Sleeping Bear Dunes A Nationalized Lakeshore: The Creation and Administration of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Allen Edmunds, "father" of the Great Lakes National Parks.

Sleeping Bear Dunes, 1958.

Empire Lumber Company plant and dock, Empire, Michigan, c. 1910.

D. H. Day Farm, looking from the dune climb area, c. 1925.

Sleeping Bear Bay in the 1930s.

D. H. Day about 1922.

Promotion for Day Forest Estates from the mid-1920s.

Train on the Day Logging railroad which connected the Glen Haven dock with logging camps in the interior.

Farming near North Bar Lake, c. 1940.

Postcard promoting Glen Haven tourism.

(image #10 missing from original manuscript)

Sleeping Bear Dune, c. 1940

1956 Oldsmobile adapted for tours of the dunes.

(image #13 missing from original manuscript)

Dune Climb area, 1958.

Mouth of the Platte River at the time of the Great Lakes Shoreline Survey.

Subdivision on Sleeping Bear Bay.

Park Planners at Empire Bluffs, 1961. Left to right are Conrad Wirth, Ben Thompston, Ronald Lee, Robert Ludden, Elmer Martinson, Allen Edmunds.

Great Lakes Shoreline Survey photography, Pyramid Point, 1957.

Senator Philip A. Hart, the man most responsible for the creation of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

National Park Service Director Conrad Wirth inspects the proposed Sleeping Bear park area. This photograph was taken just prior to the stormy public meeting in the Glen Lake Community High School. Director Wirth later described the meeting as "a real bad night."

E. Egenvieve Gillette, founder of the Michigan Parks Association and tireless supporter of the proposed National Lakeshore.

Julius Martinek, first Superintendent of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Chief Naturalist Charles Parkinson instructs fifth graders at a winter camp, 1986.

Dedication ceremonies for the Glen Lake visitor center, December 1976.

Thousands of gulls take flight at South Manitou Island's Gull Point colony.

Donald R. Brown, second Superintendent of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

The redesigned Pierce Stocking Drive, 1989.

Former Air Force Base at Empire, adapted for use as a maintenance facility, c. 1987.

Chaos at the mouth of the Platte Rivier prior to National Park Service administration.

Dedication of the new park, October 22, 1977.

Superintendent Brown at the podium during the dedication ceremony, held at the site of the Dune Climb.

Richard R. Peterson, third Superintendent of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

In January, 1987 the lakeshore moved into the Empire visitor center and headquarters complex.

The newly constructed National Park Service dock at North Manitou Island, 1988.

Modern comfort station at the expanded and improved Platte River campground, 1992.

Visitors view exhibits in front of Sleeping Bear Inn. Maritime Heritage Day. 1989.

Erosion threatened the South Manitou lighthouse in 1986.

Charles Kruch demonstrates Coast Guard rescue techniques, 1986.

Tanger William Herd explains a Coast Guard surfboat to a visitor, 1984.

Park interpreters lead visitors on a historic farm tour, 1987.

Naturalist, Pam Lea leads visitors on nature walk along Empire Bluff Trail, 1986.

Ivan D. Miller, fourth Superintendent of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, presents an award to Management Assistant and former Chief Ranger Ray Kimpel, 1993.

The Dune Climb remains a popular visitor use site, 1989.

The Lake Michigan overlook platform, Pierce Stocking Drive, 1989.

The end of the trail, Empire Bluff, 1989..

Allen Edmunds, "father" of the Great Lakes National Parks.