Three Fires and That Was Enough. The Former Hotel Topinabee, Cheboygan County

The Hotel Topinabee was a big deal back in the day.

The tale begins when settlers moved to Cheboygan County in the 1880s thanks to the extension of the railroad. With the fresh influx of people, Horace Pike developed a hotel on the western shore of Mullet Lake, right next to the railroad tracks. Once arriving, travelers, lumberjacks, and their families decided to settle here and began to build homes.

While homes were being built, the lumber workers needed a place to stay and a resort was needed for the stream of travelers. Pike built his hotel on the west side of Mullett Lake in 1881, naming it “Pike’s Hotel”. By 1882, it was open for business.

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Pike wanted to give “his” land a name to remember – so he chose to dub it after Potawatomi Indian Chief-Topinabee. The area continued to grow around the lake with the hotel the center of activity.

The hotel was a three story hotel that accommodated 40 people. A casino soon followed, supplying customers with dancing and games. In 1884, Pike subdivided 36 acres of land and sold lots for building cottages.

After Pike passed away after the turn of the century, the hotel was sold and re-named Pike’s Summer Tavern. After it burned to the ground in 1917, it was rebuilt the following year and labeled Hotel Topinabee, sometimes spelled as “Top-In-A-Bee".

A new building under a new name didn’t prevent another fire from again destroying the hotel in 1928. Again it was rebuilt.

The hotel was again purchased in 1935, selling out again in 1954. In the 1960s – surprise - fire broke out, ruining any growth once again. It was torn down in the 1970s and any future plans to rebuild was not even considered. No more, that was it.

Pike’s Hotel / Hotel Topinabee was instrumental in the growth of the town and it remains a beautiful northern Michigan tourist and resort destination to this day.

Scroll down to see old photos of the former Hotel Topinabee.