Local History
Mount Clemens, Michigan has a rich and colorful history centered around the discovery of mineral water wells by Dorr Kellogg in 1870. As word of the therapeutic value of bathing in Mount Clemens’ mineral water spread, an industry grew and thrived. Turn of the century Mount Clemens was replete with bath houses and fine hotels. People came from all over the world to take the health-giving baths, and Mount Clemens became known as the “Bath City.” The bath industry flourished until the late 1920s, and the Great Depression closed most of the large hotels and baths. The last bath house in operation, the Arethusa, closed in 1974.
The library has an excellent local history collection for those engaged in Mount Clemens research, including:
- Suburban Library Cooperative Digital Media Archive – contains thousands of historic photos, maps, documents and oral histories relating to Mount Clemens history.
- Mount Clemens Property History database – search an address to find the history of the property
- Mount Clemens/Macomb County newspapers on microfilm, 1880-present [with some gaps]
- Mount Clemens city directories, 1896-1966 and City Directory Master Index [in progress]
- Mount Clemens High School yearbooks, 1920-present [with some gaps] and MCHS Yearbook Master Name Index
- Guide to Mount Clemens street name changes
- City of Mount Clemens Sanborn fire insurance maps on microfilm for years 1888, 1892, 1897, 1903, 1909, 1921, 1930 and 1945
- 1881 panoramic map of Mount Clemens (bird’s eye view)
- Local history clipping file
No exploration of Mount Clemens history can be complete without a visit to our area historical museums, including the Macomb County Historical Society’s Crocker House Museum, the Michigan Transit Museum at the historic 1859 Mount Clemens railroad depot, and the Selfridge Military Air Museum.
Our award-winning local history video series, A Minute of Your Time, presents 48 local history topics in one-minute episodes. To read the episode guide, click here. To view the videos, click here.
Read about Mount Clemens history in these excerpts from the library’s local history collection:
- The Origins of the Bath Industry
- The Original Bath House, Avery & Egnew Hotels
- The Medea Bath House
- The Fabulous Park Hotel
- The Clementine Bath House & Murphy Hotels
- The Colonial Hotel
- The Olympia Hotel
- The Arethusa: the Last Bath House
- The Sherman House
- Hacker Boat Company
- Mount Clemens Race Track
- Mount Clemens Jugs Football Team
- Mount Clemens Brewing Company
- Mount Clemens Pottery Company
- Mount Clemens Glass Factory
- Mount Clemens Sugar Company
- Covered Wagon Company
- Macomb Theatre
- The Flying Nelsons
- Mount Clemens Excursion Boats
- Mount Clemens Sea Scouts and SC-227
- Boxing in Mount Clemens
- William DuLac and the Shipbuilding Industry
- The Assisted Suicide Trial of Sarah Finkle
- Chemical Composition of Mount Clemens Mineral Waters
- Mount Clemens in Prose and Poetry
- General De Gaulle Visits Selfridge
- The Macomb County Building
- The Price [Macomb Daily] Building
- Wilson’s Cafe
- African-American History in Mount Clemens
- The Great Tornado of 1896
- The Rose Industry in Mount Clemens
- The Clinton-Kalamazoo Canal
- Mae McKenna and Vice in Mount Clemens
- The Ironrite Ironer Company
- A Landmark Business: Donaldson Bros.
- Lieutenant Thomas E. Selfridge
- The Founding of Selfridge Field
- Mayors of Mount Clemens
- Short Biographies of Mount Clemens’ Founding Citizens
- The Moravians and Richard Conner
- Thomas Sykes & Prohibition in Mount Clemens
- Tales of Old Mount Clemens
- Mount Clemens Health Food Company
- Mineral Springs and Table Water Industry
- Public Schools of Mount Clemens
- John L. Sullivan and the “Battle of the Cemetery”
- Mitchell Trophy Air Races at Selfridge Field
- Clubs and Organizations of Mount Clemens
- Leap the Dips” Roller Coaster
- Christian Clemens, Founder
- William H. Kibble and Uncle Tom’s Cabin
- A Timeline of Mount Clemens Events
- Chautauqua Comes to Mount Clemens
- Mount Clemens Goes to the Movies: The Mount Clemens Story
- The 1880 Macomb County Courthouse
- Mount Clemens Post Office
- Baseball in Mount Clemens
- The Railroad Inn: A Tale of Two Sites