MEETING DATES
Wednesday. October 8, 7 p.m. at the Saugatuck High School
Media Room. "Old Ship Captain's
Tall Tales of Saugatuck and Douglas". Henry Gleason will
share some tall tales about some of our colorful citizens. Do you
remember what the waterfront looked like 50 years ago? Henry does.
Does the name Stu Ruley ring any bells?
Peg Boyce, long time friend of Henry
and fellow native of Saugatuck, will act as moderator for the
evening. This promises to be an interesting and informative meeting.
A
little background on Henry Gleason
Henry was born in Saugatuck on Lucy Street,
grew up on and in the Kalamazoo River, and attended Saugatuck
Public Schools. His grandparents lived here and he grew up
working with his grand father and father on the river. Their
riverfront property has been in the family since 1919. Henry
started working at the Fruit Grower's Bank (Chemical Bank)
while he was still in school and then worked there for the
rest of his life. After experiencing many types of bank roles,
he was put in charge of Customer Relations. Henry retired from
the bank after forty years of service. Many of our residents
still remember his twinkling eyes and welcoming smile. Henry
is currently piloting the Star of Saugatuck and still enjoys
working with people and being on the River . |
Wednesday, November 12, 7 p.m., Program to be announced.
Sunday, December 7, 6 p.m. Annual Holiday Party at Coral Gables.
Watch for more information in the November Newsletter. we will not
be sending separate invitations this year.
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear SDHS Members,
The Society has been very busy with several special events that all
celebrate progress and the mission. I find this time a wonderful
opportunity to demonstrate to all, but especially you our valued
members what can be accomplished when a group of ardent people come
together.
We held our first member meeting at the Old School House Discovery
Center on September 10 and rang in the special members only meeting
to provide you with the opportunity to look at the accomplishments
before the community was given their chance during the Heritage
Festival Home Tour on September 20. We also were able to announce
that the Society was granted a $12,500 award from the Michigan
Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA). These funds will be
used to help bring technology resources to programs to be offered at
the Old School House Discovery Center.
Speaking of the Heritage Festival Home Tour, we received a lot of
feedback and most of it was very positive. The weather was certainly
a blessing and many who participated thought we offered one of the
best selection of homes to date. I wish to thank all the committee
members, volunteers and contractors who worked so hard to ensure
that the Old School House Discovery Center was ready for the "Thank
you" receptions and the members meeting and to the Heritage Festival
Homes Tour committee, volunteers and the wonderful homeowners for
making the Festival a success.
One other reason to celebrate is that the SuperMap is now in place
at the Museum. If you have not had a chance to see it, don't forget
to stop over. The season is quickly drawing to a close and there are
just a few more weekends to take in the exhibit 13 Moments in
Time: The Artist as Storyteller and the new SuperMap.
The Board has been busy continuing to move forward. The Board
Liaisons will be setting up meetings with the committees to learn
your goals for 2009 and to determine budgets. This is an important
aspect to our future so that we will be able to then coordinate and
communicate what everyone is doing so it can be tied together and
fill gaps to form a cohesive Society.
In this issue of the newsletter you will find more details on what
you have been doing and what is being planned for the future.
I enjoy these many opportunities to get to know all of you and I
look forward to working with you to continue to make the Discovery
Center and the Museum significant gems in the community.
-- Kathy Sturm, President
|
MINUTES ON THE WEB
Based on your strong feedback, we have started to add the Society's
Board and Meeting Minutes to the Society's web site. Click
HERE for details. If there is more information you would lie to
see on the web site or in these Newsletters, just send an
email to Fred Schmidt at
info@sdhistoricalsociety.org or give him a call at 269-857-5751
ALL VOLUNTEERS

Another Museum summer is almost behind us and another Heritage
Festival has come and gone. Many, many volunteers have made it all
possible. If you were a volunteer so far this year, did you take the
time to send in your hours? Even an estimate would be fine. Just let
me know how many hours you put in and in what area you volunteered.
(If you were a museum host or hostess, those hours have already been
recorded for you.) Please send your information to
sdhsvol@verizon.net.
Thank you - Mary Voss
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS
Membership growth is critical to our organization. The best way to
attract new members is by personal contact. Please tell you friends
about the fantastic new "SuperMap" at the Museum, the near
completion of the "Old School House" and the fun social events at
the Saugatuck Douglas Historical Society.

The parties next year will even be more fun with all of your friends
attending!
Thanks for your help! Ed Kelly, Board Membership Liaison
LET THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY SCAN
YOUR OLD PHOTOS
 |
Have a box of old
Saugatuck area photos? Let the SDHS copy them for the
Archives. We will scan your photos, make digital copies, and
return the originals as well as give you back a set of these
on CD-ROM |
You can then
easily share copies of these treasures with other members of
your family. Pictured are two examples, "The Ellen Greenhalgh
Collection" and a collection of post cards from the family of
Nell Van Leeuwen Randolph.
|
Photos or
memorabilia selected should be of people, places, events and
things relating to the Saugatuck-Douglas area. Use a "sticky
note" (we can give you some of these if needed) to identify
names of people, or give |
 |
background on the
photo or item. Your photos will be placed in a computer
directory and labeled with your family name as a "Collection".
They will be permanently available for local historians and
researchers. If you have photos to share, contact Chris Yoder
at 857-4327 or by email at
cyoder@tds.net and arrange for them to be picked up
and copied. |
HERITAGE FESTIVAL
The final money figures are not in, but the compliments have been
free flowing. Everyone seems to have really loved the selection of
homes for our 2008 Society Homes Tour.
All of our home owners enjoyed the experience. Our house captains
worked diligently to line up home hosts, our Old School house tour
and lunch were very successful and all of the transportation and
parking went well.
The Society owes great thanks to those individuals who were willing
to take on the task of putting it all together: Dottie Lyon,
Charlotte VanNeck, Bill Hess, Ken Carls, Sunny Hill, Jim Schmiechen,
Gary VanNeck, Howard Vanderbeck, Mike Minster, Shirley Aikins, and
Ellen Sprouls. THANK YOU!!
Thank you, too, for your support if you joined us on tour. Judi
Vanderbeck
|
ABOUT THE SOCIETY
To become a member or renew your membership select from the
following categories:
Individual |
$25 |
Household |
$45 |
Senior (65+) |
$18 |
Senior Household |
$30 |
Student |
$5 |
Sustaining |
$75 |
Corporate |
$150 |
Life, Individual |
$300 |
Life, Household |
$500 |
Send check payable to the Saugatuck-Douglas Historical Society to:
PO Box 617, Douglas, Michigan 49406 You can also click
HERE for a Society Membership Application.
Send items for the newsletter to: Fred Schmidt, PO Box 250, Douglas MI
49406 or email
info@sdhistoricalsociety.org
MUSEUM AND TECH CENTER
The Saugatuck-Historical Museum is located in the
historic Pump House at the foot of Mt. Baldhead on the west bank of
the Kalamazoo River.
"13 Moments in Time:
The Artist as Storyteller"
Open noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays in
September and October.
The Society's Technology Center is open Monday from 1
to 4 p.m., Tuesdays 10 a.m. to noon and Wednesday 9 a.m. to noon.
Society Phone: 269 857-5751
Museum Phone: 269 857-7900
Tech Center Phone 269 857-7901
www.sdhistoricalsociety.org
|