Friedrich Denny Larke was one of the founders of Rogers
City.  An immigrant from England who had worked as a fur
trader for the Hudson Bay Company for a season, Larke first
came here in 1868 as a member of a government survey party
headed by William Rogers, for whom the community
was eventually named.  Other members of the survey party
included John Raymond, a young French-Canadian, and
Albert Molitor, a German immigrant of aristocratic bearing
who had served as an artillery officer in the Civil War. 

When, in 1869, Rogers and Molitor purchased a large
parcel of land at what is now Rogers City and formed the
Rogers-Molitor Lumber Company, Larke went to work for
them.  One of his first duties was to recruit a large number of
German and Polish immigrants to come north to work as
lumberjacks and run the company’s sawmill.

In 1876, the talented Larke started the county’s first
newspaper, the Presque Isle County Advance, which still
serves the community today.  Large also started Larke’s
Drug Store at the corner of Third Street and Huron
Avenue, in the building now occupied by Grulke Hardware. 

Nobody was a stronger advocate for Rogers City
than Friedrich Denny Larke.  He fought to make Rogers
City the county seat, he tried on numerous occasions
to develop a commercial limestone quarry on the present site
of the Calcite Plant, and he fought to have a railroad line
extended into town.  His children, grandchildren, and
great-grandchildren have continued his legacy of community
involvement.

On the left wall of the Larke Bedroom is a striking
photo of Larke and his wife, the former Augusta Streich.