Sharing with the Community Youth
Two of Forest Area's Third Grade classes walked down to experience our Historical Schoolhouse, Fire Barn, and Museum. The day included an authentic 1870s reading, writing and arithmetic lesson by Pam Wentzel, along with guided tours of the other two buildings.
May 2024
Thank you to the Forest Area High School students for helping with the spring clean up at the Museum, Schoolhouse, and Fire Barn.
Historical Society's float for the July 4th Parade
The Village of Fife Lake's 150th Birthday Party was sponsored by the Historical Society and held at the Fife Lake American Legion Post 219. A special thanks to Craig Bridson for an amazing look at the Village's history, the Fife Lake String Band for uplifting music, and the American Legion Post 219 Auxiliary for help with the set up and desserts.
Article from Michigan
COUNTRY LINES
Magazine (April 2022)
CONGRATULATIONS
ELISE BRIDSON
Elise Bridson, daughter of Craig and Amy Bridson, earned a $500.00 scholarship from the Fife Lake Area Historical Society for further studies of her choice after graduation.
Amy completed 40 hours of volunteer work at the museum last summer. We wish her much success in whatever field she chooses to go into.
Historic Schoolhouse Day
Fife Lake's third grade class gets to spend a morning learning about their village's history.
Their teacher, Pam Wentzel, shows them what it was like to go to school in the 1800s. The students also tour the Fife Lake Museum and the Fire Barn with the help of Board Members Noreen Broering, Rod Larr, Dick Gilmour, Sue Nyce and assistant Judy Ruskus.
New Fire Barn Sign
Dick Gilmour, a Fife Lake Historical Society Board member, helps John Kelley put up the new sign on the old Fire Barn. The sign was made by John Kelley
The Fire Barn, which was a school built in 1872 in South Town, was moved to its current location to house fire and rescue equipment. The 1937 fire truck there is maintained by our local fire department.
Summary of 2021 Activities
Although the museum, schoolhouse, and old fire barn were closed most of the summer your Historical Society Board has been working on improving our sites and keeping the organization healthy.
The 1878 historic schoolhouse has gotten a new roof this summer (story and picture below).
New vinyl planking floors and comfort height toilets were installed in both the schoolhouse and museum restrooms (story and picture below).
Ground cloth and gravel were laid around the schoolhouse where needed and a new butterfly rock garden with signage identifying the indigenous plants was also added.
On July 4th the Bridson family continued to sponsor our only fund raiser, the Buffalo Barbecue. Because of covid concerns, they did it as a take-out lunch.
WE ALSO WANT TO THANK THE MANY SUPPORTERS WHO HAVE STAYED WITH US DURING THESE CHALLENGING TIMES. WE TRUELY ARE GRATEFUL FOR YOU AND OUR WONDERFUL COMMUNITY.
(If you want to donate you can send a check to the Fife Lake Historical Society, P O Box 305, Fife Lake, MI 49633)
MICHIGAN HERITAGE HOME PROGRAM
The Historical Society of Michigan has started a new program to recognize homes that are 100 years old.
Each designation comes with a plaque and a certificate suitable for framing. The plaque displays the name of your home's original owner and its year of construction. (The total cost for the designation, tax and shipping is around $440.00).
For more information you can email awards@hsmichigan.org, call (800) 692-1828, or call Joyce at 989-781-0512 for a brochure.
YOUR MONEY AT WORK
RESTROOMS AT MUSEUM & SCHOOLHOUSE UPDATED
Because of your continued generosity, we were able to put new comfort height toilets and vinyl planking floors in both the museum and schoolhouse restrooms. This will make both facilities more sanitary as well as convenient.
The museum restroom was totally redone starting with a long overdue scrub down. A new (used) vanity, grab bar, new (old) pictures and mirrors, and chamber pot add to the updated, but historical, feeling .
The Historical Society board members are looking forward to having our 3 venues open again next summer plus having our 3 programs with the Fife Lake Library. Thank you again to all our loyal supporters.
GIFT FROM THE OLD FIFE LAKE SCHOOLHOUSE GROUP
A group of former students who went to high school in the old brick schoolhouse in Fife Lake gathered every summer to rekindle friendships. This year, as the group has gotten smaller, they decided to divide up the money that they have collected over the years.
They decided to generously donate $600.00 each to the Fife Lake Area Historical Society, Fife Lake Library, and the Fife Lake fire department.
The Historical Society is very grateful to this special group of faithful Fife Lake enthusiasts.
Pictured left to right is schoolhouse member Virginia Marrow, Joyce Freiwald (Historical Society President) and Iva Welch from the schoolhouse group.
1878 HISTORIC SCHOOLHOUSE
gets a new roof with the generous support from our friends.
$5,000.00 Grant from Great Lakes Energy People Fund (Please consider joining The Round Up Program on your Great Lakes Energy bill.)
$2,000.00 Grant from Forest Area Federal
Credit Union
Eikenhout Building Supplies of Traverse City supplied the shingles and other roofing materials.
MAYCEY TURNER EARNS SCHOLARSHIP
Maycey Turner, a Forest Area High School senior, earned the Fife Lake Area Historical Society's $1,000.00 scholarship for her volunteer work. Maycey worked 40 hours the summer of 2019 greeting guests and doing routine jobs in the 3 venues. The summer of 2020 she did 40 hours of "hard labor" in the museum as the venues were closed to the public because of the virus. She painted, spent time on the ladder cleaning, editing, and labeling displays above the display cases, etc. Maycey plans on attending Grand Valley State College to pursue a degree in Secondary English Education. We wish her the best because she is the best.
NEWS
SPRING CLEAN UP 2021
Tawni Deike and her six cheerleaders from Forest Area High School needed volunteer hours for a scholarship and the Historical Society needed help raking, cleaning up stones, and spreading dirt at the museum and historical fire barn. Board members Rod Larr (and son Chris), Dick Gilmour, Sue Nyce, Dan Weaver, Joyce Freiwald plus Ron Broering and Tom Freiwald got the job done Sunday April 25th with the help of these young ladies. It was a "cool" job that day (37 degrees and windy) but a great collaboration and a job well done.
The Historical Society is always grateful for any help our generous citizens of Fife Lake give us to keep our venues looking good.
2020 HISTORICAL SOCIETY UPDATE
BUILDING A NEW DRAINAGE STRIP ALONG SIDE THE MUSEUM
The members of the Historical Society addressed an ongoing problem at the museum. The land on the East side of the museum was eroding because of the drainage off the roof. This project involved removing deteriorating railroad ties, digging and leveling off the trench, laying ground cloth, installing treated lumber to form an edging and then filling the area with gravel and stone.
Roger Gibson donated time, tractor back hoe, truck and a load of gravel. Dr. Audrey Stryker and Michael Korn donated stones and John Smith used his front loader tractor to put the stones in Jim Ricketts hydraulic dump trailer. Jim Ricketts and his team volunteered to install the wood edging and Dick Gilmour and his Kabota with front bucket moved the stones and got filler dirt from the village.
Large projects like this, with little cost, could not happen without the awesome support of our wonderful community. Thank you Fife Lake for always being there when help is needed.
NEWS & EVENTS
We work hard to get our efforts noticed by the media and are so proud when this goal comes to fruition. A well informed community is an empowered one as well, so take a look at some of the latest coverage we’ve received below and help spread the word about all the amazing developments at Fife Lake Historical Society.
CONSORTIUM GATHERINGTHIS PICTURE IS FROM THE 2019 CONSORTIUM GATHERING WHICH THE FIFE LAKE HISTORICAL SOCIETY HOSTED. A GROUP OF HISTORICAL SOCIETIES FROM ANTRIM COUNTY PLUS FIFE LAKE GATHER EACH YEAR TO DISCUSS PROGRAMS, MEMBERSHIP IDEAS, ETC. UNFORTUNATELY THE GROUP WAS NOT ABLE TO MEET THIS YEAR BECAUSE OF COVID-19.
LOOK AT US NOW!
Ron and Noreen Broering pulled all the “historic” weeds, bushes, and plants out of the front planter this fall and refurbished it with new bushes and flowers. The fall planting was beautiful with mums and the summer will have the petunias and geraniums like the rest of the village plantings. Now the museum is looking good inside and outside.
2019 PRESENTATION OF CHECK FROM GREAT LAKES ENERGY PEOPLE’S FUND
Great Lakes Energy People’s Fund awarded the Historical Society a $5,000 grant to assist with the cost of removing all the old carpet in the museum and installing vinyl planking that represents old barn wood. The stage area (now called the Mural Room) also had the original yellow pine flooring refinished.
We work hard to get our efforts noticed by the media and are so proud when this goal comes to fruition. A well informed community is an empowered one as well, so take a look at some of the latest coverage we’ve received below and help spread the word about all the amazing developments at Fife Lake Historical Society.
2018 FOREST AREA FEDERAL CREDIT UNION PRESENTATION
Forest Area Federal Credit Union presented the Historical Society with a check for $1,045 to help pay for the new TV and mural set up. Guests can now sit down and chose one of 6 DVD’s to watch which tell the stories of Fife Lake’s history, the reconstruction of the museum after the 1978 roof collapse, or information about the museum, schoolhouse, and fire barn. The 5’ by 32’ mural is a Pictorial History of the Fife Lake area.