Histories

Excerpted from Bowen's Michigan state atlas by B.F. Bowen & Co.

   

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  1-34 ALPENA COUNTY. Alpena county was laid out in 1840 and was -first called Animickee, after a well known Chippewa chief. Later the name was changed to Alpena, meaning the "Partridge Country." Alpena county was organized in 1857. It is located in the northeastern part of the Lower Peninsula and is bounded on the entire east by Lake Huron. The land area of the county is 371,153.39 acres, of which 150,000 acres are already devoted to farms. The entire population is given at 19,965 (1910 census). In 1911, the state board of tax commissioners placed the value of taxable property in the county at $12,949,233. There. are a total of 76 schools, requiring the services of 131 teachers, while last year's report shows a total of 3,493 children in attendance. The county has good telephone, telegraph and rural mail service. Alpena is the judicial seat of Alpena county, and has a population of 12,706 (U.S. census 1910). It is beautifully located on Thunder bay,,at the mouth of Thunder Bay river, and is a station on the Detroit & Mackinac Railroad. The city owns and operates an excellent water works system and electric lighting plant, costing in the neighborhood of $250,000, has a good sewerage system, paved streets, a police department, fire department, two opera houses, first class hotels, a $20,000 court house, $100,000 postoffice building, public library, a $75,000 depot, a $50,000 city hall and a $50,000 public hospital are now being constructed. The county has three banks, two of them being located in Alpena. -The religious and educational advantages of Alpena are very good, there being churches of the following denominations: Adventist, two Baptist, three Catholic, Congregational, Episcopal, Free Methodist, Hebrew, Latter Day Saints, Two German Evangelical Lutheran, Norwegian Lutheran, Methodist Episcopal and Presbyterian churches. There are nine public and six parochial schools, also a well-equipped business college. The city has three newspapers, two published daily and one weekly. One finds Alpena supplied with numerous industrial establishments, some of which are as follows: Lumber, shingle and planing-mills, factories manufacturing all kinds of lumber products, an automobile factory, pulp works, flour and grist mills, two tanneries, two veneer'works, paper-mill, mattress works, breweries, electric light plant, power plant, cement works, foundry, rug and cigar factories, quarries, etc. A government fish hatchery is located at Alpena. The baly forms an excellent harbor and during the season of navigation, steamers bring in many visitors, making Alpena quite popular as a summer resort. A large portion of the surrounding country is rich, fertile soil, capable of producing all cereals and roots adapted to the climate in abundance as well as some very fine fruit. Transportation facilities throughout the county include the following: Detroit & Mackinac Railroad, Boyne City, Gaylord & Alpena Railroad, and the Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Company.

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