Aitkin Memorial District Library

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Aitkin Memorial District Library We are located at the north end of town on the corner of Maple St. Our main entrance is across from Adam's Service Station on Maple St.

Join us today at 4 PM (10/12) for Disclosure Day, Stephen Spielberg's alien invasion thriller.
10/12/2026

Join us today at 4 PM (10/12) for Disclosure Day, Stephen Spielberg's alien invasion thriller.

New Release"Dungeon Crawler Carl" (2020), written by Matt Dinniman is a Science Fantasy that follows the adventure of Ca...
10/10/2026

New Release
"Dungeon Crawler Carl" (2020), written by Matt Dinniman is a Science Fantasy that follows the adventure of Carl, Coast Guard and Princess Donut, his cat. We follow them as they try to escape the dungeon that they were placed into by aliens.
Come find this at the Aitkin Memorial Library!

10/08/2026

Get in the mood for Halloween with Stephen Spielberg's latest movie, Disclosure Day.
We are not alone.

The Croswell Library is partnering with CLAYS to promote learning through play.
09/22/2026

The Croswell Library is partnering with CLAYS to promote learning through play.

Find more Thumb history at the Croswell Library. The Echoes of Sanilac will be on display through Sept. 21.The Great Thu...
09/17/2026

Find more Thumb history at the Croswell Library. The Echoes of Sanilac will be on display through Sept. 21.

The Great Thumb Fire

Resilience in the Face of Annihilation

To understand the people of Michigan’s Thumb, you must understand the fire — and there were two of them.

On October 8, 1871, a fast-moving treetop fire swept across the Thumb on the same night Chicago burned. It killed the great stands of timber from the shoreline inland, leaving a decade of standing dead trunks and dry slash across the landscape. Towns like Forestville, White Rock, Huron City, and Harbor Beach were devastated. The Thumb had been primed to burn.

In the fall of 1881, it did. An unusually hot wind rose from the southwest and fanned settlers’ clearing fires into a single cataclysmic inferno. Blinding smoke darkened the sky before noon. Families fled in wagons toward Lake Huron. Others climbed into their wells, holding water-soaked blankets over themselves. Boulders exploded from the heat. Flaming tornadoes touched down without warning. Entire towns — Deckerville, Richmondville — vanished within minutes. Those who reached the lakeshore stood in the water as acid smoke burned their eyes and throats. Bears and wolves waded in beside them.

More than 200 lives were lost. Hundreds of thousands of acres were reduced to ash overnight. Clara Barton’s newly formed American Red Cross mounted its first-ever disaster relief effort here in Michigan’s Thumb.

Out of the destruction came an unexpected legacy. The cleared land became some of the most productive farmland in Michigan. Sugar beets, beans, corn, and wheat replaced the forests. The Thumb rebuilt itself — harder, more rooted, and more determined than before.

A Whole Nation Responded to the Tragedy

Thousands of people from Maine to California responded to appeals for help for the victims of the Great Michigan Fire of 1881 which ravaged Michigan’s Thumb area. They contributed more than $882,000 in cash and goods — an awesome amount when considered in dollars of the 1880s. This response was symbolized by the above drawing which appeared widely at the time. This drawing is courtesy of the American National Red Cross, Washington, D.C.

Echoes of Sanilac: Exploring the History of Michigan’s Thumb has been made possible in major part by a major grant from America250MI.

Explore Echoes of Sanilac at the Croswell library through September 21. The Original Occupants of the ThumbSince time im...
09/16/2026

Explore Echoes of Sanilac at the Croswell library through September 21.

The Original Occupants of the Thumb

Since time immemorial, Michigan and surrounding regions were home to successive cultures of native peoples — from early Paleolithic hunters to mound-builders, to the Fox, Sauk, and Wendat nations. Their presence shaped the land in ways still visible today.

By the time Europeans arrived, three peoples predominated in Michigan's Thumb: the Ojibway, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi. They called themselves the Anishnabeg — the First Peoples — shared Algonquian languages, and had formed a powerful political and military alliance known as the Three Fires Confederation.

In the 17th century, the Iroquois — backed by the British — pushed the Anishnabeg westward. With French support, the Anishnabeg returned and pushed the Iroquois back to New York.

These Beaver Wars left the region depopulated for decades and deepened the stress on indigenous peoples of the area. Their influence on this land endures. The ancient rock carvings at the Sanilac Petroglyphs — the only known prehistoric carvings in Michigan — are estimated to be between 300 and 1,400 years old. Carved by various peoples over centuries, they depict cultural teachings, stories, and symbols still studied today.

Image captions:

Illustration of the Odawa village
Photo of a petroglyph discovered in Sanilac County

Echoes of Sanilac: Exploring the History of Michigan's Thumb has been made possible in major part by a major grant from America250MI.

Part of the Echoes of Sanilac County traveling exhibit. Find out more Thumb history at the library between Sept 15 and S...
09/15/2026

Part of the Echoes of Sanilac County traveling exhibit. Find out more Thumb history at the library between Sept 15 and Sept 21.
***
John Jones: When the Thumb Was Wild

Trading Furs for Gold After a Long Trapping Season

One of the very first people to venture into the interior of Michigan’s Thumb was John Jones. Originally from Wales, Jones arrived in Detroit in 1835 and began working for a fur merchant. Local Indigenous people showed him where elk were found deep in the Thumb, and he went hunting with them to the cranberry marshes south of what later became Sandusky.

Jones trapped mink, otter, fisher, wildcat, lynx, fox, and deer. Each spring he backpacked his furs to Port Huron and sold them in Detroit — taking his pay in gold, as paper money was not considered dependable at the time. He learned much from the native community, including how to tan hides using brains and how to make birch bark containers. In 1845 he bought 80 acres in Washington Township, built a log cabin, and put down roots.

One dark evening, hunting northwest of what is now the village of Forester, Jones crawled into a hollow log to sleep rather than be caught in the dense woods after dark. The next morning he crawled out at daylight — and watched a good-sized bear crawl out from the other end.

A man of many talents, Jones became a licensed surveyor and served as Supervisor of Washington Township. He planted a ten-acre apple orchard, drawing on grafting techniques he had learned in Bristol, England.

In 1862, at age 58, Jones enlisted in Company K of the 22nd Michigan Infantry at Port Sanilac — a regiment drawn heavily from Sanilac County men. His unit suffered devastating casualties at the Battle of Chickamauga. He survived, attained the rank of Sergeant, and was mustered out in Nashville in June 1865.

Echoes of Sanilac: Exploring the History of Michigan’s Thumb has been made possible in major part by a major grant from America250MI.

A piece of Thumb history is visiting the Croswell Library this week!Echoes of Sanilac: Exploring the History of Michigan...
09/15/2026

A piece of Thumb history is visiting the Croswell Library this week!

Echoes of Sanilac: Exploring the History of Michigan’s Thumb is a traveling exhibit from the Sanilac County Historical Society highlighting the people, events, industries, and communities that have shaped our region.

The exhibit explores local history through themes including Indigenous life and early settlement, the lumber industry, the Great Fires of 1871 and 1881, railroads, farming, and the people who built and rebuilt communities throughout the Thumb.

📅 September 15–21
📍 Croswell Library
🕒 Available during regular library hours

Stop in anytime this week and take a look!

The exhibit is part of the History of the Thumb project and Michigan’s America250MI initiative.

Address

111 N Howard Avenue
Croswell, MI
48422

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 7pm
Tuesday 10am - 7pm
Wednesday 10am - 7pm
Thursday 10am - 7pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm

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