Fire!

By JULIE BERRY TRAYNOR

Cleaver Guest Writer

News of the fires raging in California is foremost in the minds of many these days. What we see on our screens is so much worse than we can imagine. Many of us cannot imagine the scope of the inferno. There is fire experience and stories of loss in all communities and in most families. We all know fire stories, be it witnessing a building burn or the personal loss of a home. My grandparents’ house burned from a chimney fire in 1933. For my dad and his siblings, as long as they lived, time was divided between before and after the house burned. 

Clare County is no stranger to fire. During the course of Michigan’s history forest fires raged periodically, consuming thousands of acres. Logging operations could be both responsible for, and the victims of, fires. The coming of the railroads also increased wildfires. Countless homes and businesses were lost because of wood stove or chimney fires, and many schoolhouses went up in smoke. Winterfield’s first Grandon School, a wooden structure, was lost in 1912. The school was replaced in 1914 with a cobblestone structure which stands today. 

Temple lost its first train depot in a fire caused by a Pere Marquette steam engine. Temple also suffered the loss of two school buildings, a township hall and several businesses in her history. Last year saw three structure fires, one with loss of life. 

In August 1921 wildfires were consuming many acres across northern Clare, eastern Missaukee, and Roscommon counties. In that hot and dry season sparks flew and ignited more fires far ahead of the flames. The Winterfield Township Hall, located at the corner of Cook and Haskell Lake roads, in the center of the township, was set ablaze by flying embers as the fire neared the Clam River. 

Miles s Davis was the Supervisor at that time and lived across the road from the hall. Due to some recent issues and security concerns, not to mention the nearing fires, Davis took the township books and records to his house, thus saving them. The township board met at the Davis school, located a half a mile to the west. 

Early in 1922 the township board voted to spend $2,000 to build a new hall structure, 24’x48’x12’ on the same corner site. It was completed by late summer and was of the basic hall design, one large room, numerous windows and double doors at the front, and originally, a pot-bellied stove to the back for heating. It was furnished with tables and chairs. The toilet was out back. Thus equipped, the hall enjoyed steady use for township business, voting, meetings, family gatherings, funerals, and club meetings for sixty years. 

In 1982 the board voted to bring the hall up to date. The entry was moved, creating storage for township records and equipment, and making the building more accessible. The room at the west end of the hall was made for a restroom, utility room housing a new furnace, and a small but convenient kitchen. In several years ago a metal roof was installed. Most recently the kitchen was completely redone, replacing 1980s cabinetry and appliances. The interior walls received new paint just last year.

The one square acre the hall sits on has changed too. Trees were planted. A swing set was installed in memory of the late Ines Keehn Brocht, township clerk for 22 years. And a regulation flagpole was given in memory of longtime resident, native, and former township board member, Lucille Richardson Prielipp. The hall also hosts a square on the Clare County Quilt Trail.

Many changes have come to the soon to be 103-year-old hall. It has been a good investment for our community, used and visited by countless folks. Today, the hall sees nearly weekly use, in one form or another. Free internet is available from the parking lot as well as a registered Little Library. Both are used by many.

One thing everyone has agreed upon, and always has, is the floor. The Winterfield Twp. Hall is the possessor of an outstanding, original, honey-colored, narrow board, hardwood floor. It was refinished in 1982 and remains a source of pride for our community.

There was talk about 15 years ago about adding to the hall, moving it, or tearing it down and building a new one. This was happening to halls all around us. After some spirited debate, the residents of the township spoke. It was decided that we like the hall as it is. No new hall and no debt for one. An update would suit us just fine. And it does.