The heart of the lake country was well-served by the trolleys in the early 1900s. No stop in the entire Detroit United Railway (DUR) trolley system was more popular than the Orchard Lake stop located here, where the parallel tracks of the Grand Trunk Railroad and the DUR trolleys crossed Seminary Road. Day-trippers from Detroit and elsewhere could walk to Orchard Lake for activities like swimming or fishing, or walk to Pine Lake to take a steam ferry to the Interlaken Hotel. The trolleys also brought cadets to the Michigan Military Academy for their classes and drills, until the academy closed in 1908.
Wayside Sign – Lakes and Attractions at the Orchard Lake Trolley Stop
Object ID: 2013-070-007
Date: 2013
Collection: Hotels, Orchard Lake, TransportationSubjects: Hotel, Wayside Sign
Wayside Sign – Sylvan Lake Inn: The Dream of Merrill B. Mills
Object ID: 2013-020-003
Date: 2013
People: Mills, Merrill B.
Collection: Hotels, Sylvan LakeSubjects: Wayside Sign
Merrill B. Mills had many plans in the early 1890s for his land around Sylvan Lake. His Sylvan Lake Improvement Association developed lakeside subdivisions and a resort hotel. He hired architect W. B. Stratton to design a resort hotel. The Sylvan Lake Inn was built in 1893 on this Point, including a dance pavilion, bowling alley, billiard parlor and riding stables. To make it easier to visit, in 1895 Mills built an electric trolley line along Garland Avenue linking the Inn to Pontiac. Festivities were followed by financial difficulties, and the Inn burned to the ground in 1903.
Orchard Lake Hotel
Object ID: 2003-007-027
Date: 1908
Collection: HotelsSubjects: postcard
Orchard Lake Hotel (1908)