Jail and Sheriff's Residence

This structure served as the Cheboygan County sheriff’s residence and jail from 1880 to 1969. The building originally had seven cells. Faced with overcrowding, the county built an additional sixteen cells in 1912. During the local lumber boom (1860-1920) drunken rowdy lumbermen sobered up in the jail. The inmates often did chores in exchange for their bed and meals prepared by the sheriff’s wife. In 1972 the building became a museum devoted to Cheboygan County history. Of all the lawmen who lived in this building, Sheriff Frederick Ming (1865-1943) was the most notorious. He was a farmer, a veterinarian, and a state legislator who fought for the tuberculosis sanatorium in Gaylord. As sheriff, however, in October 1900, Ming forced the Burt Lake Indian people from their homes at Indian Village and stood by with his deputies while land speculator John McGinn burned the village in a land grab. The burnout left most of the Indian people homeless and impoverished.