The Islington Hotel was a family owned and operated lakefront inn located in Cedarville, Michigan

Clark Township, Michigan

Clark Township is a civil township of Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the township population was 2,200.-Communities:...

 in the state’s Eastern Upper Peninsula. Constructed in the late 19th century, the facility lodged and entertained summer guests for more than 60 years with a tradition of friendliness and graciousness. During its heyday it was considered to be one of the finest seasonal hotels in the Upper Midwest.

Construction and early years: 1895-1904

The Islington was a summer hotel located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Upper Peninsula of Michigan

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan. It is also known as the land "above the Bridge" linking the two peninsulas. The peninsula is bounded...

. Built between April and June 1895 on Islington Point in Lake Huron's Les Cheneaux Islands

Les Cheneaux Islands

Les Cheneaux Islands are a group of 36 small islands, some inhabited, along 12 miles of Lake Huron shoreline on the southeastern tip of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States. The name is French for "the Channels", noting the many channels between the islands in the group...

, the Islington Hotel was conceived by Milo Melchers, a lawyer from Toledo, Ohio

Toledo, Ohio

Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...

. The hotel's first guests arrived on July 1, 1895 and stayed until September.

During the hotel's construction, Milo’s wife Rose chose to spend the summer in England with their two daughters because of her horror at such a vast undertaking. Born into the Stroh Brewery

Stroh Brewery Company

The Stroh Brewery Company was a beer brewery located in Detroit, Michigan. In addition to their own Stroh's brand, they produced or bought the rights to several other brands including Goebel, Schaefer, Schlitz, Augsburger, Erlanger, Lone Star, Old Milwaukee, Red River, and Signature, as well as...

 family in Detroit, Rose Stroh Melchers was of the opinion that, “people who were educated and had a profession did not operate hotels." Misgivings aside, Rose and Milo (as Melchers & Company) ran the Islington as chief operating officers through 1904.

In the early years, the Islington was a place for sport fishermen. It was a U-shaped wooden structure, three stories tall with dormers and wide verandas on the lake sides. The 62 guest rooms provided no running water or bathrooms. Stone fireplaces and rustic furniture

Rustic furniture

Rustic furniture is furniture employing sticks, twigs or logs for a natural look. Many companies, artists and craftspeople make rustic furniture in a variety of styles and with a variety of historical and contemporary influences...

 in the living room

Living room

A living room, also known as sitting room, lounge room or lounge , is a room for entertaining adult guests, reading, or other activities...

 and lobby gave the interior warmth and charm. Rates included meals that were served daily in the dining room

Dining room

A dining room is a room for consuming food. In modern times it is usually adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving, although in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level...

.

Rose Melchers as proprietor: 1905-1945

In 1905, Rose Stroh Melchers became sole proprietor of the Islington. Rose was a woman of resourcefulness and courage who said she would run the hotel until a buyer could be found. The reputation and success of the Islington as a summer vacation

Summer vacation

Summer vacation is a vacation in the summertime between school years in which students and instructors are off school typically between 6 and 12 weeks, depending on the country and district.-Students:In some countries, students participate in programs such as organized sports, summer camps, and...

 spot was due largely to her efforts. For forty summers, Mrs. Melchers hired local residents, college students and key professionals to work at the hotel. Each year the Islington opened June 25 and closed September 15. As time went by, improved ambiance, physical facilities and service brought more and more guests wanting to stay for the summer. Over the years, gas lighting

Gas lighting

Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...

 gave way to electricity. Indoor plumbing was added. A tennis court

Tennis court

A tennis court is where the game of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles.-Dimensions:...

, croquet, shuffleboard, a billiard room

Billiard room

A billiard room is a recreation room, such as in a house or recreation center, with a billiards, pool or snooker table...

, a recreation room

Recreation room

A recreation room is a room used for a variety of purposes, such as parties, games and other everyday or casual use. The term is common in the United States and Canada, but is less common in the United Kingdom where the preferred term is games room...

, card rooms, dances, parties and other activities entertained guests who returned year after year.

Wooden fishing boats, yachts and large steamers delivering guests, provisions and mail to the hotel from Chicago and Detroit via Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island is an island and resort area covering in land area, part of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was home to a Native American settlement before European...

 used the Islington docks. Guests came from cities such as St. Louis, Cincinnati, Chicago and Detroit. In later years, goods were picked up from or delivered by businesses in the growing towns of Cedarville and Pickford as well as the city of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

Sault Ste. Marie is a city in and the county seat of Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the north-eastern end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, on the Canadian border, separated from its twin city of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, by the St. Marys River...

 to the north. The automobile and better roads provided the means for guests to travel to the Islington’s location on the mainland.

The Islington was known as “the grandest and most self-evidently successful of the Les Cheneaux Hotels.” Famous people

Celebrity

A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...

 such as the actor Jimmy Durante

Jimmy Durante

James Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...

 and the author Booth Tarkington

Booth Tarkington

Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...

 and his family stayed at the Islington. During the 1930s and 1940s, a staff of approximately 30 catered to every need. In the lakeview dining room, guests “dressed for dinner” and dined on chef-prepared food that met Rose Melchers’ high standards. For many years the Islington was recommended as a 1st Class eating establishment by Duncan Hines

Duncan Hines

Duncan Hines was an American pioneer of restaurant ratings for travelers. He is best known today for the brand of food products that bears his name.-History:...

, an early forerunner of the Zagat rating program. Whitefish and lake trout

Lake trout

Lake trout is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, lake char , touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, they can also be variously known as siscowet, paperbellies and leans...

 were singled out as excellent, and were delivered fresh from the catching nets several times a week.

Starting in the 1920s, Rose Melchers’ two married daughters, Hermione Uptegrove and Helen Wells, used their unique styles to upgrade the “Islington Experience.” Hermione (known as Hermi) was a pianist, as was her father, Milo. She was highly skilled in providing books, games, costuming and musical entertainment for guests in the afternoons and evenings. Also, Hermi managed the housekeeping duties until Stan (Mac) Wells took over hotel management. By contrast, Helen took care of the beautiful formal gardens and supervised maintenance of the wooden walkways, docks, shoreline developments, outdoor game areas, grounds, signage and nature trails. An excellent photographer, Helen recorded the life and times of the Islington, including visitors, amenities, and the natural beauty of the area. The Islington was always special to Rose’s five grandchildren. As they grew up, they were expected to help out in or around the hotel, and willingly did so.

For many years, the Islington maintained a 4th Class Post Office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

 that was open for summers only. Rose Melchers, followed by her grandson Stanfield (Mac) Wells Jr., were long-time Postmasters. The afternoon arrival of the mail truck

Mail truck

A mail van or mail truck is a delivery vehicle that is used to distribute mail.- Evolution :...

 from St. Ignace was a moment of excitement as official mailbags were exchanged and the arriving mail was distributed to guests and staff. Rose Melchers’ youngest grandson, William Wells

William Wells

-Military:* William Wells , U.S. Army officer and Medal of Honor recipient for the Battle of Gettysburg* William Wells , American Civil War sailor and Medal of Honor recipient...

, was the last Postmaster in 1952, as Cedarville then became the Islington’s Post Office.

Later years: 1946-1959

During the war years of 1943, 1944 and 1945, the Islington was closed for general guest use. Nevertheless, many friends of Rose Melchers and her daughters were visitors or informal guests during this period. When the hotel officially reopened in 1946, Stanfield (Mac) Wells, Jr. assumed management of the Islington through 1950. In 1951, another grandson, Stephen (Sandy) Wells and his wife Annabelle took over the running of the hotel. Assuming full ownership in 1952, the couple added several guest cottages along the lakeshore and a beach house

Beach house

A beach house is a house on or near a beach, generally used as a vacation or second home for people who commute to the house on weekends or during vacation periods....

 on Melchers Bay for picnics and parties. In 1958, the Islington closed its doors to guests forever. The wooden structure was razed in 1959, marking the end of an era when “people escaped crowded, sweltering Midwestern cities for clean air

Air pollution

Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....

 and clean water

Drinking water

Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...

.”

A former hotel employee said that the Islington era "was made exceptional" by Rose Melchers, her children and grandchildren, who set the tone for friendliness and graciousness that permeated the Islington experience.