Courtesy of the Michigan Maritime Museum, used with permission.

The Middle Island Life Saving Station was built in the early 1880s following the establishment of the U.S. Life Saving Service in 1871. Various improvements and additions were constructed on site throughout its lifetime, until the station was decommissioned and abandoned in the middle 20th century. The Middle Island station worked in conjunction with a series of other life saving stations along the Lake Huron shore, the closest being at Thunder Bay Island 14 miles to the south, and Presque Isle 14 miles to the north.

The primary structure at the Middle Island station consisted of a two-story “1879 Parkinson” design with a boathouse, kitchen, dining room, and storage on the main floor, crew quarters on the second floor, and a lookout platform on the roof. The boathouse doors opened to a ramp extending into a sheltered lagoon leading to Lake Huron, and probably contained at least two operational lifeboats. Adjacent structures included a workshop foundation, privy, supply shed, and additional living spaces, with watchtowers, a cistern, and a trash midden (i.e., trash dump) located nearby.

A postcard view of the Middle Island Life-Saving Station from c. 1900. Commonwealth Cultural Resources Group.