On the big steamer, excursionists looked up at the towering funnels. They were primarily painted red, but, above that there was a white band with blue stars on it.

It was the Fourth of July – 100 years ago, in 1907.

Ferry ride on the Fourth-100 years ago

The steamer was the Manistique, which operated out of Northport. Nearby, the steamers Missouri and Chequamegon were docked. Those two vessels regularly called at Leelanau ports, too.

But in 1907, all were docked at Traverse City for the Fourth.

“Patriotic celebrations, particularly the ‘grand and glorious’ Fourth of July, were high spots in small town life,” Michigan historian Willis Dunbar wrote.

That seemed to be particularly true in the early years of the 20th century.

The nation had recently whipped Spain in a brief war over Cuba, and was more globally involved than it ever had been.

The national economy boomed, from 1900-10, and a dynamic president, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, was immensely popular.

Motorcars, originally “toys of the rich,” were gradually coming into widespread use and new forms of entertainment, such as “flicker-pictures” (movies), were also becoming popular.

In northern Michigan, excursions on the big lake were popular. The Fourth of July excursion on Grand Traverse Bay was but one of a number held aboard the Manistique in those years.

Barely a month earlier, handbills had been distributed touting an excursion from Suttons Bay to the city of Manistique aboard the capacious 350-foot boat, which ordinarily carried railroad cars.

It was announced the ship would depart at 7 a.m. on June 5 from the dock at Suttons Bay, and that the “famous juvenile band of Suttons Bay will accompany the excursion.”

The handbills concluded with “everybody come to the Queen City of the Upper Peninsula.”

Round trip fare was $2.

Marine excursions were largely a thing of the past by the time Leelanau celebrated the Fourth in 1976, although some of the ships transiting the Manitou Passage were sporting banners of red, white and blue.

That was the year the country was celebrating its bicentennial, and there were more events more going on around the county than there had been on any previous Fourth – too many, in fact, to detail them all here.

One of these events was the Leland Township Bicentennial “Colonial Dinner” (actually held July 3) at Leland Public School.

Participants were treated to (among other things) “Plump young turkey served with New England chestnut herb dressing, Abigail Adams Coleslaw with beet pickles, Beacon Hill Boston Brown Bread, Washington Cherry Cobbler and Manitou Indian Pudding.”

Admission to the feast, by tickets purchased in advance only, was $5 for adults and $3 for children under 12.

A more typical Fourth was the one celebrated in 1927, with food again playing a major role. In its edition of July 7, the Enterprise carried a short article under the heading “Lake Leelanau Has Big Dinner on Fourth.”

And the newspaper provided the details:

“The ladies of St. Mary’s church, Lake Leelanau, served their big annual chicken dinner on the Fourth to more than 500 people. Most of the villages and communities of Leelanau County were represented in the crowd of diners.

“There were various amusements on the church grounds during the day, but the chief event was a baseball game with Leland, which Lake Leelanau won, 13-8.”

The Fourth was actually such an established tradition, often taken for granted, that references to it could be very minor, indeed.

For example, Vol. LXIII, No. 33 of the Enterprise, was the edition of Thursday, July 4, 1940, which carried page one stories about Leland Township school elections, the Fish Producers Association, the Cherry Festival, the National Music Camp at Interlochen plus stories of sports events, political events, weddings and various “local briefs.”

Among all this, practically buried, were three lines of small type with no heading. They read:

“There will be a fireworks display in Leland tonight at the Lake Michigan pier.”

Following World War II, one finds gradually increasing references to Fourth of July activities. One factor was doubtless the steady growth of the county and the newspaper and its coverage of events.

From today’s perspective, it certainly doesn’t appear there will be any letting up on Fourth of July observances in the foreseeable future with only the nature of the observances is likely to change.

National pride is here to stay.

And, remember the way the funnels on the Manistique were painted back in 1907? They weren’t simply painted that way for the Fourth – they were the ship’s normal markings.

There was a great deal of national pride 100 years ago, too. Red, white and blue funnels were simply one of the innumerable reflections of it.