The King Strang Hotel sits behind a roadside fence in St. James on Beaver Island, with a big porch wrapped around the second floor and an early automobile parked out front.
Despite the “King” name, the building didn’t start out that way. Michigan Public reports the hotel was built in 1901 as the Beaver Hotel, then renamed in the 1930s by owner Everett Cole for James Jesse Strang — the 1800s religious leader who called himself king of Beaver Island. Today, tour materials for Beaver Island describe the building as privately owned condominiums.
Do you remember this hotel — or have an old postcard from Beaver Island tucked away in a drawer?
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