08/27/2026
Nat Brown was released from prison for good behavior in 1933! He was accused and convicted of blowing up his former home located on Pottawatomie Bayou with dynamite in September 1931, as a protest over a real estate deal with Nicholas De Witt that went bad.
Born in Oswego, New York on October 6th, 1866, Nathanial was the son of M. Alvanz and Phoebe Brown of Cooperstown, NY. Nathanial came to Grand Haven in about 1905 after being a backwoods guide in Minnesota for some 12 years. He was an inventor and a photographer with studios first located at 5 Washington and then at 22 Washington Street, later the site of the Grand Theater.
He claimed to be the first to capture 'birds eye views' by attaching his camera to a kite, and he was granted a patent for it. He also devised a propellor-powered sled and a propellor-driven motorboat. Many of his early shots were made into postcards. He also came up with the idea of putting signatures on film, and he sold 'Life Motion Photographs,' in which the image moved as the viewer moved his head 'to and fro,' as the instructions put it.
At one time Nat was in contact with Commander Robert E. Byrd to furnish a toboggan for one of the explorer's Arctic trips. Nat also invented the gyroplane and received a patent for it in 1912. In 1916, at a cost of $100, he built and operated a three-wheeled automobile. An announcement said the car could speed up to 50 miles per hour and that Nat 'could turn a corner almost at right angles and can thread any thoroughfare with ease.'
Object #: 1984.59.1
