Different Buildings On The Island

Trinity Church
Episcopal services on Mackinac Island date from 1837, when a Bishop preached in the Mission Church.  For many years the congregation met in the post Chapel at Fort Mackinac and in the Court House.  In 1873 a parish was organized and in 1882 this church building was constructed.  Its furnishing include an altar of hand carved walnut, and two chancel chairs made by soldiers at the fort.



Mission Church
This is one of Michigan's oldest Protestant churches.  It was built in 1829 - 30 by the Presbyterian flock of Rev Wm. M. Ferry founder in 1823 of nearby Indiand mission.  Robert Stuart and Henry Schoolcraft were lay leaders.  About 1838 private owners bought the building.  It is judged Michigan's best example of the New England Colonial church style.
 


Sainte Anne Church
In 1670 Jesuit Father Charles Dablon founded a birchbark mission chapel on Mackinac Island.  The following year, Father Jacques Marquette relocated the mission at Saint Ignace.  Abandoned in 1706 and restablished at Fort Michilimackinac around 1715, the new church was named sainte Anne de Michilimackinac.  During the winter of 1780 - 1781, British troops relocated to the island and moved the church building across the ice.  The parish is the nation's oldest dedicated to Sainte Anne, and maintains baptismal records dating from April 1695.




Island House
Constructed for Charles O'Malley about 1852, this building was one of the first summer hotels on Mackinac Island.  Captain Henry Van Allen, a Great Lakes skipper, purchased the hotel in 1865.  He later moved it from the beach to its present location.  By the 1880's the Island House was known as "The best family hotel on the  island."  Following the death of her parents. Mrs. Rose Van Allen Webster became proprietor about 1892.  She was the wife of Colonel John Webster, whom she had met during the 1870s when he was stationed at Fort Mackinac.  Mrs. Webster added the large wings in 1895 and 1912, retaining ownership until her death in 1938.  The Island House still serves as a resort hotel.



Indian Dormitory
The 1838 Indian Dormitory was built on Mackinac Island as part of improvements to the Mackinac Island United States Indian Agency called for in the 1836 Treaty of Washington, in which Indian nations of the Great Lakes deeded significant portions of Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas to the United States.  The dormitory was constructed to house Native Americans who came to the island to receive payment as part of the provision.  However, as the Native Americans visiting the agency continued to camp along the harbor, it was primarily used by Indian agents as an administrative building and as the residence of the dormitory keeper.  After eight years, it no longer served this purpose and was eventually converted into a schoolhouse for island children.  The front of the building was subsequently enlarged for that purpose, and it served as the Mackinac Island Public School for nearly 100 years.
 
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