100 Years of Culture and Community
Our Origin Story: 1922 – 1939
In 2022 we mark the centennial of the creation of the Old Art Building in Leland. In honor of its founder, Allie Mae Best, we are pleased to tell our origin story. Let us begin by traveling in our imaginations to the year 1869 to consider how it all began.
Our Founder, Alice Mae Kaiser, was born in the river town of St. Charles, Illinois to Augustus C. Kaiser a civil war veteran and later a successful businessman, and Lucy Whipple, a highly revered Civil War nurse. Growing up in a comfortable, mid-western household, but in an era then lacking publicly funded schools, Allie Mae very likely started primary school in private homes or perhaps in rooms on upper floors of businesses. Instruction probably would have consisted of classes in reading, writing, penmanship, geography and mathematics.
By 1885, when Allie was 16, the first two combination primary and secondary public schools opened in St. Charles and she most likely would have attended one of these high schools. Allie Mae was a self-described voracious reader and, along with her love of literature, also studied music and art.
In 1901 the Mahatma Newsletter reported that Allie Mae was college educated. While there are no definitive records to confirm this statement, Wheaton College or Northwestern College were close enough for Allie Mae to have attended, likely by horse drawn carriage. However she might have come by her interest in and love for the arts, this young woman’s interests led down a path that changed her life in a significant way, and many years later, impacted our lives as well.
The MSU Years: 1939 – 1989
Snug in a river bend lined with flower, Leland’s Old Art Building stands within shouting distance of Main Street but far enough back that the first time visitor passing by may not notice it.
With its white frame face, dark green shutters, and classic small-pane windows, it could be an early 1900s school or meeting hall in any number of small rural villages throughout the country. But to the thousands of residents and long-time visitors who come back year after year, the Old Art Building is Leland – in much the way that Fishtown is Leland. It’s a welcome home sign and a touchstone. Its wood floors, walls, and fieldstone fireplace and the curved wooden stage echo sounds of dramatic readings, dancers’ steps, clattering of keys of an upright piano, and the long-ago voices of summer.
Although Allie Best’s long-term dream for the women’s club was not fully realized, in 1939, Michigan State College art professor Erling Brauner had been charged by university officials with finding a good location for a summer art school – an artists’ colony, as he and others envisioned it. As the story goes, he was traveling north on the Lake Michigan shoreline and happened into a store in Frankfort, where he saw a large photograph of Leland.
Michigan’s Oldest Art Center: 1989 – 2022
In 1989, the Old Art Building (OAB) was added to the State Register of Historic Places, just as the Michigan State University (MSU) summer program came to a halt. MSU stopped using the property, and the building remained dormant for the next few years. What would become of the OAB became a topic of conversation at social gatherings.
At the time, there was speculation that MSU might sell the property. The Leland Township Board considered buying the property and tearing down the building to build a new fire station. There were also inquiries from developers looking to buy the property to build riverfront condos. Ed and Bobbie Collins, who founded the Leelanau Conservancy in 1988, in response to the threat of over-development in Leelanau County, initiated community action to save the Old Art Building. In early 1992, the Collins and Amy Chatfield drove to Lansing to speak with state representatives and MSU trustees about the idea to preserve the OAB for community use.
By September 1992, a group of community supporters led by Ed & Bobbie Collins, Amy Chatfield, and Sally Biggs convinced the Leland Township Board to enter a 20-year lease with Michigan State University with the idea they would start a community center inspired by the early years of the Old Art Building and in keeping with Allie Mae’s vision. At a price of one dollar for the initial 20 years and just one dollar to cover each additional 10 years, the stalwart volunteers secured the fate of the building and grounds. The Leland Township Board agreed to manage the lease with MSU with the stipulation that the commu- nity would put a board in place to oversee operations and financial responsibility of the Old Art Building.
Make That Color Sing
Written and narrated by our friend Scott Craig and edited by Linda Sprout, this short film will give you a brief pictorial history of the long life of the OAB.