Lenawee County history: Irish Hills towers turn 100 years old this year

Dan Cherry
·3 min read

They still stand, two silent guards overlooking U.S. 12 in the Irish Hills.

If their walls could talk, the stories would be endless about the hundreds of thousands of footsteps that climbed to the top of the Irish Hills towers.

The Irish Hills towers, a competition between a landowner and a development company, were constructed 100 years ago this year. While closed, they still stand atop a hill along U.S. 12, silent guards to a century of changes and progress.
The Irish Hills towers, a competition between a landowner and a development company, were constructed 100 years ago this year. While closed, they still stand atop a hill along U.S. 12, silent guards to a century of changes and progress.

The shuttered tourist attraction turns 100 this year, and while the story of their coming into being has been oft told, there are still many who learn about the tower tale. This week, that story will be reviewed.

In 1923, there was initial talk by a local company about the idea of placing viewing platforms throughout the region for tourists to come see the countryside and lakes. While that specific plan fizzled, the Michigan Observation Co. also looked at the Irish Hills as an ideal place for observation towers. Those plans were announced in 1924, and places with high elevation were sought.

The first tower rose at Bundy Hill in Hillsdale County, with a second to follow in the Irish Hills, both along the highway known as M-23 — today’s U.S. 12. The observation company identified an orchard hill overlooking Iron Lake and made contact with landowner Ed Kelly, as he possessed the slightly higher part of the hill shared with Thomas Brighton. Kelly wasn’t interested in having his quiet piece of the countryside turned into a permanent tourist attraction. The Kellys already had plenty of visitors to the hill, with people stopping to climb to the top and take in the view. A tower just invited more traffic.

However, his neighbors, the Brightons, were enthusiastic about the project and signed over their stake in the land to Michigan Observation Co. After the Bundy Hill tower was completed in early September, work started on a near-identical platform, close to the property line shared by the Kelly family.

In a statement against “the establishment,” Kelly pulled together blueprints to have his own tower constructed. If the masses were coming anyway, he wanted in on the cash flow.

As the Michigan Observation Co. tower, the Irish Hills Observatory opened the first weekend in October 1924, the framework to Kelly’s “spite” tower was already beginning to rise. In a short period, two towers now stood side-by-side. Kelly’s was slightly higher, and over the course of a few months, the two went back and forth. One built another platform; the other responded with a higher top. The MOC threatened to take down their tower and build a steel monster that could not be matched. Kelly backed down and focused on drawing revenue with what he had.

Patronage at the Gray tower increased so much by July 1927 that a Sunday traffic officer was employed to dedicate time to safely directing and parking cars. To accommodate the increased flow of tourists, Kelly had the tower outfitted with a second 36-inch telescope.

The towers changed ownership a few times over the years, and in the early 1970s were overhauled as one entity, with identical observation platforms constructed. However, by the late 1990s, the magic seemed to have gone. At the end of the 2000 summer season, they quietly closed.

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A decade later, the towers were clearly in an advanced state of distress, and the owners had the rotting tops removed and capped. The siding was encapsulated with new metal siding, and the old windows replaced with historically similar panes. That satisfied the township as far as immediate preservation went.

However, without cash flow, the vision to restore the towers and reopen them as a museum attraction goes unrealized. A centennial observation is being considered, the owners said. Given the history of roadside attractions coming and going all over the country, it is a rarity the 1920s attraction still stands, rekindling the memories of passersbys who climbed to the top years ago to capture a view previously exclusive to birds in flight.

— Dan Cherry is a Lenawee County historian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee County history: Irish Hills towers turn 100 years old this year