History of Traverse City
Bike Tour Companion

Stop 1 - Your tour begins at Sunset Park adjacent to the Delamar parking lot. Begin near the beach under the shade of the trees looking out toward the bay.

Sunset Beach Park, one of the first beach parks, was a favorite of locals for picnics and watching beautiful sunsets. A century before Clinch Park was created, to the west on the bayfront where you will stop later, Sunset Beach Park offered locals and visitors alike a beautiful view of the bay and place to have a picnic. To the left or the west part of the bayfront (if you’re facing the bay) was an industrial area of coal docks and industry infrastructure associated with shipping. Long docks extended into the bay and big vessels came and went carrying lumber, coal, livestock, supplies, and people.

Acknowledging the Original People

We acknowledge our surroundings, which are the ancestral, and current homelands of the Odawa and Ojibwa people. We honor them, in their native tongue as the original people, the Anishinaabek, and recognize they were coerced into ceding this beautiful land by and to the United States in the 1836 Treaty of Washington.

We acknowledge that this very Treaty brought about the State of Michigan, and that every effort was made by our forefathers to dismantle Indigenous culture, convert them to christianity, and re-educate their children in so-called “Indian Schools.” It was not until May 27, 1980 that our local Anishinaabek were re-recognized by the federal government as the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa (Ott-ah-wa) and Chippewa (Chip-ah-wah) Indians.

Despite centuries of mistreatment, this is, has, and will always be Anishinaabek (Ah-nish-in-ah-beck) land. We uplift, honor, and speak their names in their native tongue to remind us that the Odawa (Ah-da-wah) and Ojibwa (O-jib-wah) did, and do still exist. We start our tour with this acknowledgement, not to cast blame, but to honor and recognize that without their committed stewardship, we would not be enjoying the natural beauty that surrounds us.

The Bay

The body of water in front of you is the west arm of Grand Traverse Bay. The bay is around 32 miles long and ten miles wide, with the two fingers or peninsulas being about 10 miles each. The deepest point is 590 ft, with an average depth of 180 ft.

The bay, like all of the Great Lakes, was carved by a mile thick behemoth of ice (glacier), which receded from this area around 10,000 years ago.

Any French speakers among us will recognize the name Grande Traverse (as the large crossing). For early fur traders and missionaries, the 132 mile journey along the shores of the bays could be avoided via a perilous 10 mile crossing, by canoe, between the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula and what is now the town of Northport.

Proceed to Stop 2 via Front Street east to the Barlow Street and Front Street traffic signal and crosswalk. Once onto Barlow Street pedal to a left turn on Washington Street.

This is the oldest of Traverse City’s fashionable neighborhoods. Because of its greater age, this neighborhood is filled with fascinating history and an eclectic mix of styles. The oldest homes are modest “carpenter houses'' that were later added onto as their families and family fortunes grew. A good example is the 1858 home of newspaper editor Morgan Bates of the Evening Record at 413 Washington, which started with three rooms and ended up with 10. It’s bracketed between the ornate 1880 home of his competitor, Elvin Sprague of the Daily Eagle, and the 1870 house of teacher / druggist / photographer S.E. Wait, who taught the first school here (aboard the icebound schooner Madeline) in 1851.

A little over four blocks down on the right is an unusually bent tree, with a historical plaque identifying it as having been “bent by Indians” to mark the footpath that was once the only land route between Detroit and the Straits of Mackinac.

Prior to European settlement of Michigan, Native Americans had developed a method of navigation through the dense, sometimes swampy Michigan landscape. They used trees. Native Americans took great care to create trail marker trees by altering the growth pattern of sapling sized trees. In most cases, small trees would be bent a few feet off the ground by tying down the top of the sapling. Over time, auxiliary branches would be strategically trimmed off or left to grow upward, depending on the signal the tree was being shaped to communicate. The top that was originally tied down would be removed leaving a stub or scar that would signal the direction of the landscape feature it was created to mark. The marker tree, bent hundreds of years ago as a sapling into a "L" shape pointing the direction, survived the building of this home and street a century or more ago.

Farther along, at the corner of Washington and Wellington, are a pair of splendid mansions: the romantic 1894 Victorian home of Industrialist Henry Hull and the gorgeous 1905 neoclassic home of his son, Cary—now the Wellington Inn B&B. Across the street, at 502 Washington, is the charming house where Michigan governor William Milliken grew up.

Proceed along Washington Street and take a left on the sidewalk at the intersection of Boardman without crossing the street. From here you will see the Grand Traverse County Courthouse.

Grand Traverse County was officially organized in 1851. Its first courthouse and jail were built in 1854 for $600 on land donated by the lumbering firm Hannah, Lay and Company. The courthouse, a wooden structure, burned in 1862. The county used rented quarters until 1900. In 1898 the county accepted plans for the beautiful and majestic brick and stone structure submitted by architects Rush, Bowman and Rush of Grand Rapids. The building, placed on the site of the original courthouse, was completed in 1900 at a cost of $35,665.

Head south on Boardman and take a left on Webster Street. Take a right on Railroad Ave and continue to E Eight 8th street where you will cross at the traffic light and continue on Railroad Ave for two short blocks until you see The Filling Station on your right.

Pere (Pee-Air) Marquette (Mar-ket) Railway made the decision to build a new Traverse City Depot on Boardman Lake. The rail line made it possible for rail travel all across the Great Lakes region. On January 6, 1927, the brand new depot opened with railroad officials claiming it as the finest station along the entire Pere Marquette line. The depot continues to thrive as the current home of the Filling Station Microbrewery. You can enjoy a craft brew with a wood-fired flatbread or salad while sitting inside or on the patio.

Stop 5 is across the railroad tracks from the Filling Station behind the Traverse City Area District Main Branch Library. To get there, exit the Filling Station the way you came in and look for a TART trail on your right. Take this trail a short distance until you reach the entrance to the Library. The entrance to the Children's Garden is straight back at the end of the Library parking lot.

The Grand Traverse Area Children's Garden is a community garden with a mission to educate and inspire youth through hands-on gardening programs emphasizing nutrition. These programs offer an opportunity for children to learn about sustainability, leadership, and life skills, while serving as good stewards protecting our community and the environment. Established in 1999 on the lake side of the Traverse Area District Library's Main Branch (Woodmere), the garden focuses on teaching children, but is open to visitors of all ages for wandering and inspiration.

Return to and take a right on the TART trail at the entrance to the Library parking Lot Take your first right onto Hannah Ave and take the entrance to the Boardman Loop Trail that is right next to the Lake. Follow this trail through Hull Park, the boat launch, until reach the bridge over the Boardman River. This offers you a beautiful view of Boardman Lake.

You’re looking at Boardman Lake, three hundred acres, fed by the Boardman River that flows into the lake at the southern end of the lake. The river flows under the bridge flowing on into the Grand Traverse Bay. The lake and river were formed by the retreat of mile thick glaciers 10,000 years ago. The river, considered a blue ribbon trout stream for it’s cold oxygenated water, begins in the Mahan Swamp in Kalkaska County 28 miles away.

Captain Harry Boardman came to the area and established a sawmill in 1848. He stored logs for his sawmill on the lake and the lake came to be known as Boardman’s Lake. The Boardman River and lake played a vital role in the growth of the city, but the logging and clear cutting was devastating to the river’s aquatic habitat.

The indigenous people living here called the river Ottaway. The river was an important part of their lives. It provided transportation and sustenance. The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians have been an important guiding force in the restoration of the river.

Three hydrostatic dams were built a century ago to augment needed electric power. Those

Those dams have been removed and the river flows for most of the 28 miles unencumbered for the first time in over a century.

Continue over the bridge on the trail veering to the right under the railroad trestle. Continue on the trail until you come up behind Stop #7 - Oryana Co-op.

This is a perfect place to top for refreshments and a restroom break.

In 1973, a small group of pioneering people established a buying club to obtain fresh wholesome food at fair prices. They began working off a back porch of an original member’s home and have evolved today into a two store cooperative business serving Traverse City and the area. Their mission is to provide high quality food produced in ecologically sound ways at fair value to the owners and the community. All co-op members are considered owners and share in discounts.

Back track on the path that led you to Oryana (O-re-an-ah), taking a left at the fork immediately after you enter the trail. This will lead you to E Eighth St where you can take a right and ride in the bike lane until you cross the Boardman River. Cross the street at the first intersection and then turn around and ride back in the direction from which you came (now on the north side of the street). Take a right on Lake Ave and explore Stop 8.

The buildings on the left and right as you ride down Lake Ave are what remains of railroad shipping depots, weigh stations. and a canning operation. Produce, cherries, dry goods, supplies, lumber, and more were brought right into town as well as shipped out. Lumber was brought via the Boardman River to the depots for loading onto railcars. Today these original depot structures have been adapted for commercial use as an auto supply business, pubs and restaurants. Rare Bird brewpub, on your right, is owned by one of the few woman brewmasters in Michigan.

Continue on Lake Street until it crosses Cass Street. Please be mindful of traffic and use the cross walks. Look to your left after you safely cross Cass Street. You will see a white pointed marker in the grass with #32 on it.

Physical markers help preserve culture and history. The Old Indian Trail consists of 33 markers dotted throughout Northern Michigan. The first can be found on the shores of Lake Mitchell in Cadillac. Marker No. 33, at West End Beach, marks the end of the trail.

The trail these markers represent dates back to sometime in the 1200s. Multiple native peoples —particularly the Odawa (Ah-da-wah) and Ojibwe (O-jib-wah) tribes — used the trail to navigate from the fertile land near Lake Mitchell to the waters of the Great Lakes. Back then, the trail was marked by burial mounds and dotted by villages. Today, those landmarks are gone, but the memory of the trail remains.

The earliest markers were placed in the 1940s by a local historian, while the most recent ones date back to 1987 and were placed by Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

At the corner of Lake and Union Streets is Brady’s Bar, one of the remaining original neighborhood bars. Traverse City, like other communities, has neighborhoods that were shaped by the history of the people who lived there and often the industry associated with it. You are pedaling through a part of Traverse City, referred to as Old Town, because these blocks were part of the original settlement with Union Street being central for business locations.

Make a right turn onto Union Street and a left turn onto 6th Street and Stop 11.

Stop in front of a bronze statue of Traverse City founder Perry Hannah

Visionary, Pioneer, Businessman, Philanthropist, Founder. Few can claim more than two of these qualities and even fewer can claim all five. Perry Hannah was one of them. Known to history as the father of Traverse City.

Perry Hannah was born September 22, 1824. One of Traverse City's earliest settlers and most noted citizens, he was a lumber baron that developed the town into what it has become today.

In 1851, along with A. Tracy Lay and James Morgan, he organized Hannah Lay and Company, and began logging operations in the Grand Traverse region. His partners chose to live in Chicago, but Hannah put down roots in Traverse City which was an undeveloped outpost at the time. The company became one of the largest of its kind in the midwest. He and his business partners established Traverse City’s first bank and a two block long mercantile that supplied everything anyone could possibly need. Half the mercantile building still stands today on the northeast corner of Union and Front Street.

Continue on 6th Street as it runs along the Boardman River to Stop 12 at Pine and 6th Street

On your right as you pedal toward Pine and 6th Streets is Hannah Park. This riverside park is deeply connected to Traverse City’s heritage as a logging community. Originally a rail yard associated with Hannah Lay & Co. 's timber operation, the park sits in an idyllic location along the Boardman River, directly adjacent to the Perry Hannah house and the History Center of Traverse City. This neighborhood is known as the Central Neighborhood.

From mansion to funeral home, the structure remained stately. Perry Hannah was 70 years old when he built his retirement home on Sixth Street. Designed by W.G. Robinson from Grand Rapids, the house is a combination of Queen Anne and French Chateaux in style with other elements as well.

Started in 1891 and completed in 1893, the house was built by 30-60 carpenters, two master carpenters, masons and laborers. All created by hand with man made tools as there was no electricity then.

There are 40 rooms on four full floors with 3500 square feet on each floor. Ten fireplaces (six on the main floor, and 4 on the second floor) all hand carved in Belgium and reassembled in Traverse City. Eight have handmade Venetian tiles. The home was heated with coal originally and features steam radiators throughout the home. Today the home is heated with gas. Perry, being a lumber baron, used many different types of wood in the home including cherry, birch, beech, birdseye, curly maple, oak, dark oak, and walnut. The only non-native wood is Brazilian mahogany which is in the former dining room today called the mahogany room.

Continue on 6th Street to Stop 13 on the right side of 6th Street

Built in 1904, on land donated by Perry Hannah, this public library building was made possible by a generous donation from businessman and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie.

His philanthropic interests centered around the goals of education and world peace. One of his lifelong interests was the establishment of free public libraries to make available to everyone a means of self-education. There were only a few public libraries in the world when, in 1881, Carnegie began to promote his idea. He and the Carnegie Corporation subsequently spent over $56 million to build 2,509 libraries.

Many persons of wealth have contributed to charity, but Carnegie was perhaps the first to state publicly that the rich have a moral obligation to give away their fortunes.

As you pedal down 6th street you’ll see big beautiful homes that were built off the fortunes of lumbering and other early industries. Known in the past as Silk Stocking Row, it also boasts extravagant Halloween and Christmas decorations.

Make a left turn at Maple Street and a right turn at 7th Street. You’ll cross Division Street at the stoplight using the crosswalk.

Once across Division Street pedal to Elmwood Ave where you will cross the street and turn left, heading south on Elmwood Ave.

Continue on Elmwood Street toward the Grand Traverse Commons campus to your right, the former site of the Northern Michigan Asylum.

In January of 1882, Architect Gordon W. Lloyd of Detroit was chosen to design the Northern Michigan Asylum. It was modeled in accordance with the Kirkbride Plan, which consists of a center administrative section and wings on either side for housing patients. Each patient room had a view of the outside, with a direct supply of light, sunshine and fresh air.

The main structure was large and advanced for Northern Michigan: almost one quarter mile long, over 300,000 square feet, over 70 feet tall at the roof ridge, and employed central heat and electric lights. With a rudimentary understanding of germ theory, a state-of-the-art ventilation system was designed for the hospital. Large fans forced air through underground tunnels, into the basement and up flues in the various parts of the building. Using the chimney effect, the air moved through ducts within the attic to exit via the “ventilators,” known today as The Village’s iconic red spires.

In April of 1883 construction began on the Victorian-Italianate style asylum. Over eight million bricks were brought from the local brickyard at Cedar Lake to construct the main building (Building 50). In spite of a time of hand tools and mule power, the immense task of constructing the hospital took less than three years to complete. By November of 1885, it received its first patients.

At the time of its completion, The Northern Michigan Asylum served 39 counties, including all of the Upper Peninsula, and almost immediately there was demand for additional patient rooms. Starting in the 1890s, standalone cottages were constructed to serve the increasing patient population.

Just as Building 50 was segregated, so were the exterior cottages. Cottages to the south were for the men and the cottages to the north for the women. Cottages also provided spaces to separate patients from the larger population based on severity of condition, age or illness. For example, Cottages 19 and 20 were patient infirmaries, the “hospitals within the hospital” for patients recovering from surgery or contagious diseases.

With a mid 1900s culture embracing the modernism of the jet age, some relatively minor fire code deficiencies in the grand central administration section of Building 50 (known as “Old Center”) led the state to approve its demolition in 1963. A new two-story, flat roof building was constructed in its place, which is now known as Village Center. For the next 30 years the state and community would debate the preservation or demolition of the remainder of Building 50.

Take your time exploring the campus. There is much to see and do. Many of the original structures have been converted to restaurants, bakeries, cider houses, wine tasting, and more.

Be sure to visit the Mercato on the lower level of Building 50. The long hallway from Stella Trattoria to the other end displays a collection of photographs and art from the past. Enter the Mercato via red signs on the side of the building.

After your visit at Building 50 get on your bike and follow the trail around to Cottage Drive at the center of the Commons at stop #14 at the Piazza.

Stop at the Piazza. This area is the home of farmer’s markets, concerts, and other community events and celebrations. You are standing in the center of what was once a bustling center of activity for the Michigan State Asylum. A crossroads of traffic and industry. Today the structures and property are a national model for adapted reuse of a historic site.

Facing Building 50: Left foot Charley is behind you and today is a cider house that occupies the original hospital laundry facility. To your right is Spanglish, housed in the former stable for the hospital fire department horses. Pleasanton Bakery, in front and to the right, is the site of the hospital fire wagon and equipment. Pepe Nero, located in front of you to the left, is located in the Kirkbride Hall first floor of the original hospital chapel. The upper floors of Building 50, once patient housing, are now condominiums. Directly behind you are small shops offering breakfast and craft ales. Feel free to either walk or pedal the campus before continuing on Red Drive to your next stop.

You will make a right onto Red Drive to your next stop #16.

The Botanic Garden at Historic Barns Park is a 54 acre adaptive re-use park and property. The barns and the land around it were all part of the Michigan State Asylum operations when it was a self-supporting community. The asylum raised all their own livestock and grew their own vegetables. The patients worked in the barns, fields, greenhouses, and other industries on the campus. They sold produce and other products to local restaurants, businesses, and at markets in town.

The Botanic Garden has created their own audio tour package that you can access here during your visit or come back later for an extended stay.

The audio tour link is: https://thebotanicgarden.org/audio-tour/

After your visit to the gardens and barns, head east down the Buffalo Ridge trail and take a left on Silver Drive. Take Silver Drive all the way to a right turn at 11th Street and a left onto Elmwood Street back the way you entered into the campus. You will continue on Elmwood Drive to Front Street, where you will make a right turn on Front Street. You will make a left turn at Slabtown Burgers.

This community is known officially as the West End or unofficially to locals as Slabtown.

Back in the early days of the lumber boom many of the families that worked the mills doing the hard heavy work with timber lived in this community. Slab refers to the pieces of wood cut off the trees that could not be used for boards. They were essentially waste or scraps. The industrious people took those slabs and built themselves homes and the nickname stuck.

Continue on to Randolph Street where you will make a right and stop at Vine and Randolph

Vencil Sleder, a Bohemian immigrant and wheelwright, wanted to build a tavern where everyone could relax after a day of hard work. With the help of neighborhood men, Vencil began construction using wooden slabs from nearby sawmills. Opening in 1882, it took three years to build because the men could only work on Sundays. Sleders still has the original 21 foot long bar made of solid mahogany and sided with cherry wood.

Prior to 1930, women weren’t allowed in the main barroom but had their own social area in the back room, which they entered through a special door along with a small, private “courting” room.

Sleders is considered the longest continuously operated tavern in the state because they figured out how to get around prohibition serving special root beer (bourbon and rye) in tea cups.

Backtrack down Randolph to Cedar Street and make a left turn pedaling all the way down to Front Street where you will make a left turn onto Front Street. You will cross Division at the traffic light and crosswalk continuing to a let turn on Wadsworth into the Warehouse District.

This district, roughly bordered by Union Street to the east and Gillis Street to the west, has a history dating back to Traverse City’s origins. In the 1850s Traverse City founder, Perry Hannah, built his first house in today’s Warehouse District. It was a cottage with access to Bay Street; its actual location would have been on or slightly east of what is now Hall Street. He raised his family there and lived there until the early 1890s, when he moved to a much larger home on Sixth Street.

The big yellow brick building you passed on your turn onto Wadsworth, was the Amiotte Candy factory, now home to North Peak Brewery and Kilkenny’s Pub.

Mikesell’s cannery stood where the BATA bus station stands today.

Mammoth Distillery and The Workshop Brewing are located in one of the last actual warehouses in the district.

Traverse City Gas Company stood where the Candle Factory is now at the corner of Wadsworth and Grandview Parkway.

The Manistee and Northeastern Railway came to town in 1892, and the depot was located approximately where Traverse City Tourism’s headquarters is today, at Union and Grandview Parkway.

The most prominent business in the district was the Oval Wood Dish Company, which relocated to Traverse City in 1892. It manufactured disposable wooden dishes. By 1899, the plant was using thirteen million feet of lumber annually for its wooden bowls, found “in every grocery store in the nation” as legend has it.

The company’s success proved short-lived when the supply of lumber ran out, the company moved its operations to Tupper Lake, New York. The area lost its largest employer, with some 50 families following the company east. It was a hard blow to the local economy.

The decline of the lumber industry is when the area fell into neglect no longer serving that driving purpose. Buildings primarily sat empty with other businesses like canneries still operating.

Today the district is known for trendy shops, an upscale hotel, brewery, distillery tasting room, restaurants and more. Street festivals, 5K’s, and other special events are held in this area.

If your schedule allows, take the elevator up to the top floor of Hotel Indigo and enjoy a cocktail outside on the rooftop lounge overlooking the bay and beaches.

Pedal down Garland Street and make a left at Traverse City Tourism to cross the Grand Traverse Parkway via the crosswalk.

As you cross the parkway you will enter Clinch Park Marina. In front of you to the left is a large open space that is a public park.

The Open Space is the home space for events like the National Cherry Festival and The Traverse City Film Festival. Take a moment to visit the iconic TC Cherry Garden for a photo.

The Open Space once was the site of the Morgan Canning Company, the Hannah and Lay Docks, and the city's municipal docks (today a parking lot east of the Marina).

From the turn of the 20th century until early 1930, Clinch Park didn’t exist. It was not a place to play or relax. As referenced in your first stop at Sunset Beach Park, the shore line along here was dotted with long ship docks, railroad turnarounds, warehouses, and other industrial structures. The water was not clean and clear as it is today.

In the late 1920’s, two local citizen leaders, Floyd Clinch and Con Foster, joined with other community members and businesses in cleaning up the space. Each business donated at least two workers. They brought with them 37 small trucks, two tractors, two steam cranes, and a flotilla of 12 boats to remove the mud, stones, debris, and concrete slabs from the bay.

The cleaned up space later became the site of the Con Foster Museum, the Clinch Park Zoo, a miniature railroad, and a miniature city displaying replicas of Traverse City buildings built by WPA workers during the Great Depression.

Today Clinch Park is home to the Bijou by the Bay theater, a splash pad, and a public beach.

Special note: We intentionally did not include downtown Front Street from Wellington Street east to Union street on the west end of Front Street in the tour. This street is chocked full of places to visit and is best explored on foot.

It is hard to imagine that city officials in the 70’s considered bulldozing most of the downtown shopping district to make way for a massive mall. Thankfully that did not happen.

When you visit please be sure to check out these iconic landmarks.

At the corner of Front and Union streets stands the formidable 1883 Hannah-Lay Building, built by Traverse City founding father Perry Hannah and originally two city blocks long. Known as the “Big Store,” it was the largest store north of Grand Rapids and sold all kinds of goods: hardware, boots, shoes, dry goods, clothing, groceries, provisions and furniture.

On the other side of Union is the 1903 Traverse City State Bank building with its iconic tower and flagpole, and on the south side of Front is the 1891 City Opera House, one of only six historically intact Victorian opera houses in Michigan and the first building in downtown Traverse City to install electric lights.

The 1949 State Theater is an art deco beauty that was brought back to life in 2005, thanks to the volunteers of the Traverse City Film Festival: a blend of classic decoration and 21st-century technology, including a fiber-optic representation of the night sky worthy of a planetarium.

Continue through Clinch Park onto the TART trail (red and green ground markers) back to Delamar just down the shore. But first you will stop on the bridge over the Boardman River.

This is where the river empties into the bay. We are now passing over the present day mouth of the Boardman River. Early European settlers called this river the “Ottaway,” after the indigenous people that gathered regularly near this very spot to exchange goods and share stories. The Boardman River is the largest tributary to west Grand Traverse Bay and contributes approximately 30% of the water to the surface water input for the entire bay. Its watershed comprises 287 square miles and covers portions of Grand Traverse County on the west and Kalkaska County to the east.

Continue along the sidewalk back to Delamar. Note the sidewalk is narrow on the way back so control your speed coming back.