The Northwestern Hotel in Marquette is depicted in this 1921 sketch. (Marquette Regional History Center submission).

By SARA NIEMI

Marquette Regional

History Center

Special to Journal

In the 1870s some Marquette businessmen were interested in boosting tourism. This would require a top-notch hotel like the Northwestern. It attracted guests from afar and was the center of social activity in Marquette.

The Northwestern was advertised as a summer resort. Located across from Gaines Rock, it was south of town away from the docks and activity of the harbor. It was a quaint three-story building with long porches, offering 100 rooms and several nice size cottages.

In 1870 The Mining Journal declared, “Guests have a wonderful view of the harbor and shipping, and, if they wish, may make use of the sailboats and rowboats at the private dock. The billiard room and saloon will be presided over by a genial gentleman who is a compounder of delicious decoctions.”

The hotel was noted to be beautifully landscaped, with a fountain full of brook trout. In addition to boating, guests could use the hotel’s tennis courts and play croquet.

The resort became known throughout the Great Lakes and hosted many wealthy vacationers and businessmen coming to inspect their mines, forges, and quarries. In one edition of the newspaper, a list of 60 plus prominent guests arrived at the hotel. They had come from England, Detroit, Chicago, New York, Buffalo and even Omaha. One guest was C.N. Fay of Chicago.

Charles Norman Fay lived in Marquette for eight years before departing for Chicago in 1877. He arrived upon graduation from Harvard and was hired by Peter White to work at the First National Bank. In 1928, Charles, who became a wealthy Chicago businessman and author, shared his memoires of old Marquette and the Northwestern with the Marquette County Historical Society.

Fay stated it was common for the young people in the community to entertain guests. “Among the social facilities which we shared with the visiting families, especially the fairer members thereof, were those of the Boat Club. We young men built a long low boathouse behind the old Jackson Dock, under Dan Merritt’s foundry.”

The Boat Club had an open, six-ore lapstreak boat to venture out on the lake. “Our favorite destination was Presque Isle; then a lovely and deserted point of rocks and pines, unvisited from one week’s end to another. The girls from “below” were perfectly willing to break our far-northern hearts …. and flirted consumedly – we then thought.”

In 1875 Fay met Andrew and Thomas Carnegie at the Northwestern. The Carnegie Brothers Company had mine interests in the area. Although not yet the industrial tycoon he would become, Fay said “…Andrew rather loved his own colossal success and talked freely about it. One evening he had no better listener than myself…looking out on the sunset color reflected in the mirror of the great lake … he told me how he and his brother had saved $50,000 – working for the Pennsylvania R.R., and cleverly invested their earnings.” Carnegie then continued to lay out their plan, which would eventually lead to the Carnegie Steel Company. The $50,000 Andrew invested with his brother grew to $480 million ($16.7 billion today) when Andrew sold Carnegie Steel to J.P. Morgan in 1901.

Another vacationer at the Northwestern was Alpheus Felch of Ann Arbor. Mr. Felch was 78 years old and was not particularly known during his visit. But The Mining Journal and some pioneers knew him. Felch had been a dedicated public servant when Michigan was seeking statehood. During the 1830s, he was a delegate to the Michigan Territorial Legislature, including 1837 when Michigan became a state. During the 1840s he served as a judge on the Michigan Supreme Court, Governor of the State, and a United States Senator. Felch Township in Dickinson County is named for him.

Locals enjoyed the billiards room, frequenting the saloon, and dining at the Northwestern. Young people from Negaunee and Ishpeming would drive down to Marquette on Sundays to dine at the hotel. One summer dance instructor Mr. H.N. Vaughn arrived for the season to teach, as he put it, “the art of graceful motion.” He offered lessons around town and private lessons were held at the hotel.

Like other establishments in town, the Northwestern was not immune from pesky citizens. It was reported, “A drunken tramp entered the parlors of the Northwestern Hotel last Saturday evening while the guests were enjoying a dance. In the midst of a set the tramp demanded, in a loud voice, the cost of the privileges of the party for himself, at the same time frightening the ladies who took a quick cut to their rooms.” The man was of course thrown out; however, it took two turns as he trudged back in after the first.

In 1881, a large crowd was frequenting the Northwestern bar when timber supports to the floor suddenly gave way. The floor and the customers dropped a foot. A joke spread that the “jaws of Hades had been opened.” The area had just exceeded capacity.

Around 1883 the Northwestern burned down and was not rebuilt. But amazing memories were enjoyed by those who had had the privilege of visiting this summer resort.