Catherine Nolan Bonifas (1864 – 1948) was an early resident and major benefactor of the city of Escanaba in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Biography
Catherine Nolan was born on May 15, 1864, in County Carlow, Ireland. She was born to a Catholic family and remained a devout believer throughout her life. As a teenager in a poor family, Catherine immigrated to Michigan after finding a job as a maid at a logging camp on Garden Peninsula.
Marriage
Her future husband William Bonifas was born on May 9, 1864, in Beringen, Luxembourg, just six days before her own birth in Ireland. Bill migrated to the United States with very little money and quickly became a lumberjack in the Upper Peninsula, ending up at the same logging camp where Catherine worked as a maid. The two were married in 1894.
The couple founded the William Bonifas Logging Company soon after, buying 40 acres of timberland in hopes of supplying Kimberly-Clark Paper Company in Neenah, Wisconsin. After watching Kimberly-Clark sell his wood to General Motors for use as the wooden panels on their station wagons, William Bonifas purchased stock in both General Motors and Kimberly-Clark before 1900.
In 1899, the couple opened their home to a young schoolteacher named Mary E. Hogan who had moved to the area to teach at a country school on the Garden Peninsula. The local priest introduced her to the Bonifases as she needed room and board, and the couple readily agreed to take her in. Catherine quickly hired her to manage their logging company's financials after noticing her intelligence and organizational skills, as William was illiterate. Mary became an integral part of the company for decades, residing with Catherine and William for the majority of her time there. Notably, she advised William in what eventually became the most successful business venture of his life: investing in International Cellucotton Products Corporation, the creators of Kleenex and Kotex. That investment alone increased the Bonifas fortune more than their own company or any other partnership or investment. Though it cannot be confirmed for certain, her relationship with Mary E. Hogan likely led to Catherine's later decision to designate a sizable portion of her fortune to the construction of an elementary school in Garden.
The couple sold the William Bonifas Logging Company to Kimberly-Clark in 1927 for $250,000, and William became their Vice President of Timber Operations. As they got older, Catherine and Bill Bonifas were known for wintering in Miami Beach, Florida, to avoid the cold weather. William Bonifas retired in June 1936, approximately five months before he died.
Bonifas Lodge
In 1910, the William Bonifas Logging Company expanded west to Watersmeet and Marenisco and founded the company town of Bonifas nearby. The small settlement still exists, just north of Watersmeet in Ottawa National Forest. A small creek nearby is known as Bonifas Creek.
The couple purchased land on Lake Gogebic in the early 1920s, officially completing work on the "Bonifas Lodge" in 1927 for a total cost of $75,000. William built the lodge himself, using hardwood from his sawmill in Marenisco before a road to his property had been built, so all of the logs had to be slid across the ice and floated across the lake. The property stretches across a mile of Lake Gogebic and features a three-acre trout pond, four cabins, a boathouse, an art studio, and a workshop, in addition to the 15,000 sq. ft. lodge.
Shortly after construction was completed, William and Catherine hosted the DuPonts at Bonifas Lodge. Other early guests to the property included Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey S. Firestone. Though William died in 1936 before getting much use out of the property, Catherine entertained there until the end of her life, as Bonifas Lodge had accommodations for more than twenty guests.
Philanthropy
The couple had no children, allowing them to liberally share their wealth as they saw fit. In 1909, they contributed funds to the creation of a new town newspaper. Originally called The Morning Press due to its delivery time, the publication was renamed The Escanaba Daily Press after pushing back delivery times in 1922. The paper became simply The Daily Press in 1978 to reflect their expansion to other counties. The Daily Press continues to operate in Escanaba today as the primary newspaper for Delta, Schoolcraft, and Menominee Counties.