While doing research for these columns on Cheboygan County, I noticed something unusual. Three of our nation’s great men chose Cheboygan County for their vacations and to relax in. And what place could offer them more beauty and nearby scenic attractions than our own county? Let’s take a look at each of these three great men.

In 1928, a big, genial, moon-faced, pug-nosed, and tireless ball-of-fire named Lou Russell Maxon, set up his own advertising agency in Detroit at the age of 27.

Lou was born in Marietta, Ohio but he grew up in Onaway, Michigan. His father was a mill mechanic. Lou founded Maxon, Inc., which became one of the greatest advertising agencies in the United States. The Maxon Agency was one of the first to use sports to reach national radio and television audiences for advertising. His agency advertised for some of the largest companies in the United States. This included Heinz, General Electric, Packard, Pittsbury Glass, Gillette, and others. Time called his firm the largest in the Midwest. His personal income was the 53rd largest in the United States. He became a philanthropist and supported many charities. He gifted Rochester and helped it to grow.

He never forgot his home town of Onaway. When our nation’s greatest depression hit, he paid the grocery bills for the needy in Onaway and he contributed much to his hometown’s needs. I was a child at that time. Every 4th of July, he paid Onaway’s ice cream parlors to give a free ice cream cone to every child who entered the store. I always got mine. Ice cream was a rare treat in depression days.

Lou purchased a mile of lake frontage on Black Lake and the surrounding area, located in Waverly Township, Cheboygan County. Here he built a complex which gave free vacations to his employees and famous people, including Hollywood movie stars like Shirley Temple. There was entertainment for everyone.

His complex included a large lodge, which had a huge dining and relaxing room where guests could eat and enjoy one another’s company. There was a huge kitchen. The excellent chef was a person of color, who was assisted by eight maids. The maids slept upstairs in a large dormitory.

The complex had many guest cabins, which the maids cleaned, plus a very large one for Lou’s family. On pleasant Sunday mornings, the chef prepared a gourmet breakfast for everyone that was transported to a picnic area on the other side of Black River road, perhaps a half mile away. The maids served all of the guests who came (I was one of the maids). Lou treated the maids grandly, paying for college for some of them.

When Lou was older, he suffered a stroke that severely debilitated his mental capacities. He died at age 70 and was buried in Waverly Township, Cheboygan County, Michigan. The Black Lake property was given to the United Auto Workers.

Since 1935, the United Auto Workers (UAW) for progressive policies and programs had given millions of Americans the opportunity to realize the American Dream. Walter Reuther became its president. He proposed, in 1966, that the UAW build a worker education center for union members. It was approved, and the site for it was the Maxon on Black Lake in Cheboygan County.

This new center was fabulously built. It has twelve classrooms, a 350-seat lecture hall, and a dining room which could serve 400 guests, buffet style. One can still find the rustic lodge where I worked, and secluded hilltop chalets and traditional hotel-style rooms. There are 228 sleeping rooms which can be occupied by 350 people. There are also condominiums and apartments. Guests could use the golf course and restaurant, located on the grounds.

The UAW Complex was valued for $34 million dollars. And no taxes had to be paid on it! But troubles were coming. National recessions and changes in the union brought looming financial problems. And a great tragedy occurred. Walter Reuther had been the driving force behind the building of the Black Lake Complex. He and his wife, Mae and four others were killed in a plane crash at Pellston Airport, where they were en route to the UAW Center, which was 30 miles away. It was Cheboygan’s ambulance, owned by Harold Ireland, that retrieved their bodies.

The Complex was then named for Walter and his wife. It continues to operate today, a memorial to a great man who chose Cheboygan County to bring about massive changes for the automobile workers of our nation.

The third great man who chose Cheboyan County was Benson Ford, of Ford Motor Company. He was friends with Mr. Crusoe, a financial manager for General Motors, who had chosen Cheboygan’s Aloha Township area for his home and large farm. Benson Ford was on his yacht in Duncan Bay, near Cheboygan City, visiting his friend, when he died at age 59. He was vice president of Ford Motor Company and CEO of the Lincoln-Mercury Division of that company. Benson supported many charity and civic organizations. And he spent his final days vacationing
in Cheboygan County!

To all of my readers, I wish a blessed Easter. I hope that you enjoy Cheboygan County as much as I do.