Local residents aim to bring Brimley history to life
By Michael C. Guilmette Jr.
Staff Reporter
BRIMLEY — With over 100 years of history, the town of Brimley has made a significant contribution to the region. In an effort to show the influence the small northern town has had over the years, members of the Brimley/Bay Mills Historical Society have formed a task force to turn the old warehouse located in downtown Brimley into a museum.
Harold Passmore and his wife Mary, the owners of the warehouse property, are strongly committed to making the dream of a museum a reality. The committee of which they are part organized recently, but the idea for the museum has been around for some time.
Passmore, a life-long resident of Brimley, said that during the Brimley Centennial in 1982 they opened up the warehouse and set up displays of historical artifacts from around the area. The response from the public was overwhelming, as some 2,500 visitors toured the building during the few days that it was open.
Passmore also said that he envisions the museum highlighting the industries that drew people to settle in the area in the late Nineteenth Century — particularly, fishing, logging and farming. Among his collection of artifacts are period tools, such as lumber saws, hand seeders, a brick maker and a paper and hay hand press.
Also in the collection are a variety of items that demonstrate how people lived in the early 1900s, such as an icebox, a hand-powered coffee bean grinder, household tools and even a soda/acid firefighting apparatus.
The warehouse itself was built in the early 1920s and measures 150 feet long by 30 feet wide. It sits alongside where the railway ran through town and it took delivery from six freight trains every day. It has fallen into a state of disrepair over the years, but Passmore said that the structure is sound. He added that one of the first tasks will be to renovate the building and repair the roof.
The committee presently has six members, but the Passmores said that the members would like to see that number grow to seven to nine, and they would like involvement from the Bay Mills community as well as from Bay Mills and Superior Townships. The committee is looking into getting grants to help fund the project and they are also working to get the warehouse onto the Register of Historical Buildings for the State of Michigan.
Passmore is very knowledgeable of the history of Brimley, being the third generation to live in the area. His grandfather, William Orr, came to Brimley in 1889 as a sawyer, and later established a farm on the land that the high school presently sits. His other grandfather, John C. Jenson, settled in Brimley around 1900 and delivered rural mail for many years before becoming a justice of the peace, a post he served in until his death in 1951.
Passmore's interest in Brimley history goes hand in hand with his hobby — woodworking. Passmore has made several carvings depicting life in Brimley around the turn of the century, including horse-drawn snow plows, gravel spreaders, sleighs and wagons. His centerpiece, however, is a miniature model of 1900s Brimley, showing the locations of the warehouse, the general stores, the train depot, the town jail and Brimley's six saloons.
