New Historical Museum Shows What Mount Pleasant Looked Like Before Today

A local Mt. Pleasant resident is in the process of opening up a historical museum.

shows what the area was like before it actually became Mt. Pleasant.

Cynthia Kilmer, the head chairwoman of the museum, has always been interested in the Civil War time period. She was an attorney in the Isabella County area and represented a number of Native Americans and learned their stories. A stone and plaque, displayed where the old council house stood, is another one of the objects that sparked her interest in the history.

“This was part of my original peaking of interest in this area. I saw that stone, Donna and I were cruising around and we saw that stone, and looked into it and I thought, wow that’s really fascinating.” says Kilmer.

Her inspirations came from the Protar’s Home museum on Beaver Island and she knew she could do the same for Mt. Pleasant. The old house on 981 Craig Hill Rd. used to be a business. Kilmer went in there one day and asked the owners if they would give her a call if they ever planned on selling, a couple years later they did. Kilmer was able to put a down payment on the house and turn her idea into a reality.

She has done lots of research on the history of the area, and continues to find more. One of her tactics for finding information is going to cemeteries and looking at the headstones of the families that used to live in the area. She uses a title search and is able to discover more information that connects one piece to another.

Kilmer has found multiple different maps that show the layout of the old town and the buildings that used to stand during the different time periods.

She hopes to open the museum to the public within the year, but is waiting on the city to approve it. In the meantime she is looking and accepting any volunteers to help paint and put the finishing touches on the house.

Once the museum is open, it will not cost money to get in. The museum is a non-profit. Kilmer isn’t looking for money, she is just looking to share her interest in the history of the town with the rest of the community.