Dance Halls and Full Dress Balls: Great Lakes in the Gilded Age | North Coast Chronicles

March 24, 2022

The past will find us all at Grand and Pfister hotels!

North Coast Chronicles Podcast: Tales from the Great Lakes with host Helen Brohl, swings into Spring with "Dance Halls and Full Dress Balls:  Great Lakes in the Gilded Age.”  The Gilded Age in American history was the short period after the Civil War to just after the turn of the century.  Mr. Bob Tagatz, resident historian from the Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island, Michigan and Ms. Leslie Heinrichs, Archivist for Marcus Corporation, the company that owns the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, share the extraordinary history of these two iconic hotels built in the late 1800's and still operating today. More than places of business and respite, the Grand Hotel and the Pfister tell the story of high society, extraordinary opulence, and the sojourn via trains and boats from big cities which, in many ways, built the foundation of our appreciation of the Great Lakes today.

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Helen Brohl

Helen Brohl is a Great Lakes gal, having grown up on the south shore of Lake Erie and a lifetime of summers on Middle Bass Island. Helen understands the Great Lakes as a valuable resource with a Master's Degree from The Ohio State University in Great Lakes Land and Water Use Policy and as an economic engine for the nation with almost 40 years of experience in maritime transportation and trade development. Helen previously worked as professional staff on the U.S. Congressional House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, with NOAA's Office of Coast Management, did trade development for the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, was the Director of Marketing for the Port of Chicago, the Executive Director of the U.S. Great Lakes Shipping Association, and retired in January 2023 after almost 17 years as the Executive Director of the U.S. Committee on the Marine Transportation System in Washington, DC. Follow along as Helen shares the nature, folk lore, and charm of the Great Lakes!