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.
An 1898 photo of Sidney Keyes at a picnic. – Courtesy Omena Historical Society
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 bumbling vice-president Chester A. Arthur became president. He was dumped by his party when the next election came around. You might think Keyes was a Republican at this point.
But in 1885 the first Democrat to win the presidency 30 years, Grover Cleveland, was elected President in a mudslinging and shameful campaign that “eclipsed substantive issues” according to Wikipedia. Keyes still held on to his job as Postmaster for two more years.
Anderson becomes Postmaster
By 1887 however, the Republicans were in control again with President Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889 and again 1893-1897. Elected twice. This administration must have liked Andrew Anderson. He became Postmaster two years after Cleveland first took office in 1887 and kept the job until 1914 with only a four year break in 1894 when the Democrats took the White House again. Between 1894 and 1898 Keyes got the job back again. This was most of Democrat Grover Cleveland’s second term.
It would appear that first of all being Postmaster was a valued position. After all, it paid a steady, if miserly, income which was important for people who held jobs that were seasonally affected.
And it would appear that most of the time, Keyes was appointed during Democratic administrations, and Anderson had the job when Republicans were in power in the White House.
This is not too surprising when you consider by 1880 Anderson had become a prominent citizen in Omena. He was loquacious, and the proprietor of a busy store which made a natural place to discuss and orchestrate politics. He became Supervisor of Leelanau Township, and served as State Representative of the Leelanau-Benzie District by 1915. According to Spragues History of Leelanau county, Anderson was “an acknowledged leader of the Republican party in his section of the state.”
Sidney Keyes
But just look at Sidney Keyes‘ life for a minute. His life was a staggering climb to the success as the owner of the resort, “The Clovers”.
His father died in September of 1880, and in 1884 Sidney left Omena with his sister Mrs. Richardson to take his mother back to a sister in Iowa. By 1886 Sidney was back in Omena for some business changes. He and his business partner, C. H. Litney, dissolved their partnership. And during all that time, Sidney was Postmaster of Omena, sorting out mail in the wooden boxes he had constructed for that purpose. He must have had help.
A. F. Anderson, Postmaster 1887-94, and 1898-1914. – Courtesy Omena Historical Society
Then in 1887 he had to turn the job over to Andrew Anderson. Was Keyes upset over losing the Postmaster job to Anderson in 1887? Maybe so. The very elaborate individual box system for the mail Sidney had built while it was at his Trading Post was moved during the winter of 1887 to the new Post Office. It was dragged over the ice to Anderson’s store when Andrew Anderson became postmaster. Frank Craker had the job of transferring the post office boxes, and his daughter Ruth remembers that disastrous day: “After starting out with this peculiar load over the ice, the horses became frightened and ran away. The reins were strung through the stamp window, and by the time the horses could be brought under control, the mail was scattered over the ice, the stamps scattered to the winds, and the letter compartments much the worse of wear!” Had Sidney been a better loser, he could have put the postal boxes on a sleigh pulled by those same horses and traveled on snowy roads safely to Anderson’s Store.
Sidney gets married
A couple of years pass, then in 1889 there is news that Jeannette Ballard and Sidney (now 49 and never married) have been wedded on Christmas Eve in Pawtucket, Rhode Island where Jeannette is staying with her mother. Sidney, who is described as “a genial, whole-souled gentleman,” is next offered a job as Superintendent of The Leelanau Hotel, and then….in 1894 Sidney becomes Omena’s Postmaster again, for the second time.
Sidney and Jeannette spend the following years transforming his old trading post and home south of town into a “quintessential Victorian Summer Resort”…the Clovers, which opened in 1898. Located on a slight elevation overlooking Grand Traverse Bay it was appropriately named. According to “ a History of Leelanau Township”, “Its 22 acres were covered with clover blossoms, and the air was filled with their fragrance. And, no surprise, Sidney retires from his Postmaster position to be a full time Inn Keeper.
Courtesy: Omena, A Place in Time, Omena Historical Society, Sprague’s History of Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties, A History of Leelanau Township by the Leelanau Township Historical Writers Group, The Guardian for presidential names and parties, and Marsha Buehler for getting me started.