New Historical Society Publication Receives “Rave Reviews”

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https://benziemuseum.org/product/thompsonville-in-time/

The Benzie Area Historical Society launched Thompsonville in Time A Northwest Michigan Story 1890-2021, their newest publication at our annual meeting in September.

This book is the story of the travails of a small northwest Michigan village that enjoyed robust and rapid growth at the turn of the 19th century but lots its stature over time.

Testimonials from respected historians and researchers:

“Northwest Michigan history buffs are fortunate that Charles Kraus became interested in the Diamond Railroad Crossing and the fascinating history of Thompsonville, destined to become a metropolis.  Dedication and the wish to share and keep the stories alive means that this now small community’s contributions and life history are not lost.”
—Barbara Siepker, owner of the Leelanau Press and board vice president of the Leelanau County Historic
Preservation Society

“Having read Thompsonville in Time, I visited the village whose story Charles Kraus tells through his informative text and numerous photographs. I remember stepping off a Chesapeake
and Ohio train in 1952 by the town’s distinctive “Diamond Crossing” of the C & O and Ann Arbor tracks. As enthusiastic as I then was about trains, I can only imagine the excitement that the two crossing railroads provided Thompsonville’s youth during the village’s halcyon days. An official marker and display of the crossing’s rails now represent the town’s unique historical feature. Kraus’ extensive research enabled him to provide readers a comprehensive view of the peaks and plateaus of this Midwestern community’s distinctive economic and social history.” – Jonathan P. Hawley, author, Guardians of the Manitou Passage:  A Chronicle of Service to Lake Michigan Mariners, 1840-1915

“In his thoroughly researched and delightfully illustrated Thompsonville in Time: A Northwest Michigan Story 1890-2021, Charles Kraus brings a fresh view to Thompsonville’s unique history which truly began late in the 19th century when two rail lines crossed in the middle of Benzie County Michigan.  Building on Bryce Gibbs’ earlier Thompsonville: A History, Kraus covers it all—all aspects of Thompsonville life, from work to play: its trains and depots, its early adoption of electric power and the repeated washouts of its earthen dams, its businesses and factories, its homes and its hotels, its parks and village fairs, its churches and saloons (though Benzie County went dry in the 1920sF), bringing to life a Thompsonville lost in the first half of the 20th century to the decline of the lumber industry and the railroads, and to other misfortunes.  (A fire in 1828 destroyed a large section of Thompsonville’s downtown including the famous Diamond Hotel.)  Notwithstanding, civic pride has kept Thompsonville going.  As Kraus writes: “Thompsonville is no longer a logging mecca or a railroad crossroads, yet the natural resources that sparked the growth of the area in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries abound and now beckon visitors and new residents to Benzie County, as well as to Thompsonville. The region has become a recreational destination, a place to reconnect with nature and enjoy the outdoors.” – John Fierst, Public Service Librarian (ret.), Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University

“Author Charles Kraus has put together an outstanding historic collection of the people and their lives using their words and historic photos of the history of Thompsonville in Benzie County. I particularly enjoyed reading about the adventures of the young man who would pay a nickel to ride the train from Thompsonville to Copemish. Thank you for keeping history alive for Thompsonville and Benzie County and its place in Michigan’s great history.” – Tom Truscott, Michigan Historical Commission