The cabin that opened twice

Cassopolis, Mich. On 1 June 1923, nine days after the first log went down, the South Bend News-Times told its readers they would “have a new spot to visit after June 20.” The walls of the Pioneer Log Cabin were up to the second story. Everything had been given: “the stone, cement and gravel for the fireplaces, the logs, and sheeting and waterproof roofing for the roof,” and the carpenters and masons gave their time. On 23 May the paper had said the cabin would serve as a headquarters and as a home for “antiques gathered by the historical society.”

Documented The dedication, 20 June 1923. Pioneer Day was reported as “the revival of the Cass County Pioneer picnic,” with former U.S. Senator William Alden Smith as principal speaker, and “dedication of the new pioneer cabin on the banks of Stone lake was a feature of the program.” The cabin’s own history adds a log-riding contest on the lake, and souvenir log chips, postcards and badges sold to help pay the bills.

New finding The grand opening, 17 October 1923. In September a country news column in the News-Times announced: “Wednesday, October 17, is the grand opening day for the completed log cabin in Cassopolis, and all the pioneer relics.” Documented The cabin was soon in use. In an item dated 23 October came word of “commemoration services for the Log Cabin memorial” at two o’clock the following Sunday, with a poem by Ralph Scoles Thomas and a song, “Old Log Cabin.” “The cabin will be open all day.” In November a “Niles Day” at the cabin was announced.

Documented The museum, 18 June 1924. The next Pioneer Day, the third Wednesday of June, was also “the first anniversary of the dedication.” The cabin’s history records that the museum collection kept in the Court House lobby “was moved to the log cabin and incorporated into the display,” and that “the museum opened on Pioneer Day June 18, 1924.” The News-Times counted “more than 5,000 persons”; another report gave between six and eight thousand.

Documented The cabin opened in debt. In April 1924 the Society had “more than 2,000 members,” and the picnic’s proceeds were to go toward “a deficit on the cabin.” Harmon’s open letter put it plainly: “June 1st this year, our remaining obligations were $1200.” The village had bought the ground the year before and would give the Society a lease-deed, free, once the bills were paid. So he platted the grounds into 1,212 “souvenir” lots, each one foot by three, at a dollar apiece; every buyer signed a certificate giving the lot back to the Society, dated “the first anniversary of the Dedication of the Pioneer Log Cabin this Third Wednesday of June, A. D. 1924.” On 18 August he wrote to 728 subscribers. Receipts, with what was already on hand, came to “about one thousand dollars, as a number pay five to ten dollars for their lot.” “All my time and work,” he added, “is donated.”

Reading So the walls were up to the second story by 1 June 1923, with roofing given, and the cabin was called “completed” by October. The relics seem to have been planned for the October opening, but the cabin’s own record mentions the move of the Court House collection only beside the June 1924 opening.

Open No account of 17 October 1923 itself has been found, so we cannot say exactly when the relics crossed from the Court House to the lake. Nor do we know whether the last of the debt was cleared and the “Hallelujah Day” Harmon promised was ever held, or whether the bound book of lot certificates he planned was ever made.