michigan have received the postcard below inviting them to bring their students to our Village to "really see what Great Grandma Smith meant about no lights, no cars, no planes, no telephones when she was a girl, but seeing them all become reality". High school and college students, home for the summer, have fallen in love with base ball using 1870's rules when gentlemanliness was the standard and an umpire could simply ask were you safe or out and a "ballist' (player) would respond honestly, much to the delight of the "cranks" (fans).
The most common response we receive when visitors find out how short a time we have been in existence and when the Village started is "WOW"! We are extremely proud of what we have done and our members' determination to move ahead.