IXL Historical Museum facts for kids
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Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company Office Building
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 Location in Michigan
Location in the United States
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| Location | W5551 River Street North, Hermansville, Michigan |
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| Built | 1882 |
| Architectural style | Stick/Eastlake architecture |
| NRHP reference No. | 91000901 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | July 26, 1991 |
The IXL Historical Museum is a cool old building in Hermansville, Michigan. It used to be the main office for a big lumber company called the Wisconsin Land & Lumber Company. Today, it's a museum where you can learn about the history of logging and how people lived long ago.
The main building is also known as the Wisconsin Land and Lumber Company Office. It was recognized as a special historic place in Michigan in 1973. Later, in 1991, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which lists important historical sites across the United States. The museum itself officially opened in 1982.
Contents
Discovering the Museum's History
How the Company Started
The building you see today was once the main office for the Wisconsin Land & Lumber Company. This company was started by a talented cabinetmaker named Charles J. L. Meyer. He was born in Germany and came to America.
In the mid-1800s, Meyer had a factory in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. There, he made wooden sashes, doors, and window blinds. To get the wood he needed, Meyer started buying large areas of pine forest in Menominee County, Michigan in 1878.
Between 1881 and 1882, Meyer moved his company's main operations from Wisconsin to Hermansville, Michigan. This is where he built the company's new headquarters. Meyer kept buying more land, and eventually, his company owned nearly 100,000 acres of forest. That's a huge amount of land!
Challenges and New Ideas
By 1890, the company faced some tough times. They had bought too much land and didn't have enough money. Also, sales were slowing down. Most of the pine trees on their land had already been cut. This meant the company had to find a new product.
They decided to start making hardwood flooring. The Wisconsin Land & Lumber Company became famous for being one of the first to use hardwoods. They also invented special machines to make this flooring. Their flooring was called "IXL," which sounded like "I excel." This name showed how proud they were of their high-quality product. Every piece of flooring they made was stamped with the letters "IXL" inside a circle.
However, selling hardwood flooring wasn't easy at first. The company started to struggle even more. Around this time, Charles Meyer had a riding accident and hurt his brain. He became confused and couldn't run the company anymore. So, his son-in-law, Dr. George Washington Earle, stepped in to help.
Meet George Washington Earle
George Washington Earle was born in Truxton, New York, in 1849. When he was just ten years old, he left home and started working on a farm in Wisconsin. He went to school and eventually became a teacher.
But George wanted to do more. In 1868, he went back to New York and worked in a factory that made sashes and doors. He saved up enough money to go to medical school. In 1872, he became a doctor after graduating from Buffalo Medical College. He even received his diploma from Millard Fillmore, who later became a U.S. President!
Dr. Earle started a successful medical practice in New York. In 1886, he traveled to Europe and met Emma Meyer, Charles Meyer's daughter. They got married in 1888. In 1889, Dr. Earle decided to stop practicing medicine and moved with his wife to Michigan. He invested a lot of his own money into his father-in-law's company. He became a vice-president just before the company faced big financial problems in 1890. With Charles Meyer unable to lead, Dr. Earle took charge.
Earle's Leadership and Success
Dr. Earle worked hard to save the company. He talked to the company's lenders, got new loans, and cut down on spending. He even bought some of the company's debt himself and reorganized the business.
He also strongly promoted the company's IXL maple flooring. This was perfect timing, as the demand for hardwood floors started to grow. The Wisconsin Land & Lumber Company developed a special way to make flooring called a tongue and groove process. This helped them become one of the biggest hardwood floor producers in the United States at one point. The IXL logo became so well-known that architects would ask for "IXL or equivalent" in their building plans!
Thanks to Dr. Earle's efforts and the rising demand for hardwood flooring, the company became very successful. They finally paid off all their debts in 1910. When it became too expensive to buy new forests, Earle started buying logs from smaller logging companies. He led the company until he passed away in 1923. After him, his two sons, G. Harold and Stewart Prescott Earle, took over. The company's headquarters stayed in Hermansville until the last of Meyer's grandsons died in 1978.
Exploring the Museum Buildings
The main museum building is like a time capsule from the 1800s. It's a two-story wooden building with a T-shape. The outside has special wooden siding called clapboard. It also has decorative wooden strips, both straight and diagonal, that line up with the windows. The roof has open triangular supports. You can enter through small porches at the front and side. The back of the building is simpler, with less decoration.
Inside the museum, you can see many old items. There are documents from the company that visitors can look at. You'll also find old crank telephones, big oak desks, dictaphones (machines that recorded voices), inkwells, and adding machines.
Near one entrance is the paymaster's office. This is where workers used to get paid. They received company scrip, which was like special money they could only use to buy things from the company store. The second floor of the building used to be a home where someone lived.
The company also built the town of Hermansville and the houses where its workers lived. They sold these houses after World War II. Other buildings that are part of the museum complex today include:
- A typical worker's house, showing how families lived.
- The farm produce warehouse for the Wisconsin Land & Lumber Company.
- A restored train depot, which was important for shipping goods.
Images for kids
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A typical worker's house
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Wisconsin Land's warehouse
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Wilson's train depot, later used at Powers
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Panorama of the museum complex
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An old Dictaphone
