The Boulevard Inn & Bistro

The Maids of the Mist have lived in St. Joseph for over 100 years. They have watched St. Joseph grow from a rowdy village of lumbermen and sailors to a quiet city with six municipalities branching out nearby.

The Maids of the Mist fountain was built in 1872 by the J.W. Fiske Iron Works in New York City. Upon completion, it was shipped to Chicago, where it became part of the Inter-State Industrial Exposition from 1873 to 1891.

H. E. Bucklen, then owner of the Whitcomb Hotel, purchased it for $500. and had it moved to St. Joseph in 1892. (A bargain price; it originally cost $5000.) The Maids of the Mist quickly became a St. Joseph landmark, popularly know as the "Stone Maidens". They sat in Lake Bluff Park, witness to idyllic summer days, fierce storms, innumerable ships arriving and departing, a deadly fire, and the full gamut of human experience.

In the late 1930's, local historian Calvin "Tad" Preston recalled that there once were fish and turtles in the pond surrounding the fountain.

Preston gave each of the maids a name. He said the maid facing west - who in the past 60 years had witnessed the sails of old schooners from St. Joseph's booming lumber days and the smoke-belching stacks of passenger liners on Lake Michigan - was named Constance. The other maid was named Hope for the emotion which must have possessed her as she watched St. Joseph grow and change.

By 1972, years of weather had taken its toll on the lovely Grecian ladies, children, and cherubs and the fountain was dismantled. The zinc (or zinc alloy) statues were so deteriorated that some were missing faces, arms or legs and there was little hope of restoring them.

However, Corwin Rife, curator in charge of exhibits at the Kalamazoo museum, came to the rescue. Rife said: "It has been a great challenge - it has taken a lot of experimenting and application of the try-try-again method." Working from pictures of the original fountain, he created the missing pieces and restored the classic figures to their original beauty. The fountain was completely restored by St. Joseph City and the Fort Miami Heritage Society and the ladies made their re-appearance in spring, 1974.

In the winter of 1998, vandals broke off Hope's foot and stole it. Through the efforts of Susan Wilczak, curator of the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph, and the city of St. Joseph, the maid's foot was replaced.

From Memorial Day until Labor Day, the Maids of the Mist are shrouded in gentle mist, which delightfully drifts onto anyone walking nearby. They continue their duty of watching life in St. Joseph: generations of fishermen walking the piers, summer concert music goers, throngs of art fair attendees, joggers and strollers, visitors and residents who still watch the boats arriving and departing.

Some excerpts taken from On the Banks of the Ole St. Joseph - A Selected History of the Twin Cities Area of St. Joseph and Benton Harbor, Michigan by Kathryn S. Zerler.

Weddings on the Boulevard

The Bistro

The Boulevard Inn & Bistro
521 Lake Boulevard
Saint Joseph, Michigan 49085
269.983.6600 800.875.6600
Fax 269.983.0520
info@theboulevardinn.com