- Built
- 1915-11
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- tourismarchitecturesettlementeconomyheritage
- Within
- Beaver Island · Cable Bay
- Media
- Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision
Summary
Wildwood Inn was a Citizens’ Realty Company summer hotel near Cole’s landing and Cable Bay. Construction was announced in November 1915, building materials were still arriving in June 1916, and by July a contemporary report said the nearly completed inn was accepting boarders. Managers and named guests appear repeatedly in 1917 newspaper notices. Wildwood therefore was both physically unfinished and commercially used; the later story that it “never opened to one guest” is incompatible with the contemporary record.123
Construction and operation
The November 1915 Wildwood column expected a group of architects, surveyors, and carpenters from Chicago to begin the new inn. It did not name the designer. In May and June 1916, the paper reported activity at the inn and a boat bringing windows and doors for the “new hotel.” On July 26 it said the inn was “most completed”—apparently almost completed—and that keeper Peter Thill was taking boarders.2
The following summer supplies still arrived and work continued. A July 4, 1917 notice says a Jacques family from Chicago came to take charge of the hotel; the July 11 column names summer guests; and the August 1 column reports that a guest who broke her leg on the porch was removed aboard the steamer Columbia.3 These are direct contemporary observations of hotel operation, not later reminiscence.
The 1918 closure and Ila Cole
On June 1, 1918, seventeen-year-old Ila Cole was gravely wounded at an entrance to the seasonally closed inn by a trap gun set by caretaker Thomas Boyle. The June 5 Courier identifies Citizens’ Realty Company as owner and calls the building a summer resort hotel near Cole’s landing. Ila died in Petoskey the following week, after an attempted amputation, and the June 12 paper reported her funeral and Boyle’s continued detention.4
This tragedy documents that the hotel was closed at that moment, not that it had never operated. The held contemporary reports do not establish whether the inn reopened, when it was dismantled, or what happened to the company.
The Grand Hotel attribution
The 1978 Historical Map dates the inn to 1916–1919 and says it was designed by the builder of Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel. Modern tourism and Historical Society materials repeat that statement, but no contract, plan, architect’s name, company minute, or contemporary newspaper attribution has been located. The claim remains a research lead rather than established architectural history. The map’s 1916 opening is broadly consistent with construction and boarder reports; its 1919 endpoint has not been independently verified.
Open questions
- Who designed and built the inn, and is there a documented connection to the Grand Hotel?
- Was the 1915 workforce prediction fulfilled, and was the building ever fully completed?
- Did the inn operate after 1917 or reopen after the 1918 seasonal closure?
- When, why, and by whom was the structure dismantled?
- Can Citizens’ Realty Company court, plat, bankruptcy, or corporate records supply a complete ownership and construction history?
See also
Footnotes
Sources
- Charlevoix Courier, November 17, 1915, Wildwood correspondence.Contemporary report says roughly fifty architects, surveyors, and carpenters were expected to begin building the new Wildwood Inn; it does not name an architect or prove that all fifty arrived. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
- Charlevoix Courier, May 31 and June 7, 1916, Wildwood correspondence.Reports callers at the inn and the arrival of windows and doors for the new hotel, documenting active construction and use of the inn name. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
- Charlevoix Courier, July 26, 1916, Wildwood correspondence.Says the inn was “most completed” and that keeper Peter Thill was accepting boarders. The awkward phrase appears to mean almost completed; it directly establishes use before physical completion. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
- Charlevoix Courier, June 20, July 4, July 11, and August 1, 1917, Nomad correspondence.Contemporary notices document work on the inn, the Jacques family arriving to take charge, named guests, summer boarders, and a guest taken by steamer for treatment after breaking her leg. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
- Charlevoix Courier, June 5 and June 12, 1918, “Victim of a Trap Gun” and “Gun Wound Proves Fatal.”Identifies Citizens’ Realty Company as owner of the then-closed summer resort hotel near Cole’s landing and reports Ila Cole’s fatal shooting by a trap gun set by caretaker Thomas Boyle. These reports establish ownership, use, and seasonal closure, not an exact demolition date. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
- Described in this archive: Beaver Island History Map, 1978 revision.Labels the inn 1916–1919 and says it was designed by the builder of Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel. No contemporary source found in this audit names the architect or builder, and the 1919 endpoint remains unverified.
Added 7 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Wildwood Inn”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/structures/wildwood-inn/, accessed [date], citing Charlevoix Courier, November 17, 1915, Wildwood correspondence. (and 5 further sources listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-07. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.