Suttons Bay History

Northern Lumber
1480 S. West Bay Shore Drive
P.O. Box 307
Suttons Bay, MI 49682
888-271-3804 • 231-271-3804 • 231-271-6370 fax
www.northernlumber.com

Northern Lumber Co. - Who They Are Today

Today Northern Lumber Co. is a full service retail lumber and hardware store serving all of Leelanau County and beyond. Northern Lumber’s large selection of name brand building materials and home improvement supplies serve homeowners, builders and contractors alike. Our commitment to provide quality products at competitive prices along with exceptional customer service has enabled us to serve as Leelanau County’s premier lumber and retail supplier for almost 20 years.

As a PRO Hardware Retailer, Northern Lumber was selected in 1992 and in 2003 by PRO Hardware and The Bostwick-Braun Company to receive their “Retailer of the Year Award.” This award is presented annually to independent retailers who have proven their initiative to succeed, ability to provide the right mix of products and services to their customers, and superior sales performance.

Northern Lumber was honored again in 1993 as a Paul L. Cosgrave Memorial Award Finalist. This award is presented to PRO Member Retailers in recognition of outstanding commitment to the principles and ideals of the “Six Pillars Of Success” as originally developed by PRO Hardware founder Paul L. Cosgrave in 1956.

It is with this experience and commitment that Northern Lumber hopes to serve you into the future.

Northern Lumber
1480 S. West Bay Shore Drive
P.O. Box 307
Suttons Bay, MI 49682
888-271-3804 • 231-271-3804 • 231-271-6370 fax
www.northernlumber.com

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The first plat of the Village of Suttons Bay was recorded in 1865 and named Suttonburg in honor of the Sutton’s family. In 1871, F.J. Jellisch and his wife Maria Anna bought lots and built the Union Hotel on this site. The business welcomed overnight guests with good food and drink.

Throughout the years, this business has been handed down from one family to another. Each local family has operated a restaurant and “The Village Inn” stands today as one of the oldest continuously operated businesses in the state of Michigan. The name may have changed over the years but the original structure remains.

Today, the Village Inn, is celebrating its 135th year in the Suttons Bay community.

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The Inland Seas Education Association building on Dame Street used to be the old lumber mill. When you visit the building be sure to stop in and visit their store, all the exhibits about the quality of the Great Lakes water, and if open, visit their boat shop in the lower level of the building.

Two business partners named Carr and Fox built the original sawmill in the 1870s. Ownership passed to the Greilick Brothers, already running a sawmill in the village of Greilickville, who were trying to monopolize the local timber industry.

The brothers owned the mill until 1902, when it was purchased by E.R. Dailey and operated as a stave and heading mill (packing barrels). Then the mill was sold again and refitted to produce excelsior by Carron and Diepenbrock.

Excelsior was a wood product used like today’s packing peanuts. The excelsior factory burned down in 1907.

In 1914 Oaf Olson and Charles Chadsey dismantled a large mill in Thompsonville and moved it to Suttons Bay by railroad. The building was reassembled and used as a planing mill until 1944.

Gerald Selby bought the mill and converted it into a lumberyard. He sold the business to the Beuerle family in 1970. In 2002 the Beuerle’s (Northern Lumber Co. www.northernlumber.com) sold the property to Inland Seas Education Association to house the Inland Seas Educational Center and The Schoolship.

Some information from “A Walking History Tour of the Village of Suttons Bay”

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Incorporated in 1854, by 1880 the Village had grown to be a lively place of 250 inhabitants. The population of Suttons Bay in 2000 was 589.

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The Village of Suttons Bay was founded by Harry Suttons. He was the shoe repair man, the first school master and first postmaster. He studied Indian remedies for various ailments and with this knowledge became the first doctor of Suttons Bay.

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The first telephone switchboard in Suttons Bay operated in 1899 in Lars Gronseth’s home on St. Mary’s Street.

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In 1902 the first train ran from from Traverse City to Suttons Bay.

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The first fire chief of the first volunteer fire department in Suttons Bay in 1907 was Con Lather. Equipment for the first Suttons Bay Volunteer Fire Department was stored in his blacksmith shop.

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The first Suttons Bay High School senior class to graduate from the Union School in 1909 had four graduates. Two of the graduates, Nicholas Peterson and Harold Gronseth, went on to graduate from Harvard.

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The streets of Suttons Bay were first lit by electric street lights on New Year’s Eve in 1907.

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