A Look at History
Governor's Residence
BY FRANK STRAUS
Mansion. Grand Hotel owner W. Stewart Woodfill had persuaded the national Governor's Conference to hold their 1945 convention on Mackinac Island, pointing out that the state chief executives could travel to the Island by Great Lakes passenger liner without having to burn rationed gasoline. The newly acquired mansion became the host site of the conference, and the house's walls, formerly stained dark green, were repainted white to match the hotel.

The war's memory lay thickly over the mansion over the following decades, as the people of Michigan elected a series of veterans to lead the state. "Soapy" Williams' feet knew the heaving decks of a series of Pacific aircraft carriers. Governor John Swainson had left both of his legs behind in Europe; a small elevator was installed in the cottage for him. From a failing bomber, Bill Milliken tumbled downward by parachute onto the rocks of Italy.

It was these men, of both political parties, who led the state as it made an unprecedented commitment, in the decades after World War II, to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, to Mackinac Island, and to the historic preservation and interpretation of the fort that rested atop the Governor's hill. Those were the days when Democrats and Republicans worked together for the good of the state; perhaps the fact that many of their leaders had endangered their lives under the same flag had a lasting impact on them.

The First Ladies and First Gentlemen played a role, too. Williams' first biographer, Frank McNaughton, called Nancy Williams Gram "a girl who was endowed with a razorsharp mind." Perhaps Mrs. Williams Gram's temperament was even more impressive. Urged in the 1950s to travel, as part of her recovery from a serious illness, she plotted an itinerary that led around the planet by way of the Third World. She was one of the first Mackinac Islanders to visit Afghanistan, and developed a lifelong interest in the health problems faced by countries in poverty.

Ayounger generation of governors brought their families to the house on the hill. John and Michelle Engler's three daughters enjoyed the Island. Current Governor Jennifer Granholm and her husband, Daniel Mulhern, also have three children; in a November 2002 letter welcoming the incomers, the young Englers confided that they liked the summer Governor's Mansion more than its schoolyear counterpart in Lansing.

Michigan today faces many challenges. Many Islanders recognize the importance of maintaining a place on Mackinac for the state's chief executive to go for thinking and down-time. The Island's unusual, pre-automobile sense of community may provide some moral guidance to our leaders as well. In a June 2000 tribute to former Mackinac Island parish priest Father Jim Williams, Governor Engler said:

"This is an island that, frankly, doesn't work without a lot of people giving back an awful lot. It takes a lot of parts that have to come together to make Mackinac Island work. And it is, indeed, always a challenge . . ."

Starting with the administration of Governor James Blanchard, the Governor's Mansion has been opened to the public for docent-led tours every Wednesday morning. People who want to learn more about the history of the Governor's Mansion can read the State Park's leaflet, "The Michigan Governor's Summer Residence" (2003), on sale in the Fort Mackinac Barracks gift shop.