Holding a copy of his latest book is Gene Glader. Downtown Grand Marais Vol. II is a splendid read with great pictures throughout. It can be purchased locally at Drury Lane Bookstore, Lake Superior Trading Post, Birchbark Books & Gifts or you can order it from Barnes and Noble, or through Amazon. Staff photo/Brian Larsen
With high school graduation right around the corner, it might be fun to learn that in June 1910 the first two graduates of the town’s first high school were Celia Violet Hicks and Hester Mae Hicks, the daughters of Dr. and Mrs. F.B. Hicks. The next year there was purportedly one graduate, Lien Merle, and none in 2012.
These are just a smattering of the fun facts packed in Eugene (Gene) Glader’s second book, Downtown Grand Marais Vol. II, which is truly a treasure.
In this tome, the diligent former college professor goes to great lengths to chase down each and every piece of evidence he can find for each lot in the downtown that wasn’t covered in his first book.
The pictures of buildings new and old are first rate, and the ad copy from days long gone by is priceless. For instance, one ad printed in a 1922 edition of the Cook County News-Herald reads, “World’s Lowest Price FULLY EQUIPPED Chevrolet Automobile for $525 from Gilbertson and Toftey.”
Covered in these 234 pages are the buildings and lots situated in the area north of Wisconsin Street up to and including businesses on Highway 61.
Gene writes in his acknowledgments that he spent a lot of time in the County Recorder’s Office, the Grand Marais Public Library, and the Cook County Historical Museum gathering information. It is indeed evident in these pages that over the last three years it took for him to assemble this information, he must not have had time for much else, or to be in many other places.
As the town has grown and changed over the last 130 years, one constant remains. The pond, as it was called in the 1890s, that was in the middle of downtown, it has mostly been filled in over the years, but as we all know, the lowest areas of the pond that became a parking lot on the east and west side of Broadway, that area still floods during heavy rains and storms.
Glader recounts the changes and iterations the buildings and the businesses they have housed have gone through over the years. During the earliest times, the town was often shaped by fire, as many buildings burned. Livery and feed stables gave way to three automobile dealerships as the highway between Duluth and Thunder Bay opened up.
Also recorded are the changes that took place economically as the area moved away from logging, mining, and fishing jobs (and some farming) to today’s reliance on tourism and the advent of computer technology that has opened inroads for people to work far from their employers.
But mostly the pages are, for some us, a walk down memory lane. Remember Alley’s Agate Shop? Mabel’s Café? Bobby Don’s Place? Gamble’s Store? Midway?
And the land the Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply store now rests on? “On May 23, 1917, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Peterson sold the lot to Jorgen Pederson. On October 2, 1946, Jorgen Pederson sold the lot to A. Van Johnson,” cites Gene in this book.
Upon reading that passage, I called my mom to ask her if she knew that her father, Jorgen Pederson, had owned that piece of property. “No,” she laughed. She didn’t know that. There’s a lot of history in these pages. Some of it might even be yours. And even if it turns out not to be the case, you will still be far richer for reading this book.
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