Muskegon History and Beyond with the Lakeshore Museum Center

George Quimby was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and spent much of his early life in Western Michigan. As a young man he was a sailor in the Great Lakes but also was a part of many early archaeological excavations in Muskegon County. He would become the director of the Lakeshore Museum Center in 1942 before becoming the Curator of North American Archaeology at the Field Museum in Chicago. Quimby continued to be a world renown anthropologist publishing many books on North American archaeology and anthropology and even having a feature named after him, the Mason-Quimby line. 

In the winter of 1978, Muskegon County and most of Michigan saw over 2 feet of snow fall in period of several hours. On our episode today we look at the circumstances that led to this super storm, how residents dealt with it, and the consequences of that blizzard.  

As we begin 2022 we would like to take a look back 100 years ago to what was happening in Muskegon County and the United States.

Filling a unique triangular slice of land in downtown Muskegon, the Flat Iron Building was positioned in an ideal place. Listen in as we talk about the history of the creation of this building and its later demolition.  

Today's episode dives into the tumultuous life of one of Charles Hackley's grandsons, Leigh "Hack" Smith. This episodes looks both at the highs and lows in his life and how he helped carry on the Hackley legacy in Muskegon and abroad. 

In part 2 of our story on White Lake we examine the history of clean up in White Lake and the various groups and organizations responsible for the effort. 

In part 1 of our story on White Lake we examine the history of several industries in the White Lake area and how they impacted the lake and local environment. In part 2 we will focus on the clean up effort the revitalized White Lake and restored it to some of its former glory.  

Reverend Archibald Hadden served First Congregational Church in Muskegon for 28 years. However this was just a part of his life. Hadden would also be a city commissioner, mayor, president of Hackley Hospital, serve on the committee for the Hackley Park statues, and argue for the creation of playgrounds in Muskegon. The Reverend was well respected in Muskegon and on our episode today we will dive into why.  

Our podcast episode today will be a little different. Instead of focusing on a specific topic, place, or person, we are going to do a broad episode to cover the history of lumbering in the area. Lumbering was vital to the development of the area and Michigan as a whole, and on today's episode we are going to explain exactly how lumbering was done. 

In part two of a history of Hoffmaster Park, Wendy interviews long time naturalist Elizabeth Tillman about her time at Hoffmaster and the changes she has seen to the park over the years.