Standing atop a small knoll along the highway between Detroit and Chicago, the Twin Towers of Irish Hills in Lenawee County, in Southeast Michigan, was a beacon to weary travellers when it opened in 1924. The top of the towers are 1,400 feet above sea level, making them the highest point in southeastern Michigan. On a clear day visitors can see for seven miles around the beautiful green Irish hills and its many surrounding lakes.

The towers have an interesting history. In the early 1920s, a new outfit called the Michigan Observation Company was erecting 50-foot tall towers all around the state in order to boost tourism. It came to Irish Hills in 1924, and seeking to erect a similar tower in a high ground property next to the highway, it approached the property owner, a man named Ed Kelley, with an offer. But Ed Kelley wasn’t interested in commercializing his property, so he refused.

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