Vulcan Hotel: first hotel on the Menominee Range

Vulcan Hotel, Mission Street, Vulcan, Menominee County (later Dickinson County), Michigan, October 1, 1880: The Vulcan Hotel, said to have been opened by Lewis Young Whitehead in 1878, was the first hotel on the Menominee Range. In late November, 1879, workmen were putting up a large addition to accommodate guests. A printed caption on the cardboard mount below this photograph reads: VULCAN HOTEL, Mich., Lew Whitehead, Proprietor. Photographed October 1st, 1880, by L.C. Miller, Green Bay, Wis. The hotel was located on the west side of Mission Street, and some early log residences typical of early settlements on the Menominee Range are visible to the north of the hotel. Note the combination of log and board-and-batten construction and the unusual fence. In addition to serving as a hotel, the structure later served as a store and was Vulcan’s post office until the new town hall was erected in 1904. In October, 1905, Whitehead razed this pioneer landmark. This photograph appears on page 52 in Vulcan, Michigan, Centennial Book 1872-1972. [Dr. John Newkirk]