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MESICKMuseum volunteers keep the past aliveFROM PAGE 1The village is named for its first settlers — homesteaders Howard and Ellenor Mesick, who came from New York state to farm 160 acres. A surveyor offered to plat their land for two lots in 1880.The Mesick home, along what is today Clark Street, became a stagecoach way station. Howard started a sawmill and a general store, too.Kohn grew up in Mesick and graduated from high school in 1961. She attended Northwestern Michigan College and then Central Michigan University where she earned her teaching degree. She taught third and fourth grades at Traverse Heights Elementary School from 1966 1994.Her mother, GraceKohn, longtime Mesick school teacher and elementary school principal, headed up the village’s 1989-1990 centennial celebration committee and fundraising for it.The museum was Grace's dream and the centennial’s child.The centennial committee had money left over and invested it in the hopes of one day constructing a museum to house the many artifacts donated and displayed during the centennial.In 2003, the group of volunteers formed a non-profit and purchased the former Sandy Mac’s Restaurant building downtown in 2003, renovated and deeded it to the village for $1 with the option of running it.The museum opened in 2005. The committee still pays electricity, insurance, water and most of the maintenance costs.Grace Kohn died in 2003 before her dream for a village museum came true, but she died knowing it was in the works, said her daughter, who decided to follow her mother’s footsteps.I value the history of the community where I grew up,” Deborah Kohn said. “I want to be able to share this information with future generations. I’m carrying on because of my love of history.”People also are welcome to come in and read the large history notebooks the museum has assembled about Mesick and the Mesick family, the dam and surrounding towns, she said.There’s always a chair there waiting for somebody,” Kohn said.Special annual events scheduled this year include a garage sale on July 20 and the old car show on Aug. 16, and the Oct. 5 Cider Fest, made with the museum’s cider press. All will take place at the museum parking lot.The Mesick Area Historical Museum, 117 Mesick Avenue, is open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m . from May through September, or by appointment. For more information, visit www. mesickmuseum.com or its Facebook page.
Newspaper Details
Traverse City North Coast
Traverse City, Michigan, US
Sat, Jul 20, 2013
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Marie O.
USA 13 Nov 2018
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