Mikulich General Store
The Mikulich General Store is a commercial building located at the junction of County Roads 1 and 44 in Limestone Township, Traunik, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993 and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1987.
History
In the early 1900s, Traunik developed as the center of a large Slovenian community, who settled on land that at the time had been recently logged. In 1922 William J. Kehoe, a logging camp operator and former teacher, purchased 2.6 acres in Traunik for $75. Kehoe hired a local Native American carpenter known as "Wild Bill" Copeland to build a store on the site; construction took place in 1922–23. However, soon after the store opened, a new school was built nearby, and Kehoe resumed his teaching career. Kehoe sold the store to John Knaus Sr., who sold the store again in 1926 to Louis Mikulich Sr. In 1927, Mikulich became postmaster of Traunik and remodelled the store and opened a post office there. The Mikulich family lived on the second floor, and the store soon became the social and economic center for the community.Lousi Mikulich operated the store until 1961, when his son, Louis Mikulich Jr., took it over. Louis Mikulich Jr., operated both store and post office until 1987, when he sold it to Delayne K. Morgan. Dee and Bill Morgan spent five years rehabilitating the building, and opened "Morgan's Country Store and Museum" in 1992. The store later changed hands again, opening as "Lily's of Traunik," a cafe and health food store, in 2008. The store was sold again in 2010, and after extensive renovations and updating, reopened in September 2013 as the Mikulich General Store & Deli by David and Laura Coleman