Marshall: A Small Town in South Central Michigan

In the 1830's, Marshall was founded by a group of wealthy land speculators from New York who intended it to be the capitol of Michigan. They were so confident of success that they built a house for the governor to live in. Marshall went bust when Lansing was picked instead, and most of the land speculators went back to New York. In the 1850's and 1860’s, Marshall was a major railroad center, but again went bust when the railroads moved their maintenance facilities and switching yards out of town, and again most of the wealthy residents moved on. In the 1890's, Marshall had become the patent medicine capitol of the United States, but went bust when congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, and, you guessed it, most of the wealthy ones moved on. The Brooks Rupture Appliance (truss) Company survived until 2000, when it finally went out of business. During each of these boom cycles, the residents of the town who became wealthy because of that particular boom built even bigger and fancier homes than any that already existed in town. Most of these old homes are still standing.

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A large portion of the north side of town has been included in a National Historic Landmark District, which is the country's largest historic district in the "small urban" category and includes over 850 homes and businesses. One of the major events each year since the mid-1960’s is the Historic Home Tour, held in September on the weekend after Labor Day weekend. Visitors have the opportunity to take a tour of 15 homes, businesses, and museums on this weekend. The homes and businesses included on the tour change from year to year.

There are several museums in the town: American Museum of Magic, U.S. Postal Museum, the Governor’s Mansion, the GAR Civil War Hall, Capitol Hill School, Wolverine Fire Company Museum and the Honolulu House Museum. Only the Honolulu House has regular hours.

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Downtown Marshall is thriving, and has several stores selling antiques as well as several gift shops. One downtown oddity is that the parking meters, that are found only on the main street, accept pennies. Metered parking is 12 minutes for each penny or an hour for each nickle – there are also many free parking lots less than a block off Michigan Avenue.

An auto is a necessity to even get to Marshall - the only public transportation in town is the local city-operated Dial-a-Ride. The buses don't even stop in Marshall anymore. Once there, you can park your car and easily walk most places. From the Chamber of Commerce at the east end of downtown it is seven blocks to City Hall at the west end of downtown.

This is that good old American standard, a drive-in restaurant such as was common in the 1950's. You drive your auto into a covered spot, read from the menu, which is a series of signs hanging from the center of the ceiling over the parking spots, and place your order when the carhop comes to your car. No fancy intercoms here - the customers signal the carhops with their headlights. Soon your order is delivered on a tray designed to hang from your partially closed driver's side window. When you are finished with your meal, you signal the carhops and they remove the tray, and you back your auto out of the space.

The menu includes the expected foods for a drive-in: hot dogs, coney dogs, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dog baskets, burger baskets, fish baskets, chicken baskets, and, for something a little bit different, turkey gizzard baskets and chicken liver baskets. Along with the usual selection of sodas and milk shakes, they also serve homemade root beer in frosty glass mugs.

This business is seasonal – they open in May and close in September. They are also closed Sundays.

A small local tavern in downtown Marshall, with a pool table in the back and baskets of unshelled roasted peanuts on every table. Every so often they roast a new batch of peanuts in the roaster displayed in the front window. Have a seat, order a drink, and snack on the peanuts, tossing the shells on the floor. Beer, mixed drinks, and sandwiches are available across the distinctive old copper-topped bar that gives the business its name.

The Marshall Moonraker is a local restaurant that advertises itself as being located two miles south of the fountain circle – the traffic circle containing the Brooks Memorial Fountain is at the west end of downtown Marshall. Starting at the circle, go south on Kalamazoo Ave, across the railroad tracks, past the golf course, past the airport, and through the industrial park. At the city limit, Kalamazoo Ave becomes 17 Mile Road, and the restaurant is just outside the city limit.

It is especially convenient to the businesses in the industrial park, and is patronized by both the people who work as office staff and those who work on the factory floor.

The menu at the Moonraker includes items such as the aristocrat, an open-face sandwich with ham, turkey, and two different cheeses. This particular sandwich was made popular in the Marshall area by another restaurant that closed a year or two before this one opened, and the owners here, knowing a winning menu item when they saw it, included it on their menu. Other menu choices include beef, pork, fish, fowl, and sandwiches. You can easily keep your tab in the less than $10 range or just as easily get it up to nearly $20.

The Moonraker has just added pizza to their bill of fare; a local pizza parlor closed a few years back when the owner retired. The owners of the Moonraker have purchased the retiree’s recipe for the pizza and the rights to the name of the pizza parlor that he had operated locally for about 30 years.

No beef, no pork, no fish, no chicken – only turkey is served at this restaurant, as you might expect from the name. This family business started over a hundred years ago as a farm, and at one point they began raising turkeys, dressing and selling the turkeys to local residents to be cooked for their Thanksgiving dinners. Then they started selling turkey sandwiches from a small roadside stand. This has become a large cafeteria style restaurant, with selections that range from the Sloppy Tom sandwich to a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and a ice cream shop in an adjoining part of the building. There is also a dinner theater and an extensive craft and souvenir shop in the back part of the building. As the business has evolved over the years, the only thing that has remained constant is the turkey.

The restaurant is located 6 miles north of Marshall – the best way to find it is to travel on Interstate 69 to exit 42, the N Drive North / Turkeyville exit – yes, that is what the sign says. Turn west at the stop sign onto N Drive North – Turkeyville is a mile ahead at the intersection of N Drive North and 15-1/2 Mile Road.

Most weekends during the warmer months there is some event taking place on the grounds; craft shows, flea markets, etc. Each year they honor a fictional news director at a fictional radio station with a gathering of ultralight aircraft. One of the events at this gathering is that the pilots throw sandbags shaped like turkeys from their aircraft, trying to hit a stationary target on the ground.

Open 7 days – closed in January. Reservations are recommended for the dinner theater.

Well regarded throughout the great lakes region of the United States, Schuler’s Restaurant & Pub is located less than 100 yards off the main street through downtown Marshall, Michigan, with free parking in the city parking lot across the street and the two city lots behind the restaurant. All over the region, I have met people who only know of Marshall as the location of Schuler’s Restaurant.

The main dining room has exposed ceiling beams and half-timbered walls. In keeping with the theme of "Historic Marshall", the walls between the timbers are covered with murals of Marshall in the 1800’s. They do have an extensive menu, specializing in beef but including fish and fowl, and the food is good. The restaurant is also known for its appetizers – Win Schuler’s Bar-Scheeze, a cheese spread, and Schuler’s meatballs.

Winston’s Pub, where I usually end up when I go to Schuler’s, has many soups, sandwiches and salads, along with other items such as wings, potato skins, and fish & chips. They also have a wide selection of beers and ales, both foreign and domestic.

Don’t get me wrong; Schuler’s is an excellent restaurant, and any midwesterner who passes through this area should have a meal there just so they can tell their friends they have eaten at Schuler’s in Marshall. However, it is my personal belief that the restaurant does not quite live up to its reputation.

The Stagecoach Inn is a local tavern located in downtown Marshall in a brick building originally built as a stagecoach stop on the route between Detroit and Chicago.

The "Coach" has the usual fare of sandwiches and baskets, but the list of available sandwiches includes a couple that are not all that common: buffalo burgers and ostrich burgers.

The balcony with the five pillars at the front of the building is not part of the original building – it was added about 1930 to be used as the reviewing stand for the Marshall Centennial parade.

This building began its life in 1860 as a home built by a Judge Pratt when he returned to Marshall after serving as U.S. Consul to the then independent country of the Sandwich Islands, now known as Hawaii. It is said to be a copy of the house where he resided in that country.

This building has been restored and furnished as it would have been in the 1880’s, and also serves as the headquarters of the Marshall Historic Society.

The museum is open to the public from May to October. The hours are from noon to 5 p.m. daily, and the admission fee is $5.

The annual Marshall Historic Home Tour takes place on the weekend after Labor Day. Visitors are able to tour 8 privately owned 19th and early 20th century homes each year as well as 5 museums and 2 businesses located in the historic business district. The homes and businesses are different every year, so that you will find people who return for the tour year after year. Tickets are $15.00 each for the 2002 tour with children under 12 free. The tickets include admission to each of the 15 structures and there is a free shuttle bus to take you from place to place. Parking is free, and the shuttle buses also stop at the major parking lots. Tickets may be purchased at each major entrance to the town and at any of the buildings on tour.

This event began in 1964, and is well organized with several other events also taking place in town on the same weekend. There is a arts and crafts show and sale at the Brooks Fountain, a antique show at the middle school gymnasium, and a antique and craft show and sale at the county fairgrounds. Each of these shows has its own shuttle bus stop.

There is also a Civil War Encampment by a group of civil war re-enactors on the grounds of the G.A.R Hall. This is a appropriate location since the Grand Army of the Republic was an organization for Civil War veterans similar to the present-day American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Vietnam Veterans of America.

The Marshall Historical society also provides a variety of free musical entertainment on the grounds of the buildings on tour. During this weekend several groups and churches also get into the action by serving food and drink - for an extreme example, the Zion Lutheran Church holds a "Taste of Germany Dinner" for which you must purchase your tickets several months in advance.