May 7, 2021
Five preservation projects around Michigan were honored on Thursday with Governor’s Awards for Historic Preservation, including Thunder Bay Island Light Station in Alpena County.
The annual awards program recognizes historic preservation achievements in Michigan.
The projects were awarded Governor’s Awards for Historic Preservation during a virtual ceremony hosted by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), the Michigan Economic Development Corporation announced Thursday. Communities represented by the projects include Pokagon Township, Dearborn, Flint, Detroit and Charter Township of Alpena.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to recognize the recipients of the Governor’s Awards for Historic Preservation,” said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. “These historic places, spread across the state, demonstrate our state’s unique past and reflect the innovation, resiliency and pride we all share in calling ourselves Michiganders.”
Michigan lighthouse, Model T plant among historic preservation projects honored with state award
Updated May 07, 3:36 PM;
Posted May 07, 3:36 PM
Thunder Bay Island Lighthouse in Alpena County. Photo used with permission from the State Historic Preservation Office
Facebook Share
LANSING, MICH. This week the 2021 Governor’s Awards for Historic Preservation honored the preservation work behind five Michigan historical landmarks, ranging from a lighthouse in Northeast Michigan to Detroit’s Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, the birthplace of the Model T car.
According to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), the program, now in its 18th year, celebrates “outstanding historic preservation achievements that reflect a commitment to the preservation of Michigan’s unique character and the many archaeological sites and historic structures that document our rich past.” The 2021 awards were given out during a virtual ceremony hosted by the State Historic Preservation
SHARES
A scuba diver explores the wreckage of the lost P-39Q Airacobra at the bottom of Lake Huron. Image: Erik Denson
By Yue Jiang
Capital News Service
A World War Two fighter plane that was lost in a training accident in the 1940s will be recovered and displayed, according to Wayne Lusardi, a state maritime archaeologist at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, an underwater preserve in Lake Huron.
The airplane is a P-39Q Airacobra built by Bell Aircraft Co. of Buffalo, N. Y. And it crashed in April 1944 with Lt. Frank Herman Moody, a 22-year-old Tuskegee Airman, flying it. The Tuskegee Airmen were the U.S. Army’s first Black military aviators.