For over 80 years, the governor’s official summer residence on Mackinac Island has provided Michigan governors with a quiet, relaxed setting to host political business away from the hustle and pressures of the Capitol building.
Originally built in 1901 for the Young family of Chicago, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission purchased the residence in 1944. The acquisition was orchestrated by long-time park commissioner Wilfrid Doyle, the so-called “King of Mackinac Island.” During the legislative season, Doyle worked as a lobbyist in the state Capitol – a useful profession for promoting Mackinac amongst state officials.
Governor Harry Kelly was planning a nationwide governors’ conference to take place on Mackinac in the summer of 1945, and Doyle decided the Governor needed better accommodation for the event. Up to this point, when governors sojourned to the island they would often stay at one of the historic, but very modest, officer’s quarters at Fort Mackinac.
Doyle managed to get a 15-thousand-dollar appropriation from the legislature for the Park Commission to purchase the cottage. He also got permission to use prison labor to make extensive repairs and updates to the building. The construction was done just in time for Kelly’s conference, and trips to the summer residence became a gubernatorial tradition.
Many of Michigan’s chief executives have left their mark on the island and the residence itself. Governor Soapy Williams and his family enjoyed their Mackinac visits so much they purchased their own island cottage after he left office in 1960. Governor John Swainson, who lost his legs below the knee serving in WWII, had an elevator installed in the residence in 1961.
Michigan’s first Lady Helen Milliken personally redesigned the gardens on the property during her husband William Milliken’s 1969-1982 tenure. In 1983, James and Paula Blanchard opened the residence up to the public for the first time through weekly tours.
