Many Believe There Are Tunnels Under Michigan’s Historic Morton Hill

Benton Harbor's oldest house and building is the historic Morton family home on a hill along Territorial Road that overlooks downtown. Today it's home to a museum that chronicles area history, but is there an equally interesting history just below ground? There are rumors of tunnels that exist under Morton Hill.

According to an article in the Herald-Palladium published in 2016:

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several residents along Territorial Road, between the Morton Hill Cemetery and the Morton House Museum, started an investigation to locate the tunnels, with the help of a ground-penetrating radar rover from WorkSmart, a sub-surface imaging company based in Lawrence.

Terry Gillem, who is renovating the home known as “The Mayor’s House” at 600 Territorial Road, said he kept hearing about the tunnels after he bought the house in 2000....

One person took him into the basement of the house – built in 1904 – and showed him the door that used to lead to the tunnels.

“It was a little square small wooden door that was caving in,” he said.

Gillem said behind the door was dirt, because the tunnel had collapsed. Gillem said he rebricked the wall to cover the door.

The Morton Hill neighborhood has been somewhat gentrified as have several of the stately homes on Territorial Road through the city.

READ MORE: This Overlooked Benton Harbor Building Was Once Site of a Legendary Speakeasy

In addition to the museum in what was once the Morton family home, there are houses of a similar historic vintage along Territorial between Paw Paw and Hull Avenues. The Morton Hill neighborhood extends north along Morton, Hull and Stevens avenues passing Green and Edwards.

While it's not difficult to imagine tunnels connecting these once tight-knit neighbors, it seems if there were tunnels running underneath the stately homes of Benton Harbor's most historic neighborhood, they have sadly been lost to history.