History

The History of the Kiwanis Club of Charlevoix

(The Club history was compiled and written by the late Marvin Molasky. The history and this page are still in the process of being edited.)

Kiwanis Origins in Detroit

The First Kiwanis Club was chartered in Detroit, Michigan on January 15,1915. However, the formation of the first club began In the summer of 1914. An enterprising and aggressive businessman Allen S. Browne met with a young tailor Joseph 0. Prince, and they began forming plans to form a club for the mutual benefit of the members.

It took time to gather enough people interested in joining such a club. In November, there were enough members that a committee was formed to select a name for the new club The committee decided on Kee-wan-is an expression of the Otchipew tribe of native Americans which meant “I make noise” The spelling Kiwanis was adopted as it was an Easier name to identify and to spell. Detroit in 1915 was a booming and rapidly growing city of about 500,000. The Detroit Tigers were a major interest of its citizens, and their center fielder Ty Cobb was considered by the fans as the greatest baseball player of all time. In 1914 he won the American League batting title for the seventh time.

After a short time, the Detroit Kiwanis Club decided to become a service club rather than a social club with emphasis on children and began chartering other clubs in Michigan and throughout the United States. Sometime before the Charlevoix Club was organized the national organization was called Kiwanis International.

Petoskey Kiwanis Club Sponsors the New Club in Charlevoix

In the fall of 1934 the Petoskey Club decided to sponsor a club in Charlevoix. An organizational meeting was held on Tuesday evening December 5. 1934 at Hotel Charlevoix. Dr. Frank Wilkinson was elected President. However, he and his wife were killed in an auto accident on U.S. 12 near Paw Paw Michigan on December 17th. They were on their way to California. Dr. Wilkinson was a prominent member of the community, and instrumental in getting the club started.

Oscar B. North was elected President as Dr Wilkinson died before the Club was chartered. Oscar North is considered the club’s first president. There were 26 charter member at the meeting and officers and directors were elected. King Gillett a field representative of Kiwanis International supervised the organization, and announced that first meeting would be held at Monte’s Café on Thursday December 6th. (See appendix #2 for the names of the charter members.) At the first meeting, Kiwanians from Petoskey and Traverse Cityas well as the Charlevoix members were present. The speaker was R. Phillip Sheets of Traverse City, the district’s lieutenant governor. Regular meetings began on December 11, and were held in the evening from 6:15 PM to 7:15.

The Charter meeting was held on March 9th, 1935 at the Masonic Temple in Charlevoix. Nearly 200 people attended the affair., which included dinner, and some musical performances, including an orchestra from Traverse City which added to the meeting.

Dr. C. I. Winder was chairman of the meeting, and welcome the members and the many guests. Mr. H Carl Spitler Lieutenant Governor of the district acted as toastmaster. Mr. Joe Prance of Detroit, the Michigan District governor, presented the charter to the club. Kiwanis Club members from Cheboygan, Gaylord, Grayling, Rodgers City, East Jordan, Traverse City, and Petoskey, our sponsoring club were there, as well as Rotarians from East Jordan and Petoskey to celebrate the formation of the new club.

The Club begins Sponsorship of Youth Organizations

The club sponsored a Boys and Girls Club in the early years, including sending two boys to camp each year. They also worked with the courts to help children. In March of 1939.the Charlevoix Kiwanis Club sponsored the formation of Boy Scout Troop #11 It is still active, and in fact had 7 Scouts certified as Eagle Scouts1 in 2007. Troop 1l is the second oldest Boy Scout Troop in Northern Michigan.

During those early years the Club sponsored “Camp Charlevoix.” It was a popular and well run Camp. The Club sponsored several scholarships as well as supplying other funds and volunteers. The Club was the only Service Club in Charlevoix until the Lions Club as formed in the early 70’s. As a result many prominent citizens belonged to the Charlevoix Kiwanis Club.

The Charlevoix Kiwanis Club hosted the Michigan District 22nd annual convention on August 31, and September 11, 1939 at the Belvedere Club, The Michigan Builder called it a great convention and an outstanding success.

To fund its many activities, the Club in its early history, held white elephant sales, waste paper drives, peanut sale sales, and Bingo games among other efforts. In addition to the monthly club dues, a 50-50 raffle and “happy Dollars”, were contributed by members at each weekly meeting.

Meetings were held on a regular basis during World War II. During December of ‘42 meetings were held at Monte’s Café. On Dec 1st, 1942 an election of Officer for ‘43 took place. At the final meeting of the year Lt. Commander Edward Shanahan of the US Navy gave a “very interesting talk“.

The club continued to function during the war. It generally had 28 to 33 members and usually 24 to 26 members attended the meetings. One important committee was the “defense committee.” Some of the members belonged to the “Home Guard”. They sometimes held “tin pail” dinners rather than the usual dinners, but the meetings and friendship continued. During the post WWII years meeting were held in the evenings at the Charlevoix High School. Dinners were buffet style and excellently presented. Board of Directors meetings were held at board members homes, and the host member’s family provided dinner.

North Korea attacked South Korea, in 1950 and we entered a “police action” with United Nations Approval. We halted the North Korea advance, and advance drove to the Chinese boarder, when The Chinese Army entered the war, and a stalemate developed near the 38th parallel. Dwight Eisenhower was elected President of the United States in November 1952, and was able to negotiate a truce between North and South Korea along the 38th parallel in 1953, which has held to this day.

The Kiwanis Club of Charlevoix was incorporated on October 17, 1952.

Sometime in 1955 the Club began publishing a bi-weekly newsletter with advertisers . It functioned over thirty years.. During the late forties and the fifties a major fund-raiser was an annual “white elephant” sale. It was extremely popular, and the Club was able to rent space in one of the cities building to store items for sale. The club also sold soft drinks, and provided parking at The Venetian festival to raise funds.

1957 was an interesting and successful year. The clubs membership remained steady at 33 members. Attendance at meetings ranged from 28-31 at most weeks. Meyer Levinson (a charter member of the club and a past president) was in charge of keeping attendance records and reminding members of ways to make up missed meeting, Monthly membership attendance at meetings was mostly over 90%, and a number of meetings had 100% attendance.

On June 15th of 1957 The Club sponsored the first annual Kiwanis International Golf Tournament and dinner at the Belvedere Golf Club. It was a successful event, and the Club sponsored the tournament for more than 12 years. It was called an International because Canadian Members from the Sault came down every year.

Bob Martin and his committee worked hard to raise funds for the Camp Daggett Improvement Fund. They convinced the club to sponsor a cabin at the camp. The Club members built a cabin at a cost of $1500, which the club paid for. It was called the Crow cabin. It was originally painted red, but was later changed to brown like the other cabins. We undertook to furnishing and upkeep of the cabin, and do so to this day.

In the Spring of ‘58 the club bought several aluminum canoes for the use of the participants of the camp. That year the club began a program to award an honors plaque for the outstanding student in Mathematics and science. This award was later converted to a $500 scholarship.

The Maple Syurp Fund Raising Project Begins in 1958

In the Spring of 1958 Edward K Shanahan, a club president a couple of years later, convinced the Club that taping Charlevoix ‘s Sugar Maples for sap, and converting it into pure maple syrup would make an excellent fund raiser. He and six other members of the club advanced $650 to get the project under way. Those members were soon repaid. They got the City’s permission to tap the trees and Recruited the Sea Scout Troop 211 to collect the sap after school and on weekends. They also helped with the processing of the Sap. Girl Scouts from Troop 13 also helped bottle and label the syrup. They were credited for the hours worked and their organizations, were paid an hourly sum foe their efforts.

As a matter of fact, in 1961 the Sea Scouts were able to buy a 40 foot Coast Guard survey craft. The Girl Scouts used the funds to build a permanent building for a candy kitchen and meeting facility.

In 1959 650 5 quart buckets were filled and processed. The club was able to put up a temporary kitchen in downtown Charlevoix to process the sap. The City of Charlevoix held the first Maple Syrup Festival. The next year they were able to add another 1,000 new buckets.

After the 1961 season the Club decided they needed a larger evaporator and a permanent Factory. Kit Carson donated land off of Carson Road, and had a syrup plant built. The cost of the factory was only $6,000, as Club members spent much time and effort to complete the building, and install the equipment. A number of members loaned the club $500 each to finance the building. They were all paid back within two years. Ed Shanahan estimated that the new facility would have cost about $4,000 more with out the members efforts.

The Club continued to tap the trees for many years, but by the mid-1990’s this program was running into difficulties. Too many of the club members were no longer physically able to do the strenuous work necessary to tap the trees, and process the sap. Many of the maple trees were dying and were being replaced by the city by other varieties.

Early in the presidency of John Lachman (1994-5) he appointed a committee headed by Ed Buday as chairman to analyze the situation and make recommendations. They recommended that the Club purchase Maple Syrup from local processors in bulk, reheat it, strain the syrup, and bottle it in containers of various sizes. Jim Mielke agreed to the marketing and sales of the syrup . He has done it successfully for