Katie Shepard

Quick Facts

Significance:

Owner of "The Beeches" hotel on North Manitou Island.

Place of Birth:

New Orleans, Louisiana

Date of Birth:

July 8, 1868

Place of Death:

Chicago, Illinois

Date of Death:

November 2, 1935

Place of Burial:

Chicago, Illinois

Cemetery Name:

Oakwoods Cemetery

Katie Shepard standing by the well gazebo at her hotel, taken prior to 1932. The two girls she is with are unidentified. NPS Photo

Katherine Harrison Shepard was born on July 8, 1868 to Eleanor Harrison and William Louis Shepard in New Orleans, Louisiana.¹ The family lived in a boarding house there with other families.²

William, a bookkeeper for a fire insurance company, was sent to Chicago after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871. The rebuilding of the city would take years, so he settled there permanently. Shortly after that, Katie, her mother Eleanor, and her newborn brother George Palfrey Shepard moved to Chicago. Katie’s second brother, William Louis Shepard, Jr., was born after the family’s move. ²

Katie Shepard (far right) and Eleanor Shepard (far left) at a train station, possibly Chicago. Date Unknown. Courtesy of Rob Funderburg

William worked his way up in Chicago society. Besides working in fire insurance, he was involved in several organizations, including the Illinois State Sportsmen’s Association. He also served on the Chicago World’s Fair’s insurance committee.³

Typical of the time, William Shepard hired his sons to work for him at his fire insurance business. Katie, on the other hand, occupied her time by involving herself in Chicago society. This included hosting events like birthday parties and attending debutant balls.^4,5

When the Shepard family first arrived to Chicago they moved around frequently, renting apartments in different parts of the city. By the 1890s, they had situated themselves on E. 61^st St. in Hyde Park.² This was an affluent area of the city where other connected Chicagoans lived, including the Trude and Blossom families. Those families sought to create a private summer resort on North Manitou Island.⁶

The Shepard and Brayton families in Grand Haven. Katie Shepard (second from right) is with her two brothers, George (third from right) and William, Jr. (top center). Circa 1910. Courtesy of Rob Funderburg

In 1895, the Shepards joined other families in building their cottage on North Manitou in what became ‘Cottage Row’.³ At that time, ships frequently sailed through the Manitou Passage. This meant that the families could travel to the island with ease and vacation there in the summer.⁶ One of the reasons families like the Shepards wanted to spend time away from Chicago was that people were dying of diseases like typhoid fever.⁵ North Manitou Island was much cleaner and less populated, which is why it was chosen as a vacation destination.

William Shepard’s connection to the Chicago World’s Fair ended up benefitting the development of Cottage Row. Many of the structures built for the fair in Chicago were temporary, and those excess materials had to go somewhere. Some of the Cottage Row homes included materials such as wood paneling and stained-glass windows salvaged from those Chicago buildings.^5,7 When they were built, they did not have kitchens. Instead, there was a communal dining room where the cottage residents would eat their meals.

The communal dining room was purchased and then privatized by the Newhall family in 1908.⁸ It was around this time Katie Shepard turned her family’s cottage into the hotel called “The Beeches”.⁸ “The Beeches” was always the name the family had for their cottage.⁵ Katie, wanting cottage dwellers and other island visitors to have access to meals, opened the hotel to fill a need in the community.²

A photograph of the Beeches hotel, which Katie Shepard operated from 1908 to 1932. NPS Photo

The kitchen and dining room were built separate from the cottage, and had enough space for both the hotel guests and the residents of Cottage Row.⁹ Those on North Manitou who knew Katie regarded her well, and affectionately called her “Miss Katie”.¹⁰

Community was important to Katie, and she would host gatherings with the other cottage dwellers. Anyone was welcome to stop by her cottage, especially children. According to Virginia Craker Marsden, who spent years as a child on North Manitou, Katie enjoyed the company of the children when they visited. She would entertain the children with chipmunks she had trained. As Mrs. Marsden recalled of ‘Miss Katie’, “She was good to us kids.”¹¹

Katie Shepard’s hotel was important for the island economy. She employed permanent island residents at her hotel, providing jobs in the summer months.¹⁰ She also, in operating a dining room for the island, became an important market for the farmers on North Manitou.^8,9

Katie Shepard and her niece, Edna Shepard Deane, swimming together. Circa 1911. Courtesy of Rob Funderburg

Many of the Cottage Row families employed girls on the island summer homes as well. To ensure those girls received the education they deserved, some of those families took them back to their homes in Chicago.⁶ The Shepards were no exception, and are recorded as having a Norwegian girl as a ward in the 1910 census, likely from North Manitou.⁵

Outside of running the hotel on North Manitou Island, Katie Shepard was eventually hired by her father at his insurance business. Unlike most women of the day, she was not a clerk but an agent, having her own clients. By the time Katie worked at her father’s company, her brothers were working for other businesses. After her father’s death, Katie Shepard was the only agent listed at W L Shepard & Son Insurance.²

Katie Shepard was the executor of her father’s estate. It was uncommon at the time for a daughter to be in control of her father’s assets with two sons being alive. It is unknown exactly why this happened, but her role as executor indicates that she was trusted and well respected.²

A telegram sent from Katie Shepard to the Deanes after the birth of her grand-niece, Sally Shepard Deane. Dated 26 July 1929. Courtesy of Rob Funderburg

In 1932, due to failing health, Katie closed her hotel on North Manitou Island.⁵ Enjoying being away from the noise of the city, she continued to return to the island. She was recorded being in Leland in 1933.¹³ In 1934, she hosted a ‘wedding breakfast’ after the ceremony of her neighbor Louise Rhodes and her husband at her cottage.¹⁴

Katie Shepard died on November 2^nd, 1935, at the age of 67.¹⁵ She was buried in Oakwoods Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.¹ The North Manitou Island cottage was left to Katie’s niece, Edna Deane. Katie did not have any children of her own and was a loving aunt to Edna, who was her sole heir.⁵

The cottage became a burden to Edna, as it did not get as much use as it had previously.⁵ It was eventually sold to the Manitou Island Association, which owned it until Sleeping Bear Dunes acquired North Manitou Island and its properties in 1984.⁶

Preservation and restoration efforts have been underway on the now named “Katie Shepard Hotel” to keep Katie’s legacy alive.

Source:

1. “Entry for Katherine Harrison Shepard, Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1871-1998", FamilySearch, (Katherine Harrison Shepard, "Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1871-1998"). Accessed 27 Jan. 2025
2. Funderburg, Rob. Descendent of the Shepard family. Personal interview. 12 Feb. 2025
3. Fire Underwriters, The Inter Ocean, 4 Sep. 1889, page 7. Sep 04, 1889, page 7 - The Inter Ocean at Newspapers.com
4. "SOCIETY." Chicago Daily Tribune (1872-1922), 17 Sep. 1895, p. 13. ProQuest. Web. 18 Feb. 2025. SOCIETY. - ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune - ProQuest
5. Funderburg, Rob. Descendent of the Shepard family. Personal interview. 20 Feb. 2025
6. Sadowski, Stacie Longwell. “Cottage Row: A North Manitou Community” Michigan History, Jul/Aug 2022, pp. 42-47.
7. Hollister, Josephine Alford. Letter to David L. Fritz. Former cottage dweller. 15 Jan. 1986
8. MacDonald, Eric with Arnold R. Alanen. Tending a ‘Comfortable Wilderness’. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Midwest Field Office, Omaha, Nebraska [Omaha: NPS], 2000, pp. 223-226.
9. Sadowski, Stacie Longwell. “Pounders and Painters: Restoring the Katie Shepard Hotel” Michigan History, Nov/Dec 2021, pp. 58-59.
10. Rusco, Rita Hadra. North Manitou Island: Between Sunrise and Sunset. Sheridan Books, 1991.
11. “Voices of North Manitou Series: Virginia Craker Marsden.” YouTube, uploaded by Two Weeks in a Hammock, 1 Apr. 2023, www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHIMioFxtts.
12. “News Around the County.” Leelanau Enterprise, 14 Jul. 1932, page 4. Leelanau Enterprise 14 July 1932 — Digital Michigan Newspapers Collection
13. “Local Briefs.” Leelanau Enterprise, 17 Aug. 1933, page 1. Leelanau Enterprise 17 August 1933 — Digital Michigan Newspapers Collection
14. "Marriage Announcement 2 -- no Title." Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963), 18 Aug. 1934, p. 13. ProQuest. Web. 18 Feb. 2025. Marriage Announcement 2 -- No Title - ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune - ProQuest
15. "Obituary 1 -- no Title." Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963), 03 Nov. 1935, p. 20. ProQuest. Web. 12 Feb. 2025. Obituary 1 -- No Title - ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chicago Tribune - ProQuest