Harriet Fisher — early Glen Arbor land magnate

By John Tris
Sun contributor

When I first started researching the early land transactions of the unincorporated village of Glen Arbor, I wasn’t sure what I’d find, but I certainly didn’t expect to discover that a woman would play a dominate role in the land market and that other women did most of the buying. Harriet Fisher, the wife of John Fisher, one of the early settlers of Glen Arbor, owned most of the land that was to become the village of Glen Arbor that we know today.

Sometime during the latter half of 1854, Harriet bought 165 acres of land at the U.S. General Land Office in Duncan, now part of Cheboygan. This piece of property is the eastern half of fractional Section 22 (Glen Arbor) in Township 29 North, Range 14 West. The land is depicted as the right/east portion of the outlined area on the General Land Office plat (shown here). The land plat is based on Orange Risdon’s survey completed during the summer of 1850. The dark line dividing the outlined portion is Lake Street, the main north-south street in Glen Arbor. State Street is at the bottom of the outlined area running east to west and extending one mile. The eastern boundary is roughly Bay Lane, and the western boundary is a quarter mile west of Day Forest Road.

Dr. William Walker, a friend of the Fisher family from Fond du Lac Wisconsin, the locale the Fishers moved from in 1854, purchased the remaining 72 acres of Section 22 land (shown on the left/west of Lake Street in the outlined area).

Harriet Fisher’s 165 acres, costing $1.25 per acre, occupied almost 70 percent of the Section’s 237 land acres. The other 403 acres of Section 22 sit beneath the waters of Sleeping Bear Bay. Her land patent (deed) from the U.S. Government was issued June 10, 1856, the same day as Dr. Walker’s patent. It was not uncommon at that time for two years to elapse from the date of purchase to the date the patent was issued, the final step in the land purchasing process.

All told, there were 29 land patents issued in June 1856 for Glen Arbor Township reflecting the local land boom of 1854-55. This article addresses only the Section 22/Glen Arbor purchases and subsequent reselling of Harriet’s land.

In 1856, the Leelanau peninsula, still part of Grand Traverse County (Leelanau County was formed in 1863), was divided into four townships. Harriet Fisher is credited with naming the southwest township of the peninsula and village as Glen Arbor — a great name showing her keen sensitivity to the natural beauty of the area. At the same time, she renamed Bear Lake as Glen Lake, a perfect, symmetrical match.

As much as the naming may reflect feminine sensibility, I think Harriet’s status as a substantial land owner (she held title to three additional 1856 land patents elsewhere in the township — John Fisher was granted five patents by 1858) carried much weight in convincing everyone of the wisdom of her naming choices — and I think we all agree that they were great choices.

Now let’s take a look at the reselling of Harriet’s Section 22 Glen Arbor land. Using the Glen Arbor 1881 (Titus) map shown here, we can see the core of the village of Glen Arbor. It was a sparsely settled community, even 25 years after its founding. The 1880 census for Glen Arbor Township counted 329 inhabitants, with the village accounting for perhaps 40 people.

On the map, Lake Street divides the Fisher (right/east) and Walker (left/west) properties. As now, the main east-west street in town was River Street/Western Avenue (M22/M109), and the center is where they meet at Lake Street. It is interesting, and meaningful from a Glen Arbor perspective, that the Fisher’s named their main street “River,” which heads east out of Glen Arbor and runs parallel to the Crystal River. Likewise, the main east-west street on Walker’s property was named “Western,” not because it is a western boundary, but because it leads to the west—to the nearby village of Glen Haven.

Harriet’s first land sale on July 13, 1856, for $1, a sweetheart deal by any standards, was to Erasmus Nutt and George Ray for one acre of land on the east side of Lake St. on Sleeping Bear Bay (present site of the LeBear Condominiums and the blu Restaurant). Dr. Walker sold Nutt and Ray his entire land holdings west of Lake Street the same year.

In 1856-57, Nutt and Ray built the Glen Arbor Dock (shown on the map). This was crucial for the area’s development and, especially in the beginning, for supplying cordwood from the vast timber land nearby for the numerous steam-driven ships that passed through the Manitou Passage on a daily basis.

A bit of diversion from our story, but interesting to mention nonetheless, at least five buildings shown on the 1881 map are still standing today: the Sheridan residence at Pine and the unnamed east-west street (Pine no longer exists north of River St); the Rosman store at Western and Lake (now Cottonseed Apparel); the Barn on the back of lot 5 in the Fisher subdivision on Lake St. (now the Thread Shed); Mrs. Harrison’s residence on Ray St. just north of State St. (now the May and Hurlin residence); and Mrs. Todd’s residence at Western and Ray (now the Glen Arbor Bed & Breakfast).

Now back to Harriet’s real estate dealings. Her subsequent 1850s land sales were primarily to family members, including her sister-in-law Elizabeth McCarty in 1859. A big change came in 1861 when the Fishers, with John as the surveyor, subdivided three blocks of Harriet’s land. Each block contained 18 66-foot lots, east of Lake Street between River and State Streets (shown on the map). They recorded their “Village of Glen Arbor” subdivision plat with Grand Traverse County on Oct 25, 1861.

Many of the lots sold very quickly with Julia Todd purchasing 11 lots on Block 1 for $135, Oct. 29, 1861. (The Cottage Bookstore and Lake Street Studios are a couple of the businesses that stand on this property today). Ann Abbey and Jane Montee, in separate transactions, bought three lots the next day. Virginia Bailey bought a lot in 1862, and Julia Todd bought 11 more lots by 1868, giving her 40 percent ownership of the “Village of Glen Arbor” subdivision. Obviously, the town lots were very appealing to women and appeared to be a good investment opportunity too, selling for $9 to $15 each.

One person of the male gender, George Getched, finally bellied-up to the bar and bought a lot in Harriet’s subdivision. And very appropriately, he purchased the corner lot where Art’s Tavern stands today. The deal was done July 27, 1863. George paid a premium for this prime spot, $60, but in real estate location is everything. So gentlemen, lift your mug of beer to Mr. Getched and give him a toast.

The Fishers also sold lots 7-8 of Block 2, for a nominal fee, to School District Number 1, Glen Arbor Township, on January 10, 1866. The old brick Glen Arbor school building (now the Athletic Club) stands on part of the property today.

It is evident that women were very active in the early Glen Arbor real estate market — with Harriet Fisher in the lead. Altogether, she executed the sale of eight of her Glen Arbor properties to women and five to men from 1856-68. It is interesting to speculate on possible reasons for this activity — the Civil War may have played a role in the reduced number of men buying land; Harriet may have had what we would call today, good networking and selling skills; women may have felt a certain comfort level in buying from another women; and so on — but it is beyond the scope of this short article to present any definite conclusions.

This GlenArbor.com exclusive is sponsored by Imagine That, tucked in the charming woods of Lake Street in downtown Glen Arbor.