ARTS & CULTURE ALLIANCE

Folks were living in Norwalk when the State Road, now called Old U.S. 31, was built through it in the 1850s. The second post office in the county opened in Norwalk in 1863, but it wasn’t until the railroad came through in 1888 that this little out-county community really turned into a bustling village.

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Norwalk saw its heyday between 1910 and 1920 because of the wealth of railroad related activity, which included railway express and passenger service. A pickle station sat alongside a loading dock and a depot, which was dismantled in the 1970s. That same decade regularly scheduled train runs stopped, and in 1984 the railroad tracks were taken up. In 2005 the last visage of the railway disappeared when the train viaduct was removed from U.S. 31, leaving only a railroad gang shed, and ironically the old Chief, Michigan Railroad Depot (which was moved to Norwalk in 1998) to recall Norwalk’s importance as a part of the halcyon days of the American Railway.

How can a quilt block have similarities to a church? Perhaps this way. One quilt block alone can be beautiful. Let it be joined by other ‘blocks’ and it becomes a fine quilt top. Add ‘filler’ and ‘backing’ and you have an inviting, warm comforter!

In recognition of the Finnish families immigrating to Marilla, the O'Shea family selected the Bear claw quilt block for their barn which was built in 1914. The brown bear is the national animal of Finland and is featured prominently in Finnish mythology. The Finnish flag, in the center, is surrounded by the colors of the O'Shea Family Crest. The homestead appears in the 1896 Platt Book naming Fred Holm as the original homesteader. The Wiitala family arrived in 1905, raised fifteen children, and maintained a very successful dairy farm. The O'Shea family purchased the property in 1975.

Three 4x4 foot panels with Finnish inspired symbols serve as a memorial to the Finlander immigrants to Kaleva. One of the panels features a crowned lion, the coat of arms of Finland. The other two depict Finnish designs, including a poem about the homeland. These quilt patterns are found along the Centennial Walkway established by the Brethren High School’s Service Learning Class for the town’s centennial in 2000.

The Brethren Heritage Association Quilt Square is a Log Cabin design, chosen because the museum itself features much of the logging industry at the turn of the 20th Century when Brethren was established and many of the settlers built log cabins too. The main museum itself is a log cabin.

The Maple Leaf pattern has been chosen because of Marilla’s long tradition of producing maple syrup and the area’s abundance of maple trees. The pioneering Chesboro family of Marilla Township held a family tradition of planting a maple tree for each new birth in the family. In the early years of Marilla Township, according to the 1883 agricultural census, maple syrup was described as maple molasses. The Marilla Historical Society maintains four historic buildings (on site).

The Arcadia Area Historical Society’s quilt shows patterns that were used by the Underground Railroad to provide encoded messages to escaping slaves. The flying Geese, North Star and Log Cabin patterns are combined as a message to travelers: You made it. You are here, Up North at our home, the Arcadia Area Historical Museum.

Marilla Church of the Brethren Quilt square is the Contemporary Cross. This pattern shows a pathway in many directions that can carry people into the life of the church and  expand their good works beyond the church to the wider community. This reflects the congregation’s motto: “Dedicated to the glory of God and our neighbor’s good.” We honor the efforts of the early Brethren at this centennial of the Marilla Church of the Brethren.

Autumn Star is the quilt pattern chosen by the members of the Kaleva Art Gallery. They liked the simple pattern and used blue as a predominant color reminiscent of the Finnish flag.

The Kaleva Art Gallery cooperative was started in 1997 and has occupied this building, the oldest in Kaleva, since 2004. In 1900 the building housed the office of the New York Land Company which was formed to sell the land after the white pine had been cut down. The Siirtolainen, or immigrant, brochure was printed here and sent out to Finns in the US and Finland encouraging them to settle in Kaleva. The town was named after the epic poem, the Kalevala, and the streets were given Finnish names. For many years after the printing enterprise ended, the building was known as the Drug Store, famous for cherry cokes, 45 rpm records and various drugs and sundries.

The quilt pattern on the side the of Kaleva Depot Railroad Museum represents the tracks on which trains traveled to and from Kaleva in the late 1880s, transporting lumber from harvested white pine, and immigrants from Finland who settled the town.

The Old Kirke Museum quilt square is based on traditional Scandinavian designs and symbols to honor Manistee’s earliest Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian immigrants who built this church in 1868 as a place to worship and enjoy familiar fellowship.

     Scandinavian design focuses on simplicity, practicality, and a deep respect for nature. The heart is a deeply rooted symbol in Scandinavian design, representing not so much romantic love as love as here in the U.S., but rather connection, devotion, warmth, and the cozy philosophy of hygge, embracing emotional balance of comfort, contentment, and lagom—not too much, not too little.

     We chose to incorporate Danish julehjerter, the traditional Danish woven hearts created by beloved Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, and stylized, simplified flowers inspired by the Nordic landscape of forest botanicals with a not to the Norwegian tradition of rosemaling, symbolizing nature as the ultimate anchor.

Trees & Trains: The Tale of Copemish

 The green arrow pattern of this quilt square was chosen to represent both the trees that were a resource for the lumber industry and the train routes that established opportunity throughout the area. The name “Copemish” is derived from a Native American word meaning “beech tree” or “beech tree ground”. Legend claims that a large beech tree, in the area that is now the Mish-A-Mish Park, was used as a tribal council spot in the 18th and 19th centuries.

     The modern development of Cleon Township and the Village of Copemish began with the combination of the Homestead Act, the lumber business, and the platting of the village around two intersecting train routes. Early settlers traveled north from more developed areas in the state with oxen and wagons. There are stories of men having to go ahead of the travelers to cut a path through the dense forests wide enough for the oxen and wagons to continue moving forward. Before 1867, Cleon Township was mostly populated by trappers and Native Americans. Around 1867, a small group of settlers farmed on their homesteaded land and worked in lumber camps around the area.

     The village of Copemish became a boom town between 1889 - 1891 when surveyors platted the village at the crossroads of two intersecting train routes. Cleon Township and Copemish transformed from an area that was days away from economic activity to a hub for transportation and commerce. Produce, lumber, and people could now be transported with greater efficiency. In 1891, Copemish recorded a population of 300 citizens, becoming the first incorporated village in Manistee County. 

​In the 1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps was established by the Roosevelt Administration to give unemployed young men work in pseudo-military camps. 

     The camp established in Brethren, MI was known as Camp Manikiwa, housing Company 1665. 

The young men, ages 17 and older, started here by living in tents and clearing the land. They built structures including a dining hall, dormitories for sleeping, a skating rink for recreation, and a bath house. 

Enrollees took part in conservation projects, tree planting, fire prevention and infrastructure building. 

When the C.C.C. program discontinued, it became a Kiwanis Summer Camp. 

Although this parcel had no permanent residents until 2020, it has seen an abundant history from native Odawa tribes to the Finnish settlements of the Kaleva area. White pine forest most likely covered this parcel until lumbered in the mid to late nineteenth century,then owned by the NY Land Association and only two other families. The acreage was leased by neighbors for cattle grazing while the Manistee and Northeastern Railroad chugged through the southeast corner. Due to the swampy nature of the land area residents hand dug a canal on the north side which became the headwaters of Beaver Creek which flows into Big Bear Creek.

     The flying geese pattern in blue and green represents Finnish families migrating to the area and the flora and fauna who currently call it home.

to come