Story and photos by Stewart A. McFerran
The legacy of Henry Starke is Arcadia, the town on Lake Michigan that was once called Starkeville. He laid out the streets and built a boarding house where those building the town could stay. They cut the trees and started the blades spinning at a sawmill that stood at the edge of Bar Lake, now known as Arcadia Lake. Henry Starke was one of the founders of the Lutheran community in Arcadia that raised the steeple of the church on Third Street.
The 1,000-foot pier that once extended into Lake Michigan is gone, as is the railroad that connected the village to Copemish. The harbor Starke built remains, as does the railroad grade at the site of the popular Arcadia Marsh Preserve trail.
In the “The History of Arcadia,” it is stated: “Mr. Starke, whose ambition was to aid in establishing a flourishing and prosperous community . . . was not actuated by the mere accumulation of wealth, but by a broader and more philanthropic motive.”
Henry Starke’s great-great grandson, Curt Burkhead, still lives in Arcadia. He has a summer home on Starke Point. I asked him what Henry Starke’s greatest challenge was while establishing Arcadia.
“I would say founding a Lutheran town, church, school, (and) business that had at its core the Lutheran faith…The stained-glass windows in the little Lutheran church in Arcadia, I think, were imported from Germany; they are gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous German stained glass.”
“The History of Arcadia” points out that Henry Starke owned most all the land in Arcadia in the 1890s. I asked Burkhead about the eight acres he owns on Starke Point and what had happened to the rest of the acreage his great-great grandfather Starke owned.
“Charles J. Starke (Henry’s son) gave all that land for that church camp, (Camp Arcadia, in 1922), all the way up to the north end of the church camp. That’s almost a mile of lakefront ….”
Burkhead said he ended up with the house in Arcadia. In the early ’60s, his grandfather Bob Starke sold the remaining land to four purchasers. The DeVos family bought the south bluff. What Burkhead calls the “island” (Starke Point) was sold to Bob Lucas, a developer, who subdivided the point into 40 lots.
“I would sit out under the big oak trees with my grandfather,” Burkhead began. “I asked him why he sold off all this land. His answer to me was, ‘This is a very poor community.’ He said, ‘This town was on the verge of dying.’
“For 50 years the channel had been filled in with sand, because the federal government decided not to dredge it out. He said, ‘I wanted to do something for the township. If these developers can build some houses, it will give employment to drywallers, plumbers, electricians and roofers and landscapers.’ That’s what he told me directly.”
Today, many structures along Arcadia’s shores – personal residences, historic structures and Sunset Station at the end of Lake Street – are threatened by record-setting high water levels in Lake Michigan.
Along the edge of the Arcadia Harbor – where Henry Starke once loaded lumber onto sailboats, such as the Minnehaha – lies the road to Starke Point. The road now spans the gap that was the original outlet to Lake Michigan. That outlet was formed by the energy of the waves and the current of Bowens Creek. The shifting stream was filled in when Henry Starke built the present channel into Arcadia Lake in 1893.
The road is the only access to Burkhead’s farmhouse and the approximately 30 homes on Starke Point, between Lake Arcadia and Lake Michigan. The low dune on the isthmus between Arcadia Harbor and Lake Michigan is slumping. During the past year, First Street residents with homes opposite Grebe Park gained a view of Lake Michigan beyond the steadily eroding dune.
A breach in the isthmus that connects Starke Point is possible this winter. If that happens, waves from Lake Michigan would roll right into the harbor. (Editor’s note: Lake Michigan water levels have decreased as of January.)
“I am scared to death that there is going to be a breach at the north end of my property,” Burkhead said.
Steel pilings were put in next to the road. They were paid for by the Starke Point Homeowner Association.
“I contributed (to that effort). The road is owned by the Muldavin family, but there is an easement (for the residents of Starke point).”
Burkhead armored his own beach property with rock this summer.
“It was a 10-week project – 2,000 tons of limestone, 3,000 cubic yards of sand, with approvals up and down.”
Kraig Geers, president of the Starke Point Homeowners Association, is also concerned about a breach at the narrow point where the road crosses.
“It got within 15 feet of our road,” Geers said.
The conditions that will lead to a breach are well underway. The process of erosion may speed up due to high water in Lake Michigan. The shore to the south and north of Starke Point Road has been armored with rock and steel. While steel walls and rock deflect the energy of waves, they also lead to increased erosion on nearby beaches.
What Henry Starke’s great-great grandson calls the “island” could truly become an island if winter storms on Lake Michigan wash away the narrow dune.
Burkhead has been in touch with the archivist at Camp Arcadia. When the water level is high, sand becomes liquefied. Liquefied sand loses its ability to support heavy things, such as roads and buildings. That is why Camp Arcadia is raising funds to remove water from the sand located under camp buildings. There is more at stake than mere structures. Camp Arcadia was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.
Burkhead said the folks at Camp Arcadia are “sweating bullets” too.
“They just put in (a) pump-out water system to keep water out of the common buildings.”
Camp Director Chip May confirmed this.
“We are pumping about 1,200 gallons a minute into Lake Michigan,” May said.
Back in the day, Burkhead’s grandfather said that the major employer in Arcadia had been the furniture factory he ran.
“There was a bank, a drug store, a barber shop, a food store, a couple saloons and a hotel,” Burkhead said.
Then the steel tracks were torn up and the factory was closed. The harbor closed, a result of sand build-up in the channel. Things were bleak in the 1960s when he sold off the property.
At the time, the post office was established in Starkeville.
“The post office department suggested changing the name to Arcadia,” it was stated in “The History of Arcadia”.
According to conventional wisdom, Arcadia is a land where a rustic people live in harmony in a beautiful setting. Henry Starke hoped for a harmonious community in the Pleasant Valley that opens to Lake Michigan. While sands shift under Arcadia and the water rises, the bells still ring out from the steeple of the Lutheran church, reminding all of Henry Starke’s legacy.
Stewart A. McFerran seeks to illuminate environmental issues in an historic context. As with his investigations into earthen dams, sand dunes and fisheries, he hopes readers will gain an understanding of and insight into ways people interact with their environment.
