HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
1930 Northland Hotel Restored on Lake Superior
230 N Front Street, Marquette, MI 49855
Research updated October 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Room rates vary. Check-in is 3 p.m.; check-out is 11 a.m.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Restored historic hotel with elevator
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1930 · Upper Peninsula Mining History · 1959 Anatomy of a Murder Production · Historic Hotel
Planning for the Northland Hotel began in 1916, but foundation pouring did not start until 1920 and was halted quickly due to funding shortfalls. Construction resumed in April 1929 under architect Samuel Shackford Otis, funded by George Shiras III and the stockholders of the Kambawgam Hotel Co., and the hotel opened January 2, 1930 as the Hotel Northland. It was built to serve the influx of business travelers, executives, and visitors drawn to Marquette during the Upper Peninsula iron-mining boom. The hotel anchored downtown Marquette through the mid-twentieth century.
The Northland Hotel hosted a steady roster of notable guests. Amelia Earhart stayed at the hotel in 1932 during a Midwest speaking tour. Abbott and Costello stopped here in 1942. Duke Ellington, Maya Angelou, and a long list of regional and national figures appeared in the hotel's guest registers across the decades. In 1959, much of the cast and crew of Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder lodged at the Northland while filming at the Marquette County Courthouse. Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, and George C. Scott were among the Anatomy of a Murder guests.
The hotel declined through the 1970s alongside the broader contraction of the iron-mining economy and closed in 1982. The building sat empty for more than a decade. In 1995, the historic-restoration firm Team Landmark undertook a full renovation and reopened the property as the Landmark Inn. The restoration preserved the lobby, the original ballroom, and key public spaces while updating the guest rooms.
The Landmark Inn now operates as an independent boutique property. The hotel houses Northland Gastropub and the sixth-floor Crow's Nest cocktail lounge. The hotel sits one block from Lake Superior with views over the working harbor.
Sources
The dominant Landmark Inn ghost story belongs to the Lilac Room on the sixth floor. Local tradition holds that a young librarian stayed at the Northland Hotel in the 1930s or 1940s waiting for her sailor partner to return from a Lake Superior voyage. The ship was lost in a storm. The librarian, by the tradition, never left.
Guests in the Lilac Room have reported the smell of lilac perfume in unoccupied space, lights cycling, the figure of a young woman observed standing by the window, and the sense of being watched. Staff members have reported similar phenomena in the corridor outside the room.
The specific identity of the librarian has never been documented; the story has the texture of regional Upper Peninsula folklore. Marquette's location at the entrance to Lake Superior's southern shore puts it on the shipping lanes that have produced more than five thousand documented Great Lakes shipwrecks; the broader cultural memory of lost sailors and waiting widows is woven through the region's storytelling. The Landmark Inn's version of that story is a recognizable Upper Peninsula example rather than a single documented incident.
Notable Entities
Stay at the 1930 Landmark Inn in downtown Marquette, overlooking Lake Superior. The hotel underwent a comprehensive 1995 restoration after sitting closed from 1982. The Lilac Room is the most-requested room for guests interested in the building's ghost lore.
The hotel houses Northland Gastropub and the sixth-floor Crow's Nest cocktail lounge. Both rooms preserve much of the 1930 architectural detail.
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