What city helped Leelanau grow in its first half-century?

It’s actually not very close by – in fact, it isn't even in Michigan. It's Chicago.

In the 19th and early 20th century, Chicago, at the southwest corner of Lake Michigan, was both a source of manufactured items for Leelanauites and a market for the county's forest products and produce as well.

And many of Leelanaus pioneer families arrived here directly from the “Windy City.”
Chicago’s growth was phenomenal. In 1830, there were only a handful of people at what was then known as Fort Dearborn. Several decades later, it was the second largest city in the country.

Today’s real estate people would tell us that it grew into a metropolis for three important reasons – location, location, location.

It became both a national rail hub and the major port on Lake Michigan. But it was the second factor that made it so important to Leelanau when there were otherwise only trails and a few primitive roads linking the county with the “outside” world.

Ships operating to and from Chicago stopped at the Manitous, Glen Arbor/Glen Haven, Leland and Northport. At first they sought cordwood for fuel, but, later they stopped with and for passengers and freight.

Direct steamer connection was finally broken during the Great Depression and was never re-established when the Depression lifted.

Pioneer German settlers on South Manitou Island came there from Chicago and trader John LaRue, the first to arrive at what became known as Glen Arbor, also came from Chicago.

As years passed, ships operating out of Chicago became larger, finer and faster. The largest and finest was the Manitou of 1893, which operated directly from Chicago to Glen Haven, the first stop on its “express” service to Mackinaw and back.

More humble ships carried forest products, such as hardwood sawn at the Empire Lumber Company, from Leelanau to Chicago.

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 had an impact on much of northern Michigan, such was the need of forest products for re-building the city. The demand impacted Leelanau too, which the 1870 census showed had 4,576 people. Just four years later, the figure had risen to 5,031.

A few years after the “sea-link” to Chicago was broken, there was talk of establishing an “air link” as well. An air service to the northland would have been based at Chicago and amphibious airliners would have been utilized. Aircraft of this type were then providing the first trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific service (other than the dirigible service discontinued after the 1937 Hindenburg disaster).

The proposed service, which would have included Leelanau, was touted at the top of page one in the Enterprise on Feb. 2, 1939, under the headline “Chicago Airplane Service Prospect for Next Season.”

But the high flying idea apparently never got off the ground, and the air link did not materialize.

In the days before “soap operas,” many weekly newspapers, including the Enterprise, printed novels in serial form. In the Jan. 5, 1888 edition, the Enterprise began presenting “A Chicago Man: The Story of his Success in Love and Business.” No author for the story was given, but it was a “pre-print,” and the other side of the sheet had Leelanau local items and advertisements.

The central character was one Cyrus W. Higglegag, who worked for the Chicago hardware firm of F.W. Ringleoup and Co., who said: “Look at Chicago. Snatches up every new invention. It used to be that poor inventors were compelled to go to Europe to get money enough to bring out their inventions. Now they come to Chicago.”

Later, one Miss Hampton tells Mr. Higglegag that she “did not think Chicago men took vacations.”

“Yes, they do when they have been successful,” he replied.

Because of excellent connections provided by steamships, many of the county’s seasonal “resorters” hailed from Chicago. Some of them, such as former Enterprise publisher Fred Dickinson, later became permanent residents.

It was common for a woman and her children to spend the entire summer at a Northern Michigan resort, with her working husband spending weekends with the family.

Accordingly, Northern Michigan Transit offered “Ten Ride Commutation Tickets.” These seasonal tickets were typically sold only at the company’s Chicago offices. In 1926, 10-ride Chicago/Glen Haven tickets sold for $82.50.

The purchaser could depart the Windy City at 5 p.m. on a Friday and be in Leelanau early the following morning.

The steamship company claimed Glen Haven was “the port which opens the door to Glen Lake and other delightful resorts. Here the sky is a bluer blue and the hills a greener green, and as the country becomes more upland, the spell of the North is gradually revealed.”