Early Years
In 1969 the Kaleva Historical Society was formed by members of the community that wanted to preserve the heritage and history of family, church, and community. Around 1900 when the first Finnish families moved to Kaleva they arrived to pine stumps and blow sand. Many that could afford to cut their loses and return to their homes did, but those who could not leave made the best of the what they had. By treasuring family, church and community and with a bit of SISU (Finnish for strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity) the founding families of Kaleva worked hard to persevere and erect a town from nothing.
From that proud heritage came the group of people who formed the Kaleva Historical Society. The first Historical Museum was housed in a room of the former Kaleva Jr. High School.
Bottle House Museum
Open Sat & Sun Noon- 4pm from Memorial Day to Labor Day &
Saturdays Only Noon-4 through end of October.
In 1983 a unique home, built out of 60,000 glass bottles, became available at the death of the last members of the John Makinen family. He had built the home using leftovers from his pop bottling factory in 1941. It was designed with artistic placement of the many different colored bottles and already was a tourist draw. With fund raising efforts by the community, the Kaleva Historical Society was able to purchase the property from the John Makinen family and thus established its new and permanent home. Every item was faithfully inventoried, preserved and displayed and over the years visitors from all over the world came to appreciate the history of the area through these artifacts. The Bottle House is listed on the National Historic Register.
Railroad Depot Museum
Open Saturdays Noon- 4pm from Memorial Day through October
In the late 1800's the original train depot was built in the area known as Manistee Crossing. The Chicago & West Michigan Railroad and Manistee & Northeastern Railroad where looking for the quickest route to Traverse City it was here the Depot was built. The M&NE shipped the white pines to Manistee. After the land was stripped of pine the Manistee & Northeastern hired a land dealer to sell the "worthless" land. The town and the streets were named after the epic Finnish poem, the Kalevala. In 1904 the depot burned down along with all the stores on main street. In 1908 the present depot was built. In 1970 when the railroads quit running in Kaleva the village was able to save the Depot from being torn down. (As that is what the railroads typically did when lines were no longer in service.) In 1996 the service learning class from Brethren High School restored the Depot and in the 1998 the Depot Railroad Museum opened to the public. The RR museum houses a collection artifacts about the history of railroads and their impact on Kaleva. The village of Kaleva has since then bought and restored a M&NE Switch engine as seen in the photo above. This engine and it's twin (Still in use in Manistee) were the last switch engines to be used before the end of rail service to Kaleva.
Project Kaleva
In 1998 the Project Kaleva committee was formed to support the Brethren High School student's work helping Kaleva build community pride. Over the years Project Kaleva has worked with Service Learning Classes to restore the Railroad Depot, Asiala family cabin, to create the Kaleva Centennial Walkway, the Grasshopper, and the eagle, and many other projects.
Project Kaleva has since been disbanded, as now the Kaleva Historical Society continues many of the activities like the Summer Solstice celebration (Juhannus) and the Winter Solstice celebration during which nearly 600 luminaries are placed on graves at Maple Grove Twp. Cemetery in Kaleva.
Log Cabin Theater
The Asiala family cabin was brought to town and restored by the students in Service Learning Program at Brethren High School. The cabin was built around 1908 when the Asiala family came to Kaleva. It was originally located near Wilson Road and now sits on a lot owned by the village of Kaleva between Walta Ave and Panu Ave. Since 1999 the community has been able to enjoy free entertainment each Friday during the month of August.
2009 Log Cabin Theater Entertainment
4 Fridays in August at 7 pm
Aug. 07 - Power Play
Aug. 14 - The Nephews
Aug. 21 - Blue Water Ramblers
Aug. 28 - Must be Your Feet
The Railroad Depot Museum, Log Cabin Outdoor Theater, Bottle House Museum, Kaleva Art Gallery, Kaleva Heritage Days, the Finnish Line Walk/Run, Juhannus or mid-summer day celebration, are all supported in part by the Historical Society and Project Kaleva. Many people from within the area and from surrounding communities enjoy participating in these activities.
The Kaleva Historical Society is completely funded by donations from the public. If you would like to donate to the Kaleva Historical Society to help continue our activies or would like to volunteer, please contact us.
Kaleva Historical Society
14551 Wuoksi Ave. P.O. Box 252
Kaleva, Michigan 49645
(231) 362-2080
