Grand Hotel Avenue
Mackinac Island, Mackinac County

Designation and Designation Date

• National Historic Landmark, listed June 29, 1989
• National Register, listed May 5, 1972
• Marker, erected 1958
• State Register, listed July 12, 1957

Architect, Builder, or Designer(s)

• George D. Mason (of Mason and Rice), architect
• Charles W. Caskey, builder

Significant Date(s), Notes

• 1887, building completed
• 1918, additions constructed

Significance Statement

The following is an excerpt from the book Buildings of Michigan, by Kathryn B. Eckert, published by Oxford University Press:

"In 1882 U.S. Senator Francis B. Stockbridge of Michigan purchased the site of the hotel and formulated a scheme to finance its construction. He created interest in the building and the oversight of the operation of the hotel among the three major transportation companies that served the island and that wanted to promote the use of their transportation systems. Thus, the Detroit and Cleveland Navigation Company, the Michigan Central Railroad and the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad formed the Mackinac Island Hotel Company, which, in turn, built the hotel in 1887.  To build the hotel, the stock company commissioned Charles W. Caskey, an architect-builder who had come north to Harbor Springs from Allegan, Michigan, to take part in the building rush in the resort communities of northwestern Lower Michigan in the 1880s. Caskey executed plans prepared by George Mason of Mason and Rice in Detroit. The company leased the operation of the Grand Hotel to managers and firms experienced in operating hotels in New England and elsewhere. Among the wealthy Midwesterners assembled at the Grand Hotel for its opening in 1887 were the lumber barons the Algers, Newberrys and Blodgetts; the Potter Palmers and Marshall Fields; and the meat packers, the Armours and the Swifts."

The Grand Hotel remains one of Michigan's most popular architectural attractions.

For information about any of the programs described on this site, write the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office, Michigan Historical Center, P.O. Box 30740, 702 W. Kalamazoo St., Lansing, MI 48909-8240, or call us at (517) 373-1630.

Visit the Grand Hotel Web site.