The Great Escape

Around 1900, trolleys and automobiles in southeast Michigan greatly expanded travel for many people and cut the trip from Detroit to Sylvan Lake's natural beauty and attractions to about an hour. In the early 1890s, entrepreneur Merrill B. Mills laid out hundreds of acres of his Sylvan Lake property as streets, subdivisions, and the luxurious Sylvan Lake Inn. He also created a local connection to the regional trolley system, drawing visitors and investors to the community he was developing. Garland Avenue became a boulevard because trolleys ran down the center of the street until their removal in 1928.

Sylvan Lake, Michigan · United States