Besser Museum
is a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization.
The Besser Museum is a 501 (c)(3), non-profit, membership corporation stewarded by its own Board of Trustees.
The museum receives no continuing financial support from federal, state, or local government entities or millage.
Operational support is generated through admission fees, membership dues, awarded grants and donations.
Besser Museum is an accrediated museum by the American Alliance of Museums.
Our vision is a community that can explore the dynamic story of Northeast Michigan's interconnected natural resources and cultural heritage
through the ability to navigate the past, illuminate the present, and imagine the future.
Lumbering Era
1857- 1920
Alpena was founded on the purchase of timber lands. Four partners, George N. Fletcher, James K. Lockwood, John Oldfield and John S. Minor, carved out the town at the mouth of the Thunder Bay River to transport timber to Great Lakes markets.
The area was a rich resource and the area grew quickly as workers and new lumbermen rushed to get a piece of a lucrative timber pie. What began with about 2 million board feet of timber in 1860 peaked at nearly 220 million board feet in 1889.
