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Lake Leelanau in the nineteenth century was a very different place from today. Surrounded by almost  impenetrable forests and swamps and isolated altogether from the outside world each winter after the end of the navigation season, Leelanau County’s first pioneers led lives of unrelenting toil. Many were immigrants and had to learn a new language while starting new lives in a land that was strange to them. But America was a young country then, full of hope and opportunity, and the lumber industry provided Michiganders with employment opportunities and opportunities to get ahead.  

Around Lake Leelanau the lumber industry took two forms in the nineteenth century. In the early days  there were a few small sawmills which mostly cut lumber for local residents to use for construction purposes.  However, the main “economic engine” for years was cutting “propeller wood” for use firing the boilers of Great Lakes steamships. Cordwood was also transported to Chicago and Milwaukee by ship for use heating people’s  homes. That was called “market wood.”  

Later on, after most Great Lakes steamships changed to burning coal in their boilers and a railroad was built, first to Traverse City and then to Cedar (which meant that lumber could be more easily shipped year-round) manufacturing lumber for shipment to faraway cities and the Great Plains states became more important. Cutting cordwood for steamships had required little capital investment. However, manufacturing lumber was capital intensive. So, outside investors acquired large tracts of timberland, and larger sawmills were built. 

The story of the lumber industry in the Lake Leelanau area can be told through the lives of two young  men, both from immigrant families. Otto Thies, one of the first “proprietors” of the village of Leland, MI was in the cordwood business. Later, Jeremiah Sullivan (known as Jerry), built the largest shingle mill north of Muskegon at Cedar, Leelanau County. He was known as “the Shingle King.”

In 1854 he traveled by boat to Muskegon and then overland, by way of Kalamazoo, to Traverse City. It was said that he found his way through the trackless forest following Native American trails. He settled first at Good Harbor and then at Leland where, with the Cordes family, who lived at Milwaukee, he went into the business of cutting cordwood. It was reported in 1862 that the firm of Cordes and Thies were the principal proprietors of Leland, operating a sawmill, gristmill, store, saloon, and dock, with propeller steamers stopping there, and that most of the village’s inhabitants, including the firm’s German founders, were of German origin.

Reverend George Thompson, a Congregational “home missionary” who came to Leland in 1864, in an 1867 report to the American Home Missionary Society provided this description of the importance of Cordes and Thies’s wooding enterprise to the community:

"This is a prominent wooding place for propellers, running from Buffalo to Chicago. There are three docks out, all doing business—a sawmill & grist mill, 4 stores, a hotel, 2 boarding houses, 2 liquor holes, 2 blacksmith shops, a tailor shop and shoe store, besides coopering, boat building, carpenters, fishermen, & c — all making a population in the village and surrounding country, within distance of schools and meetings, of some 800 souls. 

The place has natural advantages for business which must insure its growth vis. a superior water power, inland water navigation and a good farming country filled and rapidly filling with settlers . . . A few weeks ago the dam, on which the whole business of the place and most of the country around Carp Lake for many miles depends, went out.  The results are yet to be developed . . . if it is replaced soon, so as to save the spring flood, there may be business here part of the summer—but if we lose that, it will take most of the summer for the lake to fill up so that the tugs and scows can work. There are not many dams on which so much is depended, as on this. Its loss throws multitudes out of work and will cause that many who have worked all winter for the wood companies will fail to get their pay, because the wood cannot be got down."

When Otto Thies died in 1911 the Grand Traverse Herald and Traverse Bay Eagle reported: 

"Mr. Thies was confirmed in Germany as a child, into the Lutheran church,  of which organization he always remained a member. He was married twice, at the age of nineteen, to Miss Sophia Wenty, and at the age of forty to Miss Augusta Echelberg. The wives passed on respectively forty and fifteen years ago. A family remains consisting of Mr. Henry Thies, Chamberlain, South Dakota; Mr. Herman Thies, Traverse City; Mrs. R. A. Togers, Michigan City, Ind.; Mrs. M. Mainone, Ravenna, Mich.; W. Edwin Thies, Traverse City; Miss Lillian Thies, Traverse City; Mrs. Henry Castenholz, Muskegon, Mich.; together with twenty two grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Stricken with paralysis Mr. Thies ceased active business life in 1871. He has been practically helpless for thirty-five years having suffered four paralysis strokes. The last fifteen of these years he has spent with his son Edwin, and his daughter Lillian, at their home 210 South Division Street. During this time his faith has never wavered. Much of his time has been spent in prayer and song, reading his Bible and reciting scripture memorized long years ago. No child could have demanded and no father and mother could have renewed more loving services than he has demanded and received at the hands of his children." 

Jeremiah Sullivan was born on a farm in Cook County, Illinois, July 28, 1862. His parents, Daniel and
Catherine (Gleason) Sullivan, were immigrants from Ireland. Daniel Sullivan died in Cook County and, when Jerry was seven, he and his mother moved to Whitehall, Michigan (near Muskegon) where at age eleven he began working in a shingle mill. He worked hard and it was reported that he “gained a good knowledge of the business in principle and detail.” He pursued “a course in a business college at Valparaiso, Indiana” and later on had a shingle business of his own there at Whitehall.

In 1890 he built a shingle mill at Cedar (though he and his family did not move north until two years later). This was in partnership with a man named W.A. Whitman, and he and Mr. Whitman worked together until November 1896, when Jerry purchased Mr. Whitman’s interest in the business. From then on Jerry was in business on his own account; he acquired tracts of cedar swampland himself (often at tax sales) but mostly he worked closely with several larger companies who acquired large tracts in the area. He manufactured shingles for them in his mill.

By 1903 it was reported that “in the operation of the sawmill and the shingle mill he employs an average of one hundred and fifty men throughout the year.” At that time, he was the owner of over two thousand acres of timber lands. Jerry Sullivan’s lumber business had two parts. In addition to manufacturing shingles he hired crews of men who lived in lumber camps during the winter and harvested logs which were sold to other sawmills in Leelanau County. He wrote an interesting letter about this to the editor of the Leelanau Enterprise in 1931:

“You see, Mr. Selby, when I operated my mills at Cedar, and furnished logs for mills at Provement, Solon, Suttons Bay, Bodus, Cedar Run, Nemiskal’s, North Unity, Lake Ann, and Frank Fisher’s mill at Glen Arbor, there was one or more men from nearly every family in Leelanau county who worked for me at some time or place, and I am, and always have been very much interested in them . . . we have not received the paper for the last three weeks, and Mrs. Sullivan is lost without the news from that locality, and asked me to have you send the last three issues, as well as all the future issues while we are on earth.”

The next week the editor of the Enterprise, Mr. Selby, wrote that:

"The old friends of Jerry Sullivan were pleased to hear from him through the Enterprise, Of course Mr. Sullivan  and family like to hear from Leelanau county, their old home and their first real home, where Mr. Sullivan was successful in business—his timber venture. Little did he think at the time he was slashing timber, that this would be the home of the summer people and resorters who come to see our beautiful lakes and scenery, and breathe the invigorating air. These were the same in Mr. Sullivan’s day, but now the roads (not the logging roads of which some still bear his name) are being made perfect for the motor cars, which are here from every state in the Union, from the last of May till September. Too much cannot be said about beautiful Leelanau."

Jerry Sullivan’s big sawmill at Cedar burned in 1907. He did not rebuild his mill at that time but instead acquired the plant of the Dewey Stave Company, which was a large manufacturing concern, at Traverse City. Four years later he sold his businesses to the Boughey family, who were Traverse City businessmen who had come north from  Indiana to work in the lumber industry back in the 1880’s. It was Benjamin Boughey who established the village  of “Cedar City” back in 1885.  

Jerry Sullivan and his family moved to San Diego, California in 1911 where he and his sons quickly found new opportunities in the lumber business, establishing lumberyards there. Jerry and his family often came back to visit their friends in Leelanau County. Jerry died in San Diego, in 1933, and his wife Mary died there in 1942.

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Ripples Through Time

The stories of Otto Thies and Jeremiah “Jerry” Sullivan are just one chapter in the larger story of Lake Leelanau. Lumbering transformed the forests into fuel, shingles, and commerce, but it also sent ripples outward—drawing families here, shaping communities, and laying the foundation for new eras of settlement, agriculture, and life on the lake.

Our exhibit, “Life on Lake Leelanau: Ripples Through Time,” picks up those waves and follows them forward—through settlement, recreation, conservation, and the enduring ties people have to this place. Born from the Michigan History Award Winning documentary Lake Leelanau, Spirit of the Lake, the exhibit expands on the film with new research, stories, and themes that connect the past to the present.

The ripples continue today in the work of local organizations and community members who protect the waters of Leelanau County, ensuring that Lake Leelanau’s legacy endures. As you explore the exhibit, or watch the documentary in person at the museum or online, we invite you to reflect on the ways your own story is part of these ongoing ripples—stretching across time, from past generations to those yet to come.

The exhibit will remain on view through 2026 at the Leelanau Historical Society Museum.

Visit the Exhibit & Watch the Film

Life on Lake Leelanau: Ripples Through Time will be on display through 2026 at the Leelanau Historical Society Museum. Visitors can also view the Lake Leelanau, Spirit of the Lake documentary in the gallery or stream it online.

The film has been shown at festivals, libraries, and community centers throughout Michigan, earning accolades for its storytelling and its ability to capture the enduring spirit of Lake Leelanau.

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With Gratitude

This exhibit would not have been possible without the support of generous sponsors, contributors, and researchers. We especially thank Andrew White for his in-depth research on lumbering and its ties to Lake Leelanau, as well as the many community members who shared their knowledge, photographs, and stories.

We are also grateful to the organizations working today to protect and preserve the waters of Leelanau County—their efforts ensure that Lake Leelanau’s story continues for generations to come.

• Leelanau Conservation District
• Leelanau Conservancy
• Lake Leelanau Lake Association
• Friends of Lake Leelanau
• Leelanau Clean Water
• Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians