TappingRoots

Sharing Personal History One Life at a Time

Tag: Port Huron history (page 1 of 1)

June 23, 2024 / 4 Comments

Montgats: Finding Joseph Watson

Anton van den Wyngaerde (1510-1570). Panoramic view of Barcelona from Montjuic Mountain 1563. Pen drawing. (today the site of Montjuic Castle in Barcelona, Spain, which was built in 1640), Courtesy of Vintage City Maps.com
Montjuic Castle, Barcelona, Spain, 2023. Courtesy of Wikipedia.com

In the first chapter of my new book, Pioneers of St. Clair County, Michigan, I share the early history of the southeast corner of Military and Water Streets in Port Huron, Michigan, which today is the site of the City Flats Hotel. The land where the hotel stands started out as a ten thousand square foot lot that was situated within an 80 acre plat of land in Section 10 purchased by Joseph Watson from the U.S. government in 1818 which he platted out as the town called Montgats. In 1835 he sold the first lot to Michael Kerley on which he built a store and wharf.

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January 23, 2023 / 18 Comments

Cinderella’s Castle on Military Street

1719 Military Street, Port Huron, MI – Photograph Balthazar Korab[1]

When I was a little girl growing up my grandmother used to take me and my sister with her on her weekly shopping trip to downtown Port Huron.  As we made the drive down Military Street, we would admire the beautiful houses.  My favorite home was located at 1719 Military Street.  My sister and I called it “Cinderella’s Castle.”  I would always ask my grandmother to slow down as we approached so I could get a good look at it.  Excitement and joy would pulse through my veins as we passed.  My imagination filled with fairy tale like images of a beautiful girl living within the walls of that place.  Little did I know such a girl had lived there in the early 1900s.  Her name was Mary Harrington Thomson Thaw.

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June 1, 2020 / 0 Comments

No Smallpox for McMorran

Dominion Line Pic

Dominion Line Logo, Source:  Dominion Line Book of Views, 1900

New England Pic

SS New England, Twin Screw Steamship of the Dominion Line, Source: Dominion Line Book of Views, 1900

On January 17, 1900, Henry McMorran applied for a passport to take a winter cruise to the Mediterranean.  The trip, known as the Clark Holy Land Excursion, was organized by Frank C. Clark of New York, the manager of the traveling tour.  On February 1, 1900, Henry, with his daughters, Emma and Clara, and other Port Huronites, Reverend and Mrs. John Munday, Mr. and Mrs. H.G. Barnum and Mrs. William Jenkinson, embarked at Boston on the Dominion Line Steamship, New England, commanded by James McAuley.

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