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History & Culture

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History & Culture notes

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Hubbard Lake was the 'Bottomless Lake' until a geologist got it named One of Michigan's largest inland lakes was called the Bottomless Lake by early settlers, then renamed in 1867 for state geologist Bela Hubbard.
Hubbardston's Irish parish on the hill Irish families built a chapel near Hubbardston in 1853 and the present St. John the Baptist Church in 1868-69; the historic parish complex is nationally listed.
Hudson's library started with a letter to Andrew Carnegie In 1903 a Hudson man wrote to steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who sent $10,000 to build the town's library, dedicated in 1905 with the U-M president speaking.
Hudsonville Ice Cream started as a farmers' co-op for milk Hudsonville Ice Cream grew out of an 1895 dairy cooperative, began scooping in 1926, and now runs its big plant in Holland after stops in Burnips.
Ida's old stagecoach tavern had a ballroom upstairs A German immigrant built the Peter Seitz Tavern on the Custer plank toll road near Ida in 1856 — lodging and a bar below, a second-floor dance hall above for stagecoach travelers and farmers alike.
Imlay is named for a Connecticut man who reportedly never set foot here William H. Imlay, a Connecticut businessman, bought up forest land in the 1830s; the township organized in 1850 took his name, and the railroad village platted in 1870 became Imlay City — though Imlay himself is said never to have visited.
In Ovid you can change counties without leaving Main Street The city of Ovid straddles the Clinton–Shiawassee county line — most of town sits in Clinton, while its eastern edge crosses into Middlebury Township in Shiawassee.
Inkster's name came off a red sawmill — and its post office was once 'Moulin Rouge' The city of Inkster takes its name from Robert Inkster, a Shetland-born millman whose steam-powered red sawmill ran the settlement in the 1860s — once postmarked Moulin Rouge.
Jamestown got its name from four men named James A local history records four men named James among the thirteen present when Jamestown Township organized in 1849, so the new township took their shared first name.
John Gurney Park: a soldier's memorial that became a lakeside campground Hart's lakeside park honors a young West Point officer killed in Cuba in 1898; his parents gave the land, and a 1914 stone arch still marks the entrance to what became an auto tourist camp.
Jonesville: the county's first town, and its first county seat Founded in 1828 where the Sauk Trail crossed the St. Joseph River, Jonesville was Hillsdale County's first settlement and earliest county seat before the title moved to Hillsdale.
Kalamazoo County's first sawmill spun up here in 1831 Judge Caleb Eldred built the first sawmill in Kalamazoo County at Comstock in 1831, and a year later he and Horace Comstock raised the county's first grist mill on the same fast water.
Keego Harbor is named after a fish — by way of a poem Keego Harbor borrowed its name from 'keego,' an Ojibwe word for fish that a Pontiac real-estate man lifted out of Longfellow's 'Song of Hiawatha' for the lakeside town he was platting.
Kentwood became a city on its third try Paris Township voters considered incorporation three times. The 1967 vote finally carried as Grand Rapids annexed land and Woodland Mall's future tax base hung in the balance.
Kettering University, the Flint school General Motors used to own The engineering school on Flint's University Avenue spent 56 years owned outright by General Motors as GMI, training the company's engineers through a work-and-study co-op that still defines the place.
Lake Angelus: a whole city wrapped around one private lake Lake Angelus is one of Michigan's smallest cities, built around roughly 429 acres of water with resident-controlled access and unusually detailed boating rules.
Lake City and the Greatest Fourth in the North Lake City packs four days of parades, contests, and lakeside fireworks into its Independence Day celebration, the Greatest Fourth in the North.
Lamont's road-grader naming story Local history says Steele's Landing became Lamont after Lamont Chubb offered the community a road grader in exchange for using his name.
Lapeer Days: a free street party that's outlasted a century Every August, downtown Lapeer closes to traffic for Lapeer Days — a three-day festival that's run for more than 120 years and bills itself as Michigan's largest free festival.
Lawton: the grape town Prohibition couldn't break Welch's opened a grape juice plant in Lawton in 1919, the same year Prohibition arrived — and more than a century later it still presses local Concord grapes a few blocks off the main drag.
LeRoy grew up shipping tan bark and potatoes by the railcar The village of LeRoy sprang up along the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad in the early 1870s and made its living loading grain, potatoes, wood, and hemlock tan bark onto northbound trains.
Leslie carries the name of a New York family When Leslie Township was organized, legislator J. A. Cornell proposed the name in honor of a respected family he had known in eastern New York.
Likely Michigan's oldest house sits on the River Raisin near Monroe The Navarre-Anderson Trading Post, built in 1789 of stacked squared timbers on the River Raisin, is thought to be the oldest wooden residence still standing in Michigan.
Lincoln Township's old rail line: Ashton, Orono, and Milton Junction Lincoln Township's website lists Ashton, Orono, and 'Melton Junction,' but an 1885 railroad handbook records Milton Junction and shows a branch beginning there.
Litchfield got its name over a few drinks in Detroit Litchfield was nearly named Columbus until a settler rode to the Michigan Legislature in Detroit and, by 'free use of liquid and other arguments,' got it called Litchfield instead.
Lowell still mills flour where the Flat meets the Grand King Milling began on Lowell's west bank in 1890. A fire, a 1945 rebuild, and later expansions separate today's working mill from the earlier buildings.
Luna Pier: a Lake Erie town named after a vanished dance hall Luna Pier took its name from a long pier with a dance hall that drew big-band crowds from Toledo in the 1920s; the dance hall is gone, but a curving concrete breakwall keeps the name.
Luther: the town that was almost named Wilson A sawmill firm called Wilson, Luther & Wilson founded this Little Manistee River village in 1881 and wanted to call it Wilsonville — until Lansing said the name was taken.
Mac Wood's: the dune ride that started with a failed farm A failed sand farm near Silver Lake turned into Mac Wood's Dune Rides, running tourists over the dunes since 1930 — still in the family, still the only ride permitted on the sand.
Macomb County's first Carnegie library is now its art center The 1904 Carnegie library in downtown Mount Clemens was the first in Macomb County; saved from the wrecking ball in 1969, it became the Anton Art Center.
Mancelona's iron town, and the tar lake it left behind From 1882 to 1945 the Antrim Iron Company smelted iron with hardwood charcoal south of Mancelona — and dumped its waste in a pond that became a federal Superfund site.
Manchester's Chicken Broil: 10,000 dinners off four 100-foot pits Every third Saturday in July, Manchester runs one of the Midwest's biggest single-day charcoal chicken broils, a tradition that dates to 1954.
Manistee's North Pierhead Light and its rare wind-proof catwalk A little red 1927 lighthouse guards the mouth of the Manistee River, reached by an elevated steel catwalk — one of only a handful left in Michigan after most were torn down.
Manistee's Sleighbell Parade, where a horse team pulls a 30-foot tree upright Every December, downtown Manistee bans electric lights and recorded music for a candlelit Victorian Christmas parade whose finale is a Belgian draft team standing a 30-foot tree upright on River Street.
Manton's Harvest Festival, going since 1924 Every Labor Day weekend the small town of Manton throws a Harvest Festival it has run since 1924, built around a big parade that draws crowds from across northern Michigan.
Maple Rapids got rich on pine, not maple Named for the rapids on the Maple River by George Campau in 1826 — brother of Grand Rapids' founder — this Essex Township village made its real money sawing pine during Michigan's lumber boom.
Marion was once Clark's Mill, named for the woman who lived there The village of Marion grew up around a dam an Irish millwright threw across the Middle Branch River in 1878 — and took its name from his wife, Marion Clark.
Marne used to be Berlin — until a 1918 battle changed its name The Wright Township village of Marne spent decades as Berlin, settled by Germans — until anti-German feeling in World War I renamed it for a French battlefield, a name its racetrack still wears.
Marvel Secord, Dick's Fork, and the township that carries his name Gladwin County histories place Marvel Secord and his family at the start of the county's Euro-American settlement story: they arrived by canoe in 1861, and a log house followed at Dick's Fork in 1864.
Marysville changed its name because Michigan had a Vicksburg Vickery's Landing became Vicksburg, then changed to Marysville in 1859 because another Michigan community already used the Vicksburg name.
Mayville saved its old depot, then filled it with the town's memory When Mayville's railroad depot faced demolition in 1986, residents moved it instead — and turned the old station into a museum of local history, obituaries, and a one-room schoolhouse cabin.
McLouth Steel: the Trenton mill that cast steel the new way McLouth Steel's Trenton plant was the first in North America to cast all its steel by the continuous-casting method, ran from 1948 until 1995, and once supplied 40 percent of the city's tax base.
Melvindale: a town built so Ford's Rouge workers could walk home Melvindale began in the 1920s as Oakwood Heights, a subdivision laid out to house workers at Ford's giant Rouge plant, and it took its name from one of its developers, Melvin Wilkinson.
Michigan's biggest planetarium has hidden under a Flint dome since 1958 The Robert T. Longway Planetarium in Flint opened in 1958 under a geodesic-style dome 88 feet across and is still the largest planetarium in Michigan.
Michigan's oldest courthouse still stands in Berrien Springs The 1839 Greek Revival courthouse in Berrien Springs is the oldest county courthouse left standing in Michigan, built when the county seat sat here on a square that's now a history museum.
Midland's Santa House and the Santa school that meets there The downtown Santa House is a county-owned holiday landmark. Each October, a nonprofit school founded in 1937 holds its three-day session there.
Midland's Tudor courthouse has glass-bright murals Built in 1924-25 and occupied in 1926, Midland County's Tudor Revival courthouse carries Paul Honoré murals made with a Dow-developed stucco mixed with ground glass.
Milan's Hack House was built with money from a sugar swindle Milan's grandest Victorian, the 1888 Friend-Hack House, was paid for with proceeds from a notorious New York stock fraud and is now the town's museum.
Milford lit its streets in 1892, with a dynamo in an old gristmill Milford grew up around mills on the Huron River, and in 1892 it became one of Michigan's first towns with electric lights — powered by a dynamo bolted into a gristmill.
Minden City carries a German hometown's name A local Michigan place history says Philip Link founded the village in 1855 and named it for his native Minden, Germany.
Monroe County's fair predates the Civil War Monroe County has been holding agricultural fairs since the 1840s; after a century of moving from grove to grove, the fair settled onto its permanent South Custer Road grounds in the late 1940s.
Moorestown: a church at one end, a schoolhouse at the other Moorestown in Norwich Township was a Clam River lumber village founded in 1881; today an old church and the Hunt Schoolhouse bookend a main street that mostly went away.
Morley was born the day the railroad crossed the Little Muskegon When the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad bridged the Little Muskegon River in June 1869, it created the village of Morley — the first rail town in Mecosta County.
Mundy Township is named for Michigan's first lieutenant governor When Mundy Township organized in 1837, it took the name of Edward Mundy — the lawyer who served as Michigan's first lieutenant governor as the territory became a state.
Nahma: the whole town that went up for sale Nahma was a lumber company town built around the Bay de Noquet mill in 1881; when the saws stopped in 1951 the company put the entire town up for sale.
New Buffalo: the town the railroad made, then walked away from A shipwrecked captain named New Buffalo for his hometown in 1834; the Michigan Central made it the end of the line in 1849, then the tracks reached Chicago and the boom moved on.
Nirvana: the lumber town that sawed itself out of existence A land-looker named Darwin Knight found a stand of premium white pine here in 1874, named the town for the Buddhist word for highest heaven, and watched eleven sawmills cut it all down.
North Branch is named for a branch of the Flint River North Branch village and township take their name from the north branch of the Flint River, where the Beach family helped establish a settlement in 1854.
Northern Michigan University started with 32 students and six teachers Northern Michigan University opened in Marquette in 1899 as a teacher-training school — 32 students, six faculty, 22 acres — and grew into the largest university in the Upper Peninsula.
Northville Downs: 80 years of harness racing under the lights Northville Downs opened in 1944 as Michigan's first track to race harness horses at night, ran for 80 years, and closed in 2024 as the state's last nighttime harness track.

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