Old Art Building: 100 Years of Magic in Leland

A love story

By Brighid Driscoll | Jan. 1, 2022

What happened to all the magic?

There are still practicing magicians in this day and age, of course, but entertaining audiences with magic is not nearly as popular as it was 100 years ago.

In the early 1900s — aka the “Golden Age of Magic” — magicians toured extensively and sold out shows easily. They didn’t skip the out-of-the-way outpost of northwest Lower Michigan either. In fact, one woman changed Leland forever by bringing a magic everlasting to Fishtown — and to one building in particular: the Old Art Building.

Turning 100 years old this year, the community space is doing what it’s always done: providing locals with arts, entertainment, and education opportunities.

“Right now we’re hosting our Snow Show Exhibition, and it’s wonderful because it gives our members a chance to display their artwork,” says Executive Director Becky Ross. Not only does the gallery event give members a place to show their work, it’s also an opportunity to sell it and support the OAB. A full 80 percent of proceeds goes back to the artists, and the other 20 goes toward supporting the OAB.

Events like these are commonplace at the OAB, but none of it would exist if it weren’t for a woman by the name of Allie Mae Best.

POOF … REWIND IN TIME
In the late 1890s, when she met a magic man by the name of Walter T. Best, Allie Mae was a sweet, small-town girl living in St. Charles, Illinois. With a name like that and charm like his, Allie Mae was quickly smitten. Walter was an up and comer on the touring magician circuit, and the first magician to be signed to a Chautauqua show.

Chautauqua was an adult education and social-cultural movement that was born in the lake resort community of Chautauqua County, New York, and spread across the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by educators, explorers, preachers, scientists, artists, and musicians. Their mission: to educate, entertain, and inspire the masses.

Walter's magic act wasn't typical Chautauqua fare, but his charisma and talent earned him a spot on the Chautauqua touring circuit. “There would have been other types of entertainment, but not a magic show. So, he was the first to achieve that,” says Mary Stewart, a former OAB board member.

Walter and Allie married in 1899. “It was a big deal. It was kind of like having Jack Benny marry a local girl,” Stewart says. She doesn’t exaggerate. By 1906, Walter T. Best — also known by his stage name, Maro Prince of Magic — was the highest-earning magician in the U.S. and his fame was on par with Houdini’s.

However, the good times would not last. In 1908, while touring the East Coast, Walter caught Typhoid, which he died from in three weeks’ time. Allie was back at their summer home in Leland when he fell ill and was heartbroken by his death. In 1909, she began a women’s club, lovingly named after her husband. The Walter T. Best Women’s Club was part of a larger movement of clubs that sprang up around the United States between the 1870s and 1920s and gave women an outlet outside of the home to use and hone their skills.

“These kinds of women’s clubs were all over the country,” says Board President Dan Lisuk. “They gave women an opportunity to take an active role in their communities.”

The typical meeting provided some kind of entertainment, whether it was reciting poetry, playing instruments, or singing. They also worked on craft projects. The women of the Walter T. Best Women’s Club came from all kinds of backgrounds. There were college-educated women as well as farmers' wives, united by their hunger for knowledge, arts, and culture. Meetings were held in the afternoon and discussion often revolved around how the club would fundraise for a space where they could host Chatauqua events and bring outside culture to the Leland community.

With years of fundraising behind it, what we now know as the Old Art Building was completed in 1922 and for 17 years the building hosted artists, musicians, and orators of all sorts. “There was a lot of folk art, folk music, folklore being spoken,” says Ross. “And people who lived here got to experience it, some for the first time.”

A DREAM DEFERRED
Those happy, early years came to a halt when the Great Depression settled in, and by 1939, Allie Mae decided it best to donate the building to Michigan State University. MSU used the building for summer students to take art classes. The program operated until the late ’80s, when it closed due to dwindling enrollment.

Interest in the building came to the forefront again when it was being considered for development a few years later. “There were rumors that it was going to be sold,” says Sally Biggs, who in 1994 teamed up with a woman named Amy Chattfield; a local couple, Bobbie and Ed Collins; and a few others founded a nonprofit called the Leelanau Cultural Community Center to save the building.

“The LC3 we called it,” Biggs recalls. Several LCCC members, along with Lisuk, struck a deal with MSU to rent the building at the hefty price of $1 every 10 years. A board was formed, staff was hired, and arts and educational programming returned to the Old Art Building under the care of the LCCC.

Though the rent was cheap, the love, care, and raised funds that were poured into the Old Art Building drove desire for the LCCC to purchase it. MSU was reluctant, but hope and a little perseverance go a long way, says Ross.

“Our last big fundraiser was in 2020. With what we raised, we were able to buy the building,” Ross says. The building doesn’t look too different from its original self.

ABRACADABRA
Upon entering the auditorium, art is displayed on the wooded walls, and a stage with heavy, red velvet curtains stands at the back.

In the back office, a box of wooden ornaments sits unpainted. “This is an upcoming art project for the kids,” administrative assistant Abby Chattfield says. The ornaments go on the Christmas trees outside of the OAB, and for one weekend will be accompanied by s’mores and visiting reindeer.

Public events like these are abundant at the OAB. There are endless opportunities to get involved, whether it be an art workshop, craft class, concert, or friend’s wedding. “I know people who have gotten married here, had birthday parties and college graduations here. I think that ties into that community feeling. People each have their own memories here,” says Chattfield.

There are only more memories to be made. To celebrate 100 years, the OAB will be adding a little extra to all of their planned fundraisers and events for 2022. “We don’t want people to get sick of us talking about it,” Ross says. “100 years!”

If we look hard enough, we can find magic in the corners of our own lives — when the snow floats instead of falls, finding that missing thing that’s been given up on, a wink between lovers.

Ellie Mae found it throughout her life and had the good sense to encourage that wonder in others.

“Ellie Mae actually returned to Leland in 1947,” Stewart says. “She came to attend the sixth annual summer school exhibition. There were 284 registered attendees, her name among them. She signed the registry — Mrs. A. Maro.”