June 25, 2003
Museum celebrates Almira's history
Inside are toys, fishing equipment, town doctor's books
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
With the snip of scissors, members of the Almira Township Historical Society launched the past into the future.
At a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday evening, members of the board celebrated the opening of the society's Historical Museum that has been 10 years in the making. For Vera Carmien, society board president, welcoming young and old into the museum was a satisfying experience.
The event was the culmination of her vision to preserve and showcase the history, tenacity and grit of Almira Township's early settlers.
"Take a moment to think about your grandpa and your great grandpa and how we came to this place," she told the gathering of more than 60 people. "My grandma raised 12 children here without running water; think about it, what that was like."
Carmien noted that it could be hard for younger people raised in an automated, fast-paced society to understand the lives of their ancestors.
"I always want them to look back and be grateful for the sacrifices settlers made," said Carmien, a Lake Ann native who attended a one-room schoolhouse growing up. "That's why we encourage young people, some of whom don't know where milk comes from, to see how the milk was separated and see how it was put into the churn and made into butter."
The Almira Township Historical Museum is situated just past the main crossroads in Lake Ann. The 2,000-square-foot building contains displays ranging from a typical 1940s living room and kitchen to the wooden Post Office window and boxes used until 1976. Also displayed are portions of the local one-room schoolhouse and the switchboard used in the area until the advent of dial phones.
Smaller collections include toys, clothing hunting and fishing equipment, a sextant, surveying tools and account books from a former town doctor. A corner of the museum includes a mock-up studio of artist Jean Parsons, a Lake Ann resident who was a founding member of the Interlochen Arts Academy. A collection of electrical meters of different ages, styles and uses lines one wall. This collection includes a rare coin operated meter.
"If you didn't have a coin for the meter, the electricity went off," said Al Bluhm, a member of the Almira Township Historical Society's board.
The museum began in 1993 when Carmien, then postmaster of the Lake Ann Post Office, was facing retirement and had a small idea about what to do with her spare time. When Bluhm, a Lake Ann resident since 1966, volunteered to help, they found three more people and a board was born.
The board founded the Lake Ann Days celebration as an annual fund-raiser that has brought in between $6,000-8,000 every year toward the project. As the bank account grew, they found a parcel of land and began building the facility. A well-timed grant from Rotary Charities helped them complete the building last year.
Carmien said the 10-year process was characterized by community support and enthusiasm, ranging from volunteers who put up the building and completed the inside finishing to businesses that donated time, materials and labor. Florence Bixby of the Benzie County Historical Museum lent her expertise in setting up the displays during the last few weeks before opening.
Other support and donations of money or items for the museum have come from as far away as Washington, Florida and Oregon. These former Almira Township residents or vacationers wanted to help capture the area's history.
"A lot of people have given their time; it has been a real community effort," she said, noting that the Historical Society now has a 12-member board and more than 100 members.
On deck for the future are building a pole barn to house an antique 1946 International fire truck donated by the township and relocating the home of the founder of the Lake Ann United Methodist Church. This two-story home was slated for demolition but the society saved it and will move it to the museum property this summer.
The Almira Township Historical Museum will be open all day during Lake Ann Days on Saturday, July 5. After that the museum will be open one or two days a week and by appointment. For more information on the Almira Township Historical Museum, call Vera Carmien at 275-7362.