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Since the middle 1800s Mackinac's main business has been tourism. Items documenting its many hotels are integral to the preservation and study of its history. These archival examples represent five of these. The John Jacob Astor House, like the Mission House, occupied buildings that had served an earlier purpose, in this case former headquarters of Astor's American Fur Company. It was established before the Civil War and closed in the 1930s. The New Murray Hotel on Main Street still survives, but the New Mackinac (established in the 1870s but moving into a "new" building following an 1887 fire) closed during the Depression and was later torn down. The Iroquois on the Beach opened in 1907 and continues to host visitors. The Island House, today the oldest operating hotel on the island (although closed during the Depression), continues to occupy its original 1852 building with numerous additions. |
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