A Traverse City Pioneer Family's Home Could Be Saved

The first school teacher in Traverse City’s family home on Randolph Street just might be saved after quick thinking by Gary Wilson. When visiting the area a few years ago, Wilson noticed improvements being made to Hickory Hills Ski Area, and the Owosso resident became concerned that the work could damage what was left of his old family farmstead. So he reached out to the Traverse Area Historical Society (TAHS) when he returned home. “I contacted Peg Siciliano and she was interested,” he says.

Wilson saw the opportunity to preserve the foundations of his family’s farmhouse not simply as a vanity project, but as a chance to safeguard Traverse City history. He believed the remnants of the home of his great-great grandparents Thomas and Helen Hitchcock on Randolph Street were worth saving. Thomas was an early employee of Hannah Lay & Co., as well as superintendent of East Bay mill and an owner of a general store and blacksmith shop. Helen was the area’s first schoolteacher and daughter of the town’s first doctor.

“A couple years ago when I was up there, I saw work at Hickory Hills. I noticed some was getting close to the foundation,” Wilson says. “I wondered if anyone would have interest in preserving the foundation."

Siciliano says the group also saw the foundation as having historical significance. She and Matt Groleau, another member of the TAHS, met with Wilson. They too see the connection to area pioneer families as something worth saving. The foundation itself is relatively small, and preserving it and adding a path, seating on a couple benches, and signage noting its significance would be relatively inexpensive.

“The renovation there (at Hickory Hills) means it’s now easy to access. It’s a short walk along the disc golf course to the spot,” says Groleau.

The TAHS reached out to the city. Derek Melville, parks & recreation superintendent for Traverse City, says he doesn’t see any problem with the project as it was presented to him. “I don’t see any hurdles. Such a low-impact idea to me makes perfect sense,” he says.

Melville says the site is near where cross-country skiers get started for the new trail and is in close proximity to the first disc golf hole. “It’s a great spot for a bench in general,” says Melville.

Wilson’s family ties go back almost to the city’s founding. Wilson says David Goodale moved his family, including his daughter Helen, to Traverse City from Vermont in 1853, just a year after the little sawmill town was christened Traverse City. Thomas Hitchcock moved to the area from New York at about the same time. Hitchcock married Helen Goodale three years later, and they lived on the farm beginning in 1870, purchasing the property in 1874.

The Hitchcock family lived there until Thomas’s death in 1915. Their heirs continued to own the farm until 1930, when they sold most of it to Floyd Clinch, retaining five acres. Wilson says an aunt still owns the remaining acreage.

Groleau says the group wants to work with any persons or groups connected with the area. That includes approaching Preserve Hickory, neighbors, and others, and if there are no objections, moving ahead. “We want to coordinate volunteers for clearing and maintenance. We want to talk to all the groups, get letters of support, and take that to Parks and Recreation, then take it to the city. At that point, we can get a sketch and get the cost.”

Melville says as long as the project remains relatively small, basically seating and signage, it is something he would be able to approve and work with directly. If the final version has a larger impact, then he would need to take it to the Parks and Recreation Commission. “They don’t get involved if it’s where to put a bench and sign,” he says. “That would get taken care of administratively. If it’s just enlarging the landing (and) clearing the area of weeds, then a work-bee effort with volunteers would take care of it in a Saturday afternoon.”

Wilson says he maintains a connection to the area, and is hopeful something can get done. “We grew up in Detroit and spent a lot of time in Traverse City,” he says. “We were always going back and forth. My first job was working at the Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay. My folks moved to Traverse City in 1975 from Detroit. My father’s generation from Detroit would vacation up north, and always went to the farm as the last stop.”