Construction careers in Northern Michigan were few and far between. In 1957 Wanigan Corporation started when brothers Gordon and Denny Converse decided to start their own company.
Their first job was a home on Crystal Lake, just north of Frankfort, Michigan. There were very few new homes being built around the Elk Rapids area, where they lived at the time.
The brothers first discovered the area through their parents in 1948. That was the year their parents bought property on beautiful Grand Travers Bay. The family spent vacation’s on “The Bay” along a two-track path that would eventually become Joe Marks Trail. The family lived “down state” near Birmingham. It was their father, Vernon, who taught them basic construction methods. Vernon was always buying old houses and remolding them.
“There were not many mornings that I didn’t wake up and see a table saw at the foot of my bed” – Gordon Converse
As a young boy Gordon spent several summers working in the area, picking cherries and working at the local cherry packing plant. After graduation from Alma College he married the love of his life, Joan. They immediately moved to Elk Rapids and Gordon went to work for The Super Tool Company, a local manufacturing facility utilizing his education in Methods-Time-Measurement. It didn’t take long for brother Denny to relocate to Elk Rapids too!
The Converse brothers began searching for a name for their newly formed company. A local resident, Joe Marks, hired the brothers to spruce up his small cabin. Joe would always refer to their family cabin as the families ‘WANIGAN’. Which, he said, was Native for “Cabin-In-The-Woods”. The brothers also found out it was an old lumbering term with a similar meaning. They wanted to construct many cabins in the woods, they agreed on the new name, Wanigan Corporation was off and running.
With no office and a desire to be successful, the brothers spent significant time in Gordon’s living room planning the direction of Wanigan Corporation. Through hard work and dedication to our community, the company has continued to be successful. Wanigan continues to add to the hundreds of private homes and commercial buildings we have built in Northern Michigan.
Our company celebrated its 69th anniversary on January 8th, 2026. We continue to specialize in the construction of custom homes, remodels, commercial buildings and custom projects. As the brothers always said, “if you want it with the roots planted up, we will plant it with the roots up!”
Gordon and Denny have since retired from the company. Gordon’s daughter, Connie along with husband Jeff Nault purchased the business in 2006. Both licensed builders with deep roots in our community, have passion working with clients helping realize their dreams by designing and building custom homes and custom remodeling projects. Connie and Jeff are committed to continuing “Building Your Dream Home with Quality and Pride from Concept to Completion for over 69 Years.”
Do you have a project in mind? Contact Us:
