BeginningsBoyne Falls owes it’s existence to the fact that the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad decided to construct their rail lines down the “Elmira grade”, through the Boyne Valley, on to Petoskey, and further on to Mackinaw City. The railroad brought the people, and later provided the means to transfer what were to become the areas major industry, lumber and lumbering, and later vacationers, hunters, fishermen, and outdoor sportmen.
The insight of the original owners of the land that is now Boyne Falls, and their investment in the construction of a hotel and lumber mill, made our village’s earliest beginnings. These events took place in the early 1870’s. William Nelson and Joseph Powers originally plotted the village in September of 1873. The first train commenced operation in the spring of 1874.
Our Place in Time
The development of the Boyne Falls history will be best understood if it is viewed in it’s proper sequence and perspective. In 1873, the United States was beginning to prepare itself to celebrate the country’s centennial. Almost a hundred years of American History has taken place, and still no white families had established residence in our area of Northern Michigan. The American people were just beginning to heal from the wounds of a violent Civil War, which had nearly divided the nation. The country was quickly expanding to the west coast. Michigan had been a State since 1837, and only now (1873) were people beginning to migrate in greater numbers to Northern Michigan. The southern half of Michigan was quickly being settled, industrialized, and was in the midst of a growth period that brought farmers to the rich land along the many rivers and lakes. Detroit had been a major U.S. city for more than – years. It wasn’t until 1873 that the rail lines beginning to reach into the “wilderness” of Northern Lower Michigan.
1901 Plat of the Village of Boyne Falls
Powers and Nelson
In the earliest known writings about our area, Traverse Region, Historical and Descriptive, the visiting authors write;
Boyne Falls is one of the villages brought into existence by the building of the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad. The town of Boyne Valley was organized in 1873, and in the spring of 1874 the railroad commenced operations. During the summer of 1874, Messrs. Nelson & Powers, who owned a large tract of land at the point, had a village platted on a portion of the northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of section 15, and named it Boyne Falls. The village is situated at the junction of the railroad with Boyne River, sixteen miles in a southerly direction from Petoskey, and about six miles southeast of the head of Pine Lake. The plat was recorded in September 1874, and about that time a post office was established with William Nelson postmaster.
We find the following description of the place, made in the fall of 1874:
“This is one of the finest locations on the entire line of the road, and the town has been very handsomely platted. A large and substantial hotel has been erected, which is having a splendid run of customers. Messrs. Nelson & Powers, the proprietors of the town, are building, and will have in operation within two months, a model mill, which is being erected regardless of expense. It will be one of the finest mills in northern Michigan. It is to contain a sawmill, for cutting custom and merchant lumber, but is principally designed for manufacturing chair stuff, and will afford constant employment for fifty men. The dam is being constructed with a view to the erection of a flouring mill upon the opposite side of the stream.”
“The town is well watered with rapid spring brooks, clear and cold. A large number of lots have been sold, and preparations are being made for considerable building as soon as the material can be procured. Messrs. Handy & Carpenter of Mancelona, are putting up a building for a general store and other enterprises are being started, which will make it a thriving village before the present season ends. A bed of as fine brick clay as any country can produce has been discovered, only a few rods distant from the village plat, which reaches to the railroad track. Practical brick makers of large experience and capital are already bidding for this clay, and the manufacture of brick will soon be engaged in upon an extensive scale. The excellent opportunity for shipping procuring fuel for burning, water, and sand, insures a mine of wealth in this alone. The railroad company are laying pipes thirteen hundred feet to carry water from their tank from a distant hill, which will afford a never failing supply. Mr. Powers is making arrangements to tap this pipe and construct a fountain near the hotel, which will be highly ornamental and attractive.”
Again in August 1878, a visitor to the village described it as follows:
“The first thing that attracts attention is the entire absence of shanties. Its buildings are all fine, substantial structures, forming a good nucleus for future improvement.”
