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Welcome to the Laird Township Historical Society

Houghton  County, Michigan

About LTHS
History of Laird Twp.
About Laird Township

Who we are:

We're an infomal group of volunteers who operate a small museum dedicated to the preservation and display of items relating to the history of Laird Township.
Where we're located:
Our museum is located on Alston Avenue, 1/4 mile north of Highway M-38 in Alston, Michigan.  Park in the lot just beyond the town hall, which will be on the left side of the road if you're heading north.  The museum is accessed by a short gravel trail from the parking lot.
Museum hours:
Since we're a small volunteer group, we usually don't have set hours of operation.  However, to tour the museum, or to find out more about it, you may contact:

Phil Faucher (906) 334-2918
Pat Spencer (906) 338-2771
Doug Welker (906) 338-2680 or dwelker@up.net

Here are some photos of the museum:

Trail leading to the museum, museum in background
The museum was once the Maronen School, a one-room schoolhouse which was then located several miles from its current home.  It later served as a hunting camp, was moved to the Louko farm on North Laird Road, and was finally moved to town.  It was donated to the historical society in 1988 by Elna Louko in memory of Eddie Louko. Here's a view of the interior of the old schoolhouse when it was still on the Louko farm.
Here we are moving the old schoolhouse onto a concrete slab in Alston.
Interior of the museum, after renovation but before displays were added
More photos will be added at a later date.
 

History of Laird Township

This section will be under construction for a while.

Much of the township's history prior to 1987 has been chronicled in the book A View of the Century Past: Laird Township Centennial, 1887-1987, which was published for the Laird Twp. centennial celebration.  This book is now out of print, but it can be viewed in our museum, at the Houghton County Historical Society Museum in Lake Linden, at the J.R. Van Pelt Library at Michigan Technological University, and in several other places.

Some information from that book will appear here at a later date.
 


Laird Township

Lots of info on Laird Township will appear here at a later date, including maps, photos of places and things within the township, etc.

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Doug Welker's home page

Last edited: March 31, 1999