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One man’s junk

New owners giving historic Michigamme building a facelift

Roxanne and Jack Bigoness pose in front of the historic building they own on Main Street in Michigamme in August. The couple, who have vacationed in the area for years, purchased the building with the hope of saving it. They put a new roof on the structure between the fall of 2019 and last spring. The building has long been a popular location for tourists to stop and take photos. (Journal photo by Lisa Bowers)

MICHIGAMME — Roxanne and Jack Bigoness have big dreams for a century-old building in the heart of downtown Michigamme.

During a fall tour of what locals affectionately call Lloyd’s Pool Hall, the North Carolina couple reminisced about the part the building played in its annual seasonal travels to the Upper Peninsula.

“This is really cool,” Roxanne Bigoness said as she stood on the front stoop of the old storefront.

“I don’t know if you can find stuff like this anymore,” she said, referring to the early 20th century paneled windows, “They are so gorgeous. Every time I’m here people are always coming and taking pictures in front of it. And Jack and I, when we come in here, it’s as if these walls could talk.”

Jack Bigoness related a story he had heard of a female saloon proprietor about a century ago.

The couple examines items inside the building. (Journal photo by Lisa Bowers)

“… (T)he miners and the loggers would come into the saloon and still have their guns on them while they were drinking,” he said. “So the saloon owner would take those guns and drop them in the chimney hole upstairs — just drop them in there. So there were rumors that there might still be guns behind the walls.”

The structure, which is reported to have served various functions over the years, including a rooming house, a general store, antique store, wood shop, saloon and a pool hall, was given a crucial roof repair in 2020, Bigoness said.

She said much more work needs to be done to repair the structure, which boasts at least 4,000 square feet on the main floor.

“Jack said, ‘You know the foundation is solid as a rock because we have all these granite boulders here and everything is just set.’ Now I am going to have to have level it, but he said once that gets done, everything is going to straighten out,” she said. “And we are definitely going to need new sheet rock as well, and a whole list of things, but I think the people in town would love to see it renovated. To tear this down would have been so sad.”

Bigoness said she envisions at least two businesses on the main floor, possibly three, with some sort of lodging on the second floor of the building.

The building is seen from the outside. (Journal photo by Lisa Bowers)

“I definitely see rentals up there. I either see Vrbo’s (Vacation Rental By Owner) or maybe not as much because the winters are so long up here,” Bigoness said. “I see so many different things, I see a sportsman-type of business. Maybe something for the hunters or fishermen, maybe some health food… Something in order to get the younger generation here, because that is what we need to keep it going to a point. But, with COVID (-19) and everything, what an opportunity. I mean, people want to go back to keeping it simple.”

The historic building is in a prime location, right across from the township’s history museum and newly built storage facility for its 1900 steam fire engine.

Michigamme native Dawn Perry remembers visiting businesses on Main Street in the 1950s, when the building was owned by Lloyd Paquette.

“My dad had a nickname for me,” she said. “He called me Clairie because whenever I got any money for candy I would go to Lloyd’s Pool Hall first, but always ended up getting something from Claires’ Store.”

Corrine Swanson remembers sitting on the stoop of the building with a group of friends listening to disc jockey Kris Erik Stevens in the early 1970s on a portable transistor radio.

“We would just sit there and talk while the cars went by on Main Street,” Swanson said. “It was just something we did. It was fun.”

Jack Bigoness, who has decades of experience renovating Victorian homes in the Chicago area, said he hopes that the building’s past popularity will spur new interest in the once-booming mining village.

Couple Jack’s experience with Roxanne’s knowledge of interior design, and the couple could once again make the iconic front stoop one of the most popular places in town.

“You need a good vision. Something like this you can turn into a gem, with all the old character here. It’s what we found as a family when we would come up to Michigan on vacation when the kids were this big, and then this big…” Jack Bigoness said, gesturing with his hands. “We have pictures in front of this place every year.”

His wife agreed, saying Michigamme would be cost effective for up-and-coming young professionals.

“Everybody is more mobile now,” she said. “To me it makes so much more sense. I mean, to build a community that is so much more affordable, extremely close to Marquette, extremely close to Houghton. These young people, if they start and have a successful life, they need to go to an area where it is affordable.”

Lisa Bowers can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242. Her email address is lbowers@miningjournal.net.

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