Maude the train – Courtesy of Omena Historical Society.
There were two Maude’s in early Leelanau Township. One was a train.
This early train was slow, dusty, and FRIENDLY. It stopped if someone along the way needed help. It would back up if you forgot something. If a person could not get to the depot, the train would stop anywhere along the line where a passenger was waiting. Several times the train spotted a fire along the way and blew and blew its whistle to alert people.
Customer reply card to Solle’s Bookshop (1941) – Courtesy Leelanau Historical society
During the thirties and forties, the train, with its old locomotive, was affectionately called Maude…a name given to it by Will Solle, proprietor of Solle’s Bookshop in Omena.
Maud the Donkey
But there was another Maud. Around 1920, G. M. Dame of Northport bought his children a dark- colored donkey named “Maud”. He also acquired a cart so that the children could be taken for rides. Like all donkeys, Maud was sometimes stubborn and had to be coaxed into pulling the cart, but generally she was liked by everyone, children, and grownups alike. She took her time to get to where she was going, like Maude the train.
Dames donkey “Maud” – Photo credit: A History of Leelanau Township
One Halloween night, some mischief makers decided to lead Maud from her stable and put her on the upper deck of the village bandstand. Next morning , there she was for all to see and hear. Her mournful bray could be heard all over town. How she got there was course a mystery, the perpetrators of the deed were not about to own up. And Dame decided to leave her there and let the mischief makers take her down.
For several days she stayed there, fed and watered by visitors who came to console her. Then, one dark night, Maud was taken down and brought back to her stable, perhaps by the same kids who kidnapped her. She was none the worse for wear, and the children were happy to have Maud home again. And her fame grew throughout the area.
Could Maud the donkey be the namesake of Maude the train?
Courtesy A History of Leelanau Township – Story by Christine Garthe