Clare County Historical Society

06/26/2026

SUNDAY JUNE 28TH IS NATIONAL LOG CABIN DAY!

The Clare County Historical Society invites you and yours to visit our two log cabins located at the corner of Dover and Eberhart Roads just a few miles north of Clare. We will be open tomorrow, Saturday June 27 from 1-4.

Both the Ott Cabin and the Bell Knapp Cabin will be open to the public free of charge as always. Our blacksmith shop next to the Ott Cabin will be in operation as well.

If you wish to join the CCHS for $10, you can have your choice of one free book (Spikehorn, Kuno, or Meek’s Michigan Heartland) for your own. Applications are available in the museum.

06/25/2026

CITIZENS BANK OF CLARE: RULES FOR EMPLOYEES

When the newly formed Citizens Bank moved into the one time Clare Hardware Company building on the northeast corner of McEwan and Fourth in 1909, a set of strict rules were presented to the staff:
1. Office employees will daily sweep the floors, dust the furniture, shelves and counters.
2. Each day fill lamps, clean chimneys, and trim wicks. Wash the windows once a week.
3. Each clerk will bring in a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day’s business.
4. Make your pens carefully. You may whittle nibs to suit your individual taste.
5. This office will open at 7a.m. and close at 8p.m. daily except on the Sabbath, on which day it will remain closed. Each employee is expected to spend the Sabbath by attending church.
6. Men employees will be given an evening off each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go regularly to church.
7. Every employee should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for the benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden upon the charity of his betters.
8. Any employee who smokes Spanish ci**rs, uses liquor in any form, gets shaved at a barber shop, or frequents pool or public halls, will give us a good reason to suspect his worth, intentions, integrity, and honesty.
9. The employee who has performed his labor faithfully and without fault for a period of five years in our service, and who has been thrifty will be given an increase of ten cents per day in his pay, provided just return in profits from the business permits it.

Wow. Spanish ci**rs? Who knew?
Information from “Clare Remembered 1879-1979”

Visit the Clare County Historical Complex on the corner of Dover and Eberhart Roads. Open Saturday from 1-4PM. Our next monthly group meeting is Wednesday July 1st at 7 PM. All are welcome.

06/22/2026

WHEN NEON RULED THE MAIN STREET IN CLARE!

Besides the shiny new 1957 Ford Fairlanes and a Canadian Mercury lining McEwan, two things stand out in this photo postcard picture. At least ten businesses feature neon signage at the time (check out the Hotel Doherty vertical corner sign—you might need a magnifying glass) which would have made for a very colorful scene at night.

The other point of interest is the “highway” sign above the Fifth Street intersection pointing north to Grayling, west to Ludington, and east to Coleman.

06/20/2026

“GREY SKIES ARE GONNA CLEAR UP!”

So put on your happy face with a short visit to the Clare County Historical Society Complex today—Saturday, June 20 from 1-4. Watch the blacksmiths in action, step into a 150 year old schoolhouse, enjoy the Museum exhibits, and question our experts about Clare County History!

06/17/2026

THAT DAY WHEN BRISTOL’S HORSES CAME TO TOWN

The “Professor” and 30 trained horses arrived in Clare by train on November 3, 1893 to put on a performance at the new Doherty Opera House on McEwan. The papers reported that it was a “mammoth affair” providing wholesome and instructive entertainment for all ages.

Tickets for the show ranged from 25 to 50 cents each.

The second story Doherty Opera House was designed to hold 700 people and still stands at 524 N. McEwan across from Cops and Doughnuts.

06/10/2026

Students from the Clare High School visited our museum complex today. They spent several hours observing and learning at our working blacksmith shop and touring the museum, Ott Cabin and Bell Knapp Cabin. They finished with a picnic lunch under the pavilion.

These young people were a joy to have visit! They asked great questions, explored respectfully, and were great listeners!

Thanks to our members Angela, Dave, David, Dennis G., Dennis C, and Joe for volunteering today.

Our regular hours are Saturdays from 1 to 4 PM through the end of September. Join us on the last Saturday of September for our annual Old Fashion Day.

06/09/2026

We love this story …

“THERE’S A STORY HERE”

IN 1978 when recent CMU grad photographer and soon to be renown artist Carol Chase Bjerke snapped this photo for the CLARE 1979 Centennial Calendar, little of her professional work had yet to be shown outside central Michigan. Over the ensuing years until her passing in 2022, Ms. Bjerke’s photography was featured in numerous solo and joint shows throughout the United States, culminating in the final program she personally arranged in Stoughton, Wisconsin.

She named that exhibition “There’s a Story Here”

05/30/2026

UPDATE- The fly over was in honor of Don Nevill for his Memorial at his farm. He also was an 8th grade graduate of Dover School.
Thank you Carron for letting us know. ❤️

Usually it’s an occasional car and Amish buggies passing but today a half dozen planes flew over the Clare County Historical Society museum complex.
Visit us on Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. Tour the museum, pioneer cabins, one room schoolhouse, the working blacksmith shop, play chess on the porch or just enjoy the Clare County countryside from our front porch.

05/30/2026

The Dover School and the historic Ott Cabin will be open for visitors today, Saturday May 30, along with the Bell Knapp Cabin, the Museum Building, and a working blacksmith shop from 1-4PM.

As always, free admission. If you sign up on site to join the CCHS today for only $10 for one year, you will receive your choice of either a hardcover copy of one of three books…the story of Kuno Hammerberg, the illustrated history of Spike Horn Meyer, or Forest Meek’s Michigan’s Heartland with our appreciation.

Hope to see you soon.

05/28/2026

“HISTORY IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT”

My own interests in Clare County began in the fall of 1973 when I began my teaching career at Amble Elementary out on Arnold Lake Road. The following summer my wife and I moved to the county which we have called home for over 50 years.

This is my personal historical site. What’s yours?

The Clare County Historical Museum Complex will be open this Saturday and every Saturday throughout the summer at the corner of Dover and Eberhart Roads.