Johannesburg Manufacturing Company Store facts for kids
The Johannesburg Manufacturing Company Store is a special kind of shop called a company store. It's located at 10816 M-32 East in Johannesburg, Michigan. This historic building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 because of its important past.
Quick facts for kids |
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Johannesburg Manufacturing Company Store
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 Location in Michigan
Location in the United States
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| Location | 10816 M-32 E., Johannesburg, Michigan |
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| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1901 |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian |
| NRHP reference No. | 09000475 |
| Added to NRHP | July 1, 2009 |
Contents
The Store's Story: A Look Back in Time
The Johannesburg Manufacturing Company was started in 1901. Three lumbermen named Ernest Salling, Rasmus Hanson, and Nels Michelson created it. They built Johannesburg as a town just for their lumber business. They had done this before with other towns like Grayling and Lewiston.
The very first building they put up in the new town was this company store. It was the main office for the company. The store sold things like hay, grain, and ice from sheds behind the main building. The company offices stayed here until 1916, when they moved to a bank nearby.
The Johannesburg Manufacturing Company kept going until 1929. Their mill cut over 300 million board feet of lumber! At one point, about 200 people worked there. When the mill closed, the company sold its land and buildings cheaply. Former employees even got first choice to buy them. Alfred Larsen, who was the company's accountant, bought this store building in 1929.
Who Owned the Store Over the Years?
Alfred Larsen ran the store until 1942. Then, he sold it to Andrew (Buck) Philips. Buck Philips sold it a few years later in 1945 to Howard Kelly. The Kelly family ran the store until 1979. They even lived upstairs, where the company offices used to be!
The building was empty for a while, from 1979 to 1991. Then, William and Norma Lange bought it. They opened an antique store there. That store closed after a few years. In 2000, Scott and Vicki Courtier bought the building. Later, Stacy Jo Schiller and Barton Briley bought it. Around 2010, they planned to fix up the old building.
What Does the Store Look Like?
The Johannesburg Manufacturing Company Store has a flat roof. It's built with a special method called "balloon-frame" construction. The bottom part, or foundation, is made of fieldstone. The outside walls are covered with clapboard siding.
The building has two main parts. One part is a tall, rectangular section with two stories. It measures about 28 feet wide and 80 feet long. The other part is smaller and shaped like an "L." It has only one story. This L-shaped section is about 34 feet wide and 48 feet deep. There used to be another small building behind the two-story part, but it was taken down around 1970.
Details of the Building's Outside
The two-story part of the building has big windows on the first floor. These windows sit on low, paneled sections. The main entrance is in the middle of the front. It's set back a bit and has slanted sides. There's also another entrance at the corner.
The second floor of the two-story section has pairs of windows. These windows are tall and narrow, with square tops. The one-story section has three doors. One is in the middle, and one is at each end. Between the doors, you can see a pair of special windows called Palladian windows.
Inside the Historic Store
When the building was first built, the company store was on the first floor of the two-story section. Upstairs, there was a place for people to live, like a boarding house. The one-story part of the building held the company offices and even a barber shop! One of the doors in the one-story section leads to a staircase. This staircase goes up to the second floor of the two-story part.
