Lifestyles

Churchill Brothers dedication in Alpena

ALPENA -- On Oct. 14 at 2 p.m., a short dedication event will take place at the marker on 311 S. Second Ave. for the Hobart D Churchill residence.

After the dedication, there will be a brief home tour for interested parties who attend.

The Hobart D Churchill residence, built in 1882-1884 in the Queen Anne architectural style, is the only remaining structure built by the Churchill family, who were important leaders

in the Michigan lumbering and sugar beet industries from 1872 to 1914.

Following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the brothers Worthy Lovell Churchill and Hobart D Churchill left the Chicago sash, window and blind business to invest in, and

operate Eastern White Pine lumbering mills and camps in Alpena, Michigan. Descendants of General Solomon Lovell of the Militia of Massachusetts Bay, who led land forces in the 1779

Penobscot Expedition, and paternal grandfather General Worthy Lovell Churchill, who served in the War of 1812, the Churchill families contributed to every segment of economic

and social development of Alpena and Northeast Michigan.

Worthy was elected as Representative to the Michigan State Legislature in 1874, and served as Alpena Mayor in 1881-1882. He was a Democratic nominee to Electoral College

of Michigan for the election of Grover Cleveland to his 2nd term in 1892, and was the Democratic candidate for the 10th US Congressional District Representative in 1894. Hobart served a complementary role as finance officer and general manager of the Churchill Lumber mills, camps, the Thunder Bay Boom Company, the Churchill general store, coal and gas businesses, the 400 acre Churchill farm, and horse trotting competitions across the Northeast Michigan shoreline communities (14). They owned tugs,

barges, and steam vessels for timber management in Thunder Bay. The Messrs Churchill were founding directors of the National Bank of Alpena, investors in Northeast Michigan railway lines, telegraph and telephone development, Alpena City water and sanitation, electrification, board of education and school buildings, the Alpena YMCA, the Alpena Sulphur Spring Company and the Magnetic Well & Sanitarium.

They rebuilt their mill twice after devastating fires in 1883 and 1889. To support tourism, in 1886, Worthy Churchill bought the Fletcher hotel, moved it to the current location of

Alpena City Hall, renamed it The Churchill House, and rebuilt it into the best first class hotel north of Detroit. The Churchill House offered 100-plus rooms, extravagant menus, a steam

laundry, telegraph office, barber shop, and a four table billiard room. Worthy served as vice president of the Michigan Hotel Keeper's Association. The Churchill House Hotel burned

down in 1899.

With the decline of White Pine lumbering in Michigan, the Churchill brothers invested in beet sugar development, and built the Bay City Sugar Company plant in 1899. In 1901,

Worthy becomes President of the Michigan Association of Beet Sugar Manufacturers, and vice president of the American Association of Beet Sugar Manufacturers. By 1903, four

Michigan sugar beet plants merged under his management. Churchill Park was dedicated in Alpena on July 4th, 1904, now the site of Alpena City Hall. Many homes built across the Great Lakes after the Chicago fire are constructed with lumber from the Churchill mills, and the Michigan beet sugar industry continues today, a part of its legacy owed to the business

leadership of the Churchill brothers.