1800s
Governor Cyrus G. Luce appointed Orison C. Tompkins as the first warden. The selection angered many people in the Upper Peninsula because Tompkins was from the Lower Peninsula. Tompkins’ first action was to get inmate tradesman from the prison in Jackson, Michigan so they could start construction of additional buildings. The first three prisoners, William Durno, Horace Becker, and Gust Peterson, were transferred from the prison at Jackson on June 22, 1889.
Early prisoners provided an array of nationalities. Convict #4, Alphonse Hetu, was a French-Canadian; convict #5, Paddy Brennan, was from Ireland; and convict #6, Mattis Walli, was born in Finland and sentenced from New York. Women were also sentenced to MBP at this time and their work was in the kitchen, laundry room, hospital, and hosiery mill. In 1893, women were no longer sentenced to MBP but to the Detroit House of Correction.
Read more about this topic: Marquette Branch Prison