A Walking Tour of Old Saugatuck Without Leaving Your Seat

November 13, 2025, Saugatuck Woman’s Club Cathy Brockington narrates a photographic tour of historic buildings in Saugatuck, with stories about the buildings, their inhabitants, and their past uses. The tour relies heavily on notes created by late local historian Jim Schmeeken. We start on Butler Street, charting the visual evolution of the village from its early settlement days to the mid-20th century. A major focus is Saugatuck’s early 1920s "Colonial Revival" architectural boom, when many local structures were updated with grand, classic pillars. This is visible on buildings like the Village Hall and the Christian Science Building. The tour includes several structures that were physically moved across frozen winter waters on logs from Singapore, a nearby lumber town that vanished after timber supplies were exhausted. The guide documents iconic community spaces such as the Landmark Building (now Kilwin's), where Susan B. Anthony famously spoke in 1879, effectively establishing a local temperance union that shuttered six of the village's fourteen saloons. Another prominent item is the Saugatuck Woman’s Club, built in 1936 according to plans drafted by Thomas Eddy Talmage. Two Sears Roebuck catalog homes are also on the tour, as is the hilltop First Congregational Church, and several homes where ship’s captains lived. On the riverfront, we see Wicks Park, which was once a shipyard. The tour mixes the story of the electric interurban train system that ran down Water Street with memories of the iconic “Big Pavilion" before its tragic destruction by a catastrophic fire. Finally, the guide covers the evolution of the Hotel Butler, a former 1892 steam-powered gristmill turned summer resort. Cathy Brockington is a lifelong resident of Allegan County and an active civic leader in Saugatuck, Michigan. She serves as the President of the executive board for the Saugatuck Woman’s Club and Ensemble Music Coordinator for the First Congregational Church of Saugatuck. The mission of the Saugatuck-Douglas History Center (SDHC) - https://www.mySDhistory.org - is to preserve local history and inspire learning to inform and improve our community. We were founded as the S-D Historical Society in 1986. Today, we are a volunteer-run organization 700+ members strong that saves and shares the stories of the greater Saugatuck-Douglas area. This activity is supported by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts. The SDHC also receives support from the Allegan County Community Foundation Legacy Grant program. Most of all, we rely on members for all we do; join us today at https://mysdhistory.org/join/