The Landmark Building / Kilwin’s

Location: 152 Butler Street, Saugatuck
Date: 1878

Built by Saugatuck’s Odd Fellows Lodge men, the Landmark Building was the village’s most impressive and modern structure to date. It still stands at the southwest corner of Butler and Mason Streets, though some of its former Italianate splendor is in need of restoration. Claimed at the time to be “the crowning glory of Saugatuck” and “an ornament to the village,” this building is most famous in local history as the place where Susan B. Anthony, the Woman’s rights and temperance reformer, delivered a rallying cry for her causes. One result of her visit was that six of the village’s fourteen saloons were shut down. The ground floor housed retail premises and for many years was a dry-goods business; Saugatuck’s first bank was also located there. A public dance hall and Masonic Lodge occupied the second floor, the Odd Fellows met on the third floor, and a German orchestra used one of the upper floors for its concerts in the 1880s. Local legend has it that the Landmark’s first owner had a guard dog that ate the clothing store’s stock of fur coats. The building’s most recent occupant is Kilwin’s, the popular ice cream and candy store.