Birch Lodge

Birch Lodge was founded as one of a crop of resorts built in upper Michigan around the beginning of the 20th century.[3] It was started by Dr. Edgar David Ford and his wife Cornelia[3] of Cambria, Wisconsin[2] as a combination of a summer resort as tuberculosis sanitorium.[4] The Fords obtained property on Trout Lake in 1911[5] and hired H. Emery, also of Cambria, to construct the lodge,[3] designing it as a resort that combined outdoor recreation and medical health.[2] However, before the lodge opened, Edgar Ford died of rabies.[5] Despite this, the resort was opened in 1912 by Cornelia Ford and her sons.[5]

However, the Birch Lodge Hospital quickly ran into financial trouble.[3] In 1915, the title was transferred to mortgage holder Oliver W. Smith.[5] One of the first mounted State Constabulary units (a precursor to the state police) occupied the site from 1918 - 1922, and it was used as a private residence for a time.[5] Charles and Estelle Moore purchased Birch Lodge in 1926. They re-established the property as a resort and operated it until 1938.[3][5] The resort went through three more owners and some remodeling[5] until Cliff and Anna Badgley purchased it in 1952.[3] The Badgleys constructed an eight-room brick motel on the property in 1964.[5] Cliff Badgley died in 1981, but Anna continued to operate the resort.[5] The lodge was closed in 1985,[5] but the motel was operated until Anna died in 2006.[6] In 2010 the property was sold to new owners, who reopened it.[5]

Birch Lodge c 1912

Birch Lodge is situated on 20 acres located along the northern shore of Trout Lake.[3] When it opened, the lodge had cottages, a recreation room, boating equipment, and a dancing pavilion; it also boasted hospital facilities such as an operating room and a linen room.[2] There are currently six structures on the property: the main lodge, three frame utility buildings that were once cabins, and two log cabins.[3] The largest of these, the main lodge, is a three-story wood-framed structure on a fieldstone foundation, built in 1911.[3] It is constructed on a T-plan and is clad primarily in clapboard, although the third-floor mansard gables are now covered with vinyl siding.[3] The windows are rectangular lights, and set between green-painted shutters accented with diamond shapes.[2] The roof is clad in asphalt shingling.[2] Much of the interior furnishings of the lodge date to its construction, and it remains a well-preserved example of early 20th century resort architecture.[3]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Birch Lodge.

• Birch Lodge official site