Kids on the Petoskey Michigan Pier at sunset at waterfront park.
The History of Petoskey
The picturesque town of Petoskey, located on Little Traverse Bay, was known as Bear River when the first missionary arrived in 1855. The town was later renamed after the Ottawa Indian Chief Pe-to-se-ga. Petoskey was officially granted a charter in 1879.
Lumbering was a mainstay for Petoskey during the late 1800’s; its Lake Michigan access was the key to developing logging in the community. Great Lakes freighters ferried lumber to ports around the Midwest. Lumber from the region was instrumental in helping rebuild Chicago after the Great Fire.
Passenger trains and steamships played a major role in the growth of Petoskey.
From 1873 to 1960, several major rail lines brought thousands of summer visitors from cities like Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Detroit to the area’s fresh air and resort: atmosphere. The passenger depot for the Chicago and West Michigan line today houses the Little Traverse History Museum. Steamships like the North American and South American carried passengers from .ports throughout the Great Lakes to Petoskey and Harbor Springs. Cabin rates to Petoskey were $8.50 one-way and $15.00 round trip from either Chicago or Milwaukee. Once in the area, visitors traveled around via stagecoach, ferry, local rail lines, carriage, bicycle and on foot.
Petoskey’s oldest building is the St. Francis Solanus Mission, built in 1859 (downtown Petoskey). Symons General Store, built in 1879, exemplifies the’trend toward brick construction in Petoskey, an attempt to safeguard against the destruction fires caused in other area lumoer towns. The building now known as Stafford’s Perry Hotel was Petoskey’s first brick hotel. At the tum of the century, the Perry was advertised as the only fireproof hotel in town and is the only original resort hotel still operating in Petoskey.
Historic places to visit:
- Historic Gaslight Shopping District -Downtown Petoskey
- Perry Hotel 347-4000
- Symon’s General Store -Lake 347-2438
- Francis Xavier Catholic Church 347-4133
The History of Emmet County
Harbor Springs’and Petoskey are nestled in the heart of Emmet County. The county’s northern tip bumps into the Straits of Mackinac and Lake Michigan outlines its western boundary. At first, Ottawa Indians, living in stone-age splendor, .occupied the lakeshor rim. Beyond the water’s edge there was only the forest, the lakes, the streams, and some swamps dismal enough to discourage a traveling bear. Its strategic location on the.Great Lakes waterways, however, marked it for early discovery by white men and the point of control for the whole upper Great Lakes territory. By the time Michigan became a state, well 0ver one hundred years of fur trading, war whooping, and empire , building history was already behind it.·
Recorded history started around 1715, the year the French built Fort Michilimackinac on the Straits, at present day Mackinaw City. The history of the area revolved around this fort for the next 66 years. For the first 46 years, until 1761, the French were in control. The Indians were generally faithful to them. They agreeably fetched in the furs, and just as agreeably sent war parties far distances to harass the British forces at war with the French. France lost this final aspect of .the struggle to get control of the fur trade, during the French and Indian War, and by treaty provisions, the vast Great Lakes country. British forces moved into f ort Michilimackinac when the French moved out in 1761. With the exception of one little set back, they were there until 1781.
The setback occurred on June 2, 1763 when a group of ,them expressed their displeasure in colorful and graphic style by an efficient massacre of most of the garrison. This was the most blood-curdling episode in the territorial period of the county’s history.It took about two years after the massacre for the British to reestablish themselves at the Fort. They were there when the Revolutionary War was fought, two years before the end of the historic struggle. The Fort Commandant had a new fort built on the more Gibraltar-like Mackinac Island. Old Fort Michiliinackinac was abandoned in 1781 and the beehive center of the fur trading, military .and political doings shifted from the mainland to the island.
The Indian settlement on the western lakeshore rim of the county, however, continued to flourish. In 1840, the year Emmet achieved shape and form as a county of the State of Michigan, Indian villages were almost continuous along the shoreline from today’s Harbor Springs to Cross Village. The area was still a wilderness, the Indians, by treaty provision with the U.S. government, having the right to occupy the land. The county continued to be. mostly Indian reservation until 1875. In that period of time it was used pretty much as a political football and went through numerous changes in shape and size.
In 1847 a colony of Mormons under King James J. Strang settled on Beaver Island. Feuding, worse than the Hatfields and McCoys, started immediately between them and the whites in the Mackinaw and Charlevoix areas. The Mormons had the short end of the stick for the Mackinaw group had charge of law and order. In 1852, King Strang, by a brilliant political maneuver, managed to become a member of the House of Representatives of the State Legislature. By January of 1853 he had ushered through Act No. 18 of the Sessions Laws of 1853 entitled, “An act to organize t}:le County of Emmet”. The Act provided that the islands contiguous to the counties of Emmet and Charlevoix, together with so much of range 4 west as was theretofore included in Cheboygan County should be annexed to Emmet County and that the former County of Charlevoix should be a township of Emmet County. King Strang now had some law and order of his own and a much larger area of control. There is plenty of evidence, but no official records, to show that he made haste to properly organize the now greatly enlarged Emmet County and put the legal machinery in motion. County business was certainly transacted at St. Jarnes on Beaver Island and Mormons were, naturally, the county officials.
The first expedition of the Emmet County Sheriff and his posse resulted in what is known as the Battle of Pine River (Charlevoix). The battle itself resulted only in a badly shot-up posse but because of it the whites on the mainland at Charlevoix thought it best to leave Emmet County territory. Further resistance to the growing Mormon strength was engineered legally in the State Legislator by Mackinaw and Charlevoix men. In 1855 they succeeded in getting an Act passed to reorganize the County of Emmet. This time, the islands, including the Beavers, were set off into a county by themselves. The Mormons, therefore, were effectively separated from Emmet County affairs. The Act further provided for the elections of county officers and the board of supervisors was directed to fix the county seat.
For more information, we suggest a stop at:
- Horizon Bookstore, Petoskey 347-2590
- Little Traverse Historical Museum, Petoskey Waterfront 347-2620
- McLean and Eakin bookstore, Petoskey 347-1180
- Petoskey and Harbor Springs Chamber of Commerce 347-4150, 526-7999
- Petoskey Public Library 758-3100
- Andrew Blackbird Museum, Harbor Springs 526-0612
- Between the Covers Bookstore, Harbor Springs 526-6658