1886 Benz helps island reaffirm its car ban

Michigan island that has banned cars since 1898 planned to mark the 125th anniversary of that decision by violating it with one of the few cars that ever would have been allowed there.

Mackinac Island, which sits between Michigan’s upper and lower peninsulas in Lake Huron, procured an 1886 Benz Motorwagen for a “re-banning” ceremony July 21. The vehicle was to be driven down the island’s normally carless Main Street to city hall, where the mayor planned to reaffirm that horseless carriages are verboten.

The three-wheeled Motorwagen was borrowed from the Gilmore Car Museum near Kalamazoo, Mich. Mackinac State Historic Parks officials say incidents involving similar vehicles led to the original ban.

Roads on Mackinac Island, a popular summer tourist destination, typically are filled only with horse-drawn carriages, bikes and pedestrians. Visitors can get there only by ferry or airplane.

Aside from several emergency vehicles stationed on the island, last week’s ceremony is one of only a few times that automobiles have made an appearance in the past century.

A ceremony in 1998 to mark the ban’s 100th anniversary featured a 1901 Geneva steam-powered car, and cars were temporarily allowed to film the movie Somewhere in Time in 1979.

The most recent case was in 2019, when then-Vice President Mike Pence became the first government official to break the ban by riding in a motorcade of eight SUVs that were ferried to the island.