Grand Hotel history

Grand Hotel first opened its doors in 1887 as a summer retreat for vacationers who traveled to Michigan by train, and came to Mackinac Island via steamer and boat.

By 1889, boats arrived daily with the winter rates were two dollars a day, ten dollars weekly, and forty dollars by the month.

1897: To meet the rising demand for accommodation at the Grand Hotel, ownership commissioned the expansion to add more guestrooms on-site.

In 1901, Major James K. Glennon of Mobile bought the hotel.

The maritime trade received a much needed boast, though, in 1914, when construction finally ended on the Panama Canal, allowing the city’s merchants to trade more easily with markets on the other side of the world.

The Musser Suite is the first of the Cupola Suites project that will lead to dormers lining the fourth floor of the front of the hotel, which is how the hotel’s exterior looked as late as 1915.

1919: Despite the recent end to World War I, tourism to the Grand Hotel and Mackinac Island remained strong.

Shot in a 1930’s style movie frame, the story starts out on a snowy white scene in a small European town.

Woodfill was a practical and serious man who said, “just pay me what I’m worth.” After learning the ropes of the business from the inside out and serving the hotel’s upper-class clientele, the front desk clerk purchased the hotel in 1933.

1944: The United States Army Air Corps began training servicemen at the resort as part of a top secret military program called “Operation Ivory Soap.” The program sought to teach the soldiers on how to service aircraft at mobile air depots in the Pacific Theater.

The Lakewood Club was founded in 1947.

But in 1955, a massive corporate conglomerate purchased the location, eventually turning it over to a North Carolina businessman named Malcom McLean a decade later.

The Michigan Historical Association first identified the Grand Hotel as a State Historical Building in 1957.

In 1967, a second 9-hole golf course and the first conference center were added.

Its original name was the Grand Name Co. in 1986 and later changed to the MGM Grand Inc. It was said that Kirk Kerkorian was the man behind the creation of the resorts, when he created the MGM Grand Hotel in 1973.

The Lakewood Club hosted the 1974 United States Senior Women's Amateur Championship for the first time.

In 1979, Woodfill’s nephew, Dan Musser, took over the business, and since that time, Musser’s son has taken over the reins.