Birch Lodge

Birch Lodge Hospital and Summer Resort Sanitarium
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Michigan State Historic Site
Birch Lodge, c. 1912
46°11′26″N 85°1′58″W / 46.19056°N 85.03278°W / 46.19056; -85.03278
Area	20 acres (8.1 ha)
Built	1911
Built by	H. Emery
Architect	Dr. Edgar Ford
NRHP reference No.	96001376[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	November 29, 1996
Designated MSHS	November 20, 1987[2]

The Birch Lodge, also known as the Birch Lodge Hospital and Summer Resort Sanitarium or the Trout Lake Sanitarium, is a resort facility located on the northern shore of Trout Lake, off County Route H-40, .6 miles (0.97 km) west of MI-123, in Trout Lake Township, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996^[1] and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1987.^[2]

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 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]

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