Wayside Sign – The Great Escape: Traveling to Sylvan Lake

The world got bigger for most people around 1900. Trolleys and automobiles appeared in southeast Michigan around then, and more people could enjoy distant places. Travel time from Detroit to Sylvan Lake’s natural beauty and attractions was slashed to about an hour. In the early 1890s, entrepreneur Merrill B. Mills planned hundreds of acres of his property at Sylvan Lake as streets, subdivisions and the luxurious Sylvan Lake Inn. Even more boldly, he created a local link to the regional trolley system, inviting visitors and investors to the community he was creating.