Traverse City’s Grand Traverse Commons: how a former state asylum became a village, and how to tour its 1883 steam tunnels

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The spired, cream-brick buildings on Traverse City’s west side began as the Northern Michigan Asylum, opened by the state in 1885. More than a century later, they make up one of the largest historic redevelopment projects in the country, and visitors can walk through much of it on a guided tour.

The history. The state hospital served about 50,000 patients, employed 20,000 people and drew 250,000 visitors before it closed, according to Grand Traverse County. It was a self-contained community that grew its own food and generated its own power. The state effectively abandoned it in 1988, the county says, leaving deteriorating buildings with lead and asbestos.

The core historic buildings were transferred to the Minervini Group, a private developer, while land around them became city, township and jointly owned parkland, including Historic Barns Park. The county says the work has produced condos, affordable rentals, more than a dozen shops, nine restaurants and dozens of offices, and won the Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation in 2011.

“Beauty is therapy.” Tours explain the philosophy of the hospital’s first superintendent, Dr. James Decker Munson, who believed fresh air, gardens and handsome architecture helped patients heal.

Tours. The Village lists a 2-hour guided walking tour for $30 that includes an unrenovated patient cottage and the brick steam tunnel built in 1883; a 90-minute building and tunnel tour, also $30; and an evening Asylum Twilight Tour for $35 for ages 16 and up. A 1-hour indoor tour of Building 50 is offered December through May for $20. Most tours are limited to ages 12 and older, involve about a mile of walking and are not wheelchair accessible, the Village says. Dates are posted one to two months ahead.

Visiting. The Mercato in Building 50’s lower level and the surrounding grounds are open to the public. For a free look at the tunnels, the Village’s Deer Widow’s Weekend on Nov. 14-15 includes complimentary tunnel tours.

Sources:
Grand Traverse County, “Grand Traverse Commons” (site history, redevelopment, award), https://www.gtcountymi.gov/444/Grand-Traverse-Commons
The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, tours (tour types, prices, ages, 1883 steam tunnel, Munson’s “Beauty is Therapy”), https://www.thevillagetc.com/tour
The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, “Deer Widow’s Weekend – 2026,” https://www.thevillagetc.com/events/deer-widow-2025-1-elk3m
Photo: Andrew Jameson, “NorthernMichiganAsylumCTraverseCityMI.JPG,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NorthernMichiganAsylumCTraverseCityMI.JPG

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Tags: Traverse City · Grand Traverse Commons · History · Historic Tours · Things to Do