Charles W. Chesnutt to Andrew Merlack, 16 June 1931
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June 16, 1931
Mr. Andrew Merlack,
Baldwin, Michigan.
Dear Mr. Merlack:
We are expecting to leave here for Idlewild1 next Monday night, June 22nd, going by boat to Detroit, and arriving in Idlewild Tuesday afternoon or evening, June 23rd. I have written to the Michigan Public Service Company at Ludington2 and to Mr. Myers at Scottville,3 asking them to have the power on by that date.4
Please open up the house and put on the shutters, as usual, see that the tank in the attic is clean, and that the pump is in working order, and get the boat down to the pier. If the pier has been put out of order by the ice during the winter, please fix it up.
Hoping to see you next week, I remain,
Sincerely yours, CWC:ESCorrespondent: Andrew Merlack (1875–1945) was a Polish immigrant who came to the United States in 1903 with his wife Josephine and worked as a carpenter. He moved to Baldwin, Michigan, in 1918, built his own home outside of town, and worked as a contractor and builder. While it is not known whether he built the Chesnutts' house in Idlewild, he was employed for several years by them to make improvements and repairs to the property in between their summer visits.
1. After discovering it in 1921, the Chesnutts spent every summer in Idlewild, in Lake County, MI, about 380 miles west of Cleveland. Idlewild was a popular lakeside resort for hundreds of Black families from the urban Midwest from the 1910s to the 1960s, when racism excluded them from many White resort towns. In the spring of 1924, Chesnutt purchased a plot of land, and had a lakeside vacation home built (14240 Lake Drive; completed in 1926). [back]
2. The Michigan Public Service Company was a private company that provided electricity to a number of rural communities in western Michigan. Consolidated from 1890s predecessors in 1923 and incorporated in 1927, it had an office in Ludington, Michigan. It had only been providing power to Idlewild since 1929. [back]
3. Lina E. Myers (1887–1936) was an electrician for the Michigan Public Service Company based in Scottville, a small town near Ludington, Michigan, about 30 miles from Idlewild. [back]
4. See Chesnutt's June 16 letter to the Michigan Public Service Company. [back]
