Preliminary Historic District Study Committee Report, Market and Main (Huron) Historic District, City of Mackinac Island, Michigan, 2011

From introduction: "On June 30, 2010, Mackinac Island City Council appointed a study committee to study a downtown historic district. The study area was defined as follows: the downtown district of Mackinac Island bounded by Market Street from Fort Street to Main Street; Main Street from Fort Street to the school; Mahoney Avenue from Main Street to Cadotte Avenue; Cadotte Avenue from Mahoney Avenue to Market Street; the entire cross streets between those streets listed above and all properties on both sides of the above mentioned streets... The proposed Market and Main (Huron) Historic District is located at the southwestern end of Mackinac Island along the shore of Haldimand Bay. The district consists of the oldest and densest portion of the village on Mackinac Island. It retains the street plan laid out by the British around 1780. Market Street served as the town’s main street. Three short cross streets, today Astor Street, Hoban Street, and French Lane, connected Market Street to Huron Street (now Main Street) and the lakeshore. Fort Street separated the east end of town from the government grounds below the fort. Today Market Street is a mixture of commercial, residential, and civic uses (photo 1). Most of Mackinac Island’s commercial buildings, interspersed with hotels, are on Huron Street (photo 2), with a few on Astor (photo 3) and Hoban streets (photo 4). Only two houses and a church front Fort Street (photo 5); Marquette Park is on the east side. French Lane (photo 6) is residential. Haldimand Bay has historically been the primary access point for Mackinac Island. Two rock breakwaters (one within the district) built in 1913 extend into the straits to protect the bay on each side. Within the district, four boat docks serve three commercial ferry boat lines. The two longest docks, the Arnold Terminal Passenger Dock and the nearby Union Freight Dock (photo 7)—both owned by Union Terminal Piers—date to the late nineteenth century; they replaced and possibly incorporate earlier docks. Large frame warehouses on the docks portray the utilitarian aspect of the waterfront’s history." Project funding was provided in part by a 2010 Historic Preservation Fund grant to the City of Mackinac Island (project number MI-10-037) administered by the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office (grant number 26-10-21929) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Preliminary Historic District Study Committee Report, Market and Main (Huron) Historic District, City of Mackinac Island, Michigan, 2011

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