Alan Naldrett Book order

Many of the people of Michigan who used to be famous in their day have fascinating stories. These are 12 of the most diverse, and hopefully, some of the more interesting ones. Examples include Francis Palms, the wealthiest man in Michigan in his day, whose daughter was stalked by a United States Senator from Florida, and the men from the E-M-F company, who were plagued with detractors who claimed the initials stood for Every Morning Fix-it, or Every Mechanical Fault.

Many of the early settlements of Michigan are gone, with little traces. A few abandoned buildings, an bent, rusted old town sign, a lonely cemetery on a dirt road, are some of the reminders of the vanished villages of our ancestors. From Native American villages to burned-out lumber towns, take a trip to yesteryear and investigate some of these hidden hamlets.

One of the unsung heroes of the auto world, C. Harold Wills designed the Model T when he worked as Henry Ford's right-hand man. Later, he founded his own company to produce the legendary Wills Sainte Claire. Every endeavor displayed his trademark inventiveness, from the development of the overhead cam engine to the toboggan run on the roof of his house. He used his money to create one of the first worker model cities at Marysville, Michigan. In this long-overdue biography, Alan and Lynn Lyon Naldrett preserve the legacy of an automotive icon.

Eastern Michigan's vanished boomtowns and villages are uncovered and revisited in this fascinating look at the history of the lost settlements around Detroit and the Great Lakes. Many of eastern Michigan's old boomtowns and sleepy villages are faded memories. Nature reclaimed the ruins of some while progress paved over the rest. Discover the stories of lost communities hidden in plain sight or just off the beaten track. The vanished religious colony of Ora Labora fell into a state of near-constant inebriation when beer became the only safe liquid to drink. Lake St. Clair swallowed up the unique currency of Belvidere along with the place that issued it. Abandoned towns still crumble within Detroit's city limits. Alan Naldrett delves into the fascinating history of eastern Michigan's lost settlements.