Grindstone City Historic District is an industrial historic district located on

M-25 M25 or M-25 may be: Aerospace * M-25 Dromader Mikro, a variant of the Polish PZL-Mielec M-18 Dromader agricultural aircraft * Cors-Air M25Y Black Devil, an Italian aircraft engine * Shvetsov M-25, an aircraft radial engine produced in the Soviet ...

Grindstone City, Michigan A grindstone, also known as grinding stone, is a sharpening stone used for grinding or sharpening ferrous tools, used since ancient times. Tools are sharpened by the stone's abrasive qualities that remove material from the tool through friction ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1971.

History

Captain Aaron G. Peer was born in

Dundas, Ontario : ''For the county in eastern Ontario see Dundas County, Ontario. For the upper tier county, see United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.'' Dundas is a community and town in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is nicknamed the ''Valley Town' ...

, in 1812, and moved to

Algonac, Michigan Algonac is a city in St. Clair County, Michigan, St. Clair County of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,110 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Algonac is located at the southern end of the St. Clair River, just before it ...

, in 1821. In 1833. Peer and his brother built a schooner and went in to the lake transport business, locating at the tip of Michigan's thumb. Peer also began a grindstone quarry at this site, and by 1850 was selling $3000 of grindstones a year. A second quarry was opened in the area, and eventually two large companies, the Lake Huron Stone Company and the Cleveland Stone Company, took over all operations in the area. By 1888, Grindstone City had a population of about 1500, and the two companies employed 200 men. Both companies rented houses to workmen and operated a company store. The grindstones were produces in a range of sizes, ranging from whetstones to three-ton stones. The companies operated until the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, which brought an end to operations. By the early 1970s, only two buildings remained from the original operation, along with the remains of the quarries.

Description

The Grindstone City Historic District consists of about 250 acres of land, including quarry sites and two original buildings. At the time of nomination, there were no other buildings on the site, although subsequently a portion has been turned into a subdivision. Most of the quarry pits have been filled with rubble, and trees cover the operations. Two jetties extend out into

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrology, Hydrologically, it comprises the easterly portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the , Strait ...

. The two original buildings remaining are both stone structures. One is a two-story building measuring 28 feet by 50 feet, with a tablet on the facade reading "Built by Capt. A.G. Peer, 1884." The other is a three-story former grain mill, with "Wallace Mills, 1887" along the roofline.

Gallery

File:Grindstone City Piers.jpg , Piers File:Grindstone City Mill.jpg , Gristmill

References

National Register of Historic Places in Huron County, Michigan Buildings and structures completed in 1884 Historic districts in Michigan {{Michigan-NRHP-stub