This Second Empire style mansion was built in the 1870s by Doctor Joseph Loop. A native of New York, Loop moved to Oakland County, Michigan, in 1843. He and his wife, Jane Gardner Loop pioneered this land in Sanilac County in 1854, and after graduating from the University of Michigan’s medical department in 1855, he opened a practice in Port Sanilac. When this home was built, he kept an office on the lower floor, and serviced a forty-mile circuit, bringing medical care to much of the county.

Sudden tragedy struck the Great Lakes on November 9, 1913, when a storm, whose equal veteran sailors could not recall, left in its wake death and destruction.

The Sanilac Masonic Lodge was organized in 1868. In 1883 lodge members and township officials agreed to build a combined township and Masonic hall on land donated by Christopher Odfield, a Mason. The foundation was built with three-foot-thick walls to provide refuge from future forest fires. When the cornerstone was laid on July 1, 1884, crowds turned out for the event, which was highlighted by Masonic ritual.

The Sanilac County Historic Village and Museum is a collection of more than a dozen historic buildings located on ten acres of the original Dr. Joseph Loop estate in the Lake Huron harbor village of Port Sanilac. The Sanilac County Historical Society invites you to step back in time as you wander through the beautiful gardens and the Victorian, Edwardian, and vintage buildings and exhibits that are featured on the property.