Omena History

The Clovers freshly converted from a Trading Post by Sidney Keyes, Postmaster from 1881-1887, and 1894-1898. The Clovers opened in 1898. – Courtesy Omena Historical Society. Isn’t it strange that Omena’s Postmaster changed from Keyes to Anderson to Keyes to Anderson. Why did that happen? Is it because of who was president at the time? Was it a presidential appointment? That is part of the story. But there is more to the story than that. In 1881 when Keyes first became Omena’s Postmaster, James Garfield, a Republican, held the presidency …but he was assassinated a year later. His corrupt and… Read More »

There was a fascination with the idea of German escaped prisoners and spies that might be hiding out on Omena Point during both of the World Wars. Mary Louis Vail remembered a play the cottagers of Ingalls Bay put on back then using a blanket strung between two trees behind the Saxon house for the curtain. Elizabeth and Betty Saxon played the leading roles in the spy thriller which took place, of course, on Omena Point. However all that Mary Louis remembered about this play is one line: the heroine is strolling down a path through the woods when she… Read More »

The 6th Fairway of the Omena Golf course looking east toward the sand green Courtesy Omena Historical Society Omena lacked for almost nothing in the 1920’s. It had “swimming, sailing, fishing, motoring, dancing, and tennis” according to an old Sunset Lodge ad. What it did not have was a golf course. Several Omena men wanted more than boats and model T cars to tinker with on warm summer afternoons. So they got permission in 1924 from John Santo, owner of a scrubby pasture between Mougeys Lake and the property line of Smiths Orchard to build one there. After the first… Read More »

Ernie Barth and his sister Irene in 1936 or 37. This is the oldest known photo taken inside the Barth store according to Ernie’s son Wayne, who donated this photo. Around the turn of the 20th century, Paul and Christina Barth had a son who would grow to be the future of the Omena Country Store. Little Ernie Barth was one of four children. He and his sister and brothers, Robert, William, and Irene, grew up very much a part of the life of the store and the village. Ernie goes off to War When he was a young man… Read More »

Barth store and home circa 1915-1925 – Courtesy Omena Historical Society Once upon a time, when big steamers pulled up to the docks in Omena and horses and wagons met them to carry their cargo to the local stores, stores sold all the things which the people could not grow or make themselves, and only that. Fresh meat and produce were brought in by the local farmers to trade for shoes, cloth, cooking utensils, hardware and many other things that they couldn’t produce themselves. Orders were filled over the counter, the store keepers measured and weighed and wrapped the purchases…. Read More »

Martha Rule, Janet Graph, and Jack Stevenson on the beach with their dog. Courtesy Omena Historical Society The people of early Omena and surrounding areas loved their dogs. At least most of them did. Dogs went everywhere with their owners: the beach, the store, the train station, and they didn’t seem to be kept behind fences or on leashes. Dogs in Mrs. Dougherty Kitchen! Mrs. Dougherty had mixed feelings about dogs, especially when large packs of them ran rampant through her kitchen while she was trying to cook. “Maria Dougherty was at the mercy of every traveler and visitor, expected… Read More »

Church Picnic ca. 1900 – Courtesy “Omena, A Place in Time” by Amanda Holmes Did the people just get up in church one Sunday morning during the sermon and storm out of the little white Presbyterian Mission Church because the sermon was boring, or too long, and then form a new church? Did they not like the preacher? Or was it just too tiresome for them to sit through the sermon twice, once in English, and then once translated into Anishinaabe (the local Indians’ language)? Why on April 18, 1886 did the people of the little hamlet of Omena decide… Read More »