The view from the second story of the Post Office: dirt roads and the Anderson Dock. – Courtesy Omena Historical Society
This is a story of tragic deaths, a disabled child, land barons, and a postmaster who came and went and came again… and the Omena Post Office.
In this photo you can see the sloped roof of the second story of the Post Office building. This might have been bedrooms for Jeannette’s little family. You must stand in the middle or you risk a head bump. – Courtesy Omena Historical Society
In 1881 Jeannette and Hiram Ballard owned considerable timber land, at least 770 acres around Mougey and Bass Lakes. They lived in Evanston, Illinois with their 2 sons. Harry, who was mentally disabled, and Charles, who was four years younger than Harry,
In Evanston in May of 1883 the father Hiram died, leaving Jeannette a widow with two little boys, Charles age 3 and 7 year old Harry.
Jeanette heads north to Omena
Jeannette had lived in Northport for a time in the early 1870’s and knew the area well. After Hiram died, needing a change of scenery, Jeannette headed north to the clear blue waters and peace and quiet of the area, with her two little boys in tow. Where would she live? She rented the newly finished Post Office building in Omena from the Andersons (while still maintaining her winter residence in Evanston). It was just the right size for her little family. They moved in.
Around the same time Sidney Keyes also owned considerable land. He held at least 110 acres south of Omena, which he used for timber, farming, and a trading post and house. This was prime land along Omena Bay which, as it happened, adjoined the Keyes property. From 1881-1887 Sidney also was the Omena postmaster. He did his job out of his trading post, and he knew just about everyone in the village.
Tragedy hits again
Then in October 1886, another tragedy hit Jeannette’s little family. Little Charles, now 8 years old, died, leaving Jeannette alone with her disabled son Harry. Again, Jeannette needed a change of scenery. While still maintaining her rental from the Anderson’s in Omena, she and little Harry went to stay with her mother, Mrs. Emmeline Braman in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. She kept her little home in the Post Office building for the next three years. She may have returned there in the summer.
Omena Post Office when it was an Ice Cream Parlor C.1915 – Courtesy Omena Historical Society
Time passes, and then in 1889 there is news that Jeannette and Sidney, now 49 and a confirmed bachelor, have gotten married on Christmas Eve in Pawtucket, where Jeannette had been staying with her mother. They returned to Omena where Sidney, described as “a genial, whole-souled gentleman,” has been offered a job as Superintendent of The Cincinnati Resort a summer resort complex later called the Hotel Leelanau (originally the old mission school up on Omena Heights). And Sidney returns once more to the job of Postmaster of the Omena Post Office.
So the Omena Post Office building had changed from home, to drug store, to blind pig, to ice cream parlor and gift shop, to summer Post Office, and finally to Omena’s permanent full time Post Office.
Courtesy Omena Historical Society, Omena, A Place In Time, History of Leelanau Township, Leelanau Historical Society, Julia Barnes letter from Mark Frank, and Marsha Buehler for her extensive research
“When I was still a small child, if my memory hasn’t played tricks on me, people named Key lived there. Mrs. Keyes was a widow named Ballard when she married Mr. Keyes. I think his first name was Sidney. Mrs. Keyes (Ballard) had a son who was mentally retarded…At one timer there was a so called drug-store in the house you are interested in that was really a ‘blind pig’. I don’t think that lasted long.” Letter to Betty Armstrong from Julia Barnes about the Post Office building. – Courtesy Mark Frank
