Looking Back: There's always someone famous in Charlevoix

One hundred years ago, Charlevoix played host to a federal judge, appointed by Theodore Roosevelt, who had gained national recognition two years prior when he became the United States’ first baseball commissioner.

The Charlevoix Sentinel, June 8, 1922, regarding the seasonal reopening of the large Hallett Hotel, located on the site of present-day Oleson’s: “That people of renown and more than ordinary celebrity patronize and enjoy this hostelry, is evidenced by the fact that Judge K(enesaw). M(ountain). Landis (1866-1944) was one of the early guests of the season, that he was pleased with the place is certain for he spoke in appreciative terms of the pleasant surroundings and courteous attention paid to other guests and himself.

“It is a well known fact that Judge Landis is not profuse with complimentary expressions. Years of experience on the Federal bench in the handling of cases where compliments are of rare occurrence, where such phrases are practically obsolete, no doubt has much to do with his infrequent use of compliments, hence his open expression to the hotel management was considered as out of the ordinary and duly appreciated.

“Other persons of note will patronize Hallett’s Inn and express themselves in words of praise concerning the many excellent qualities of the place; those that have been or that will be made, the one by Judge Landis will be the most pronounced, standing out like some of the famous decisions made by him while on the federal bench.”

Those decisions included, in 1907, fining Standard Oil of Indiana $29 million, the equivalent of $800 million today, for railroad tariff irregularities, which judgement was reversed on appeal. But Landis had established himself as one tough Federal judge to deal with. His most famous case was throwing eight members of the Chicago White Sox out of baseball in 1920 for having thrown the 1919 World Series that allowed the less favored Cincinnati Reds to win. This action made Landis the main candidate for the office of first baseball commissioner, which position he held from 1920 until his death, during which he did much to clean up the national pastime. The book and movie “Eight Men Out” were based upon the fixing scandal and Landis.

That same Sentinel issue reported the imminent arrival of a new film at the Palace theater called “The Iron Trail,” based upon a book by famed adventure novelist Rex Beach. Author Beach was born on a farm south of Charlevoix near Atwood. Watch for a sign designating Rex Beach Road on the right just before you hit the village. 

Fifty years ago, the Charlevoix Courier reported that we and all of our neighboring towns were being ushered into the modern era whether we liked it or not.

“Direct Dial System Starts Here Sunday. This means that telephone users will be able to dial station-to-station long distance calls without the assistance of an operator. Michigan Bell says subscribers will save from 20 per cent to 40 per cent on every long distance call they make within Michigan under the direct dial system.”

Some old-timers, however, expressed regret at not hearing a human voice on the other end of the line every time they needed to place a long distance call. Something human indeed had been lost in the deal.

And that a new highway system layout was being discussed. State highway officials were thinking of merging U.S. 31 and U.S. 131 southeast of Traverse City. It would swing northeast to Mancelona, “follow the present route of U.S. 131 through Boyne Falls and Walloon Lake, bypass Petoskey to the east and then parallel I-75 to the Straits.”

This routing would allegedly “solve more traffic problems than any other route.” There had even been unofficial discussions of bridging the South Arm of Lake Charlevoix at Ironton.

“All communities served by the new route would have ‘spurs’ leading to their business districts from the new highway.” Obviously and thankfully, this scheme came nowhere near to implementation.

Plus the more things change, the more they remain the same. Charlevoix Courier headline, June 7, 1972: “GOP Faction Routs Regulars. New Republicans Usurp Convention. A group of ‘new Republicans,’ most of whom never before attended a meeting of the Charlevoix County GOP, seized control of the Republican Convention in the County Courthouse Wednesday night, electing their own chairman and vice chairman. However, Old Guard Republicans called in absent delegates during an early caucus, mustering enough support to elect their own slate of delegates to the State Convention. The new group arrived at the meeting with a carefully planned strategy on how to take control of the convention.”

Have we not been reading variants thereof for the last many months? Will these games of political oneupsmanship never, or ever, end? 

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Looking Back: There's always someone famous in Charlevoix