THIS WEEK IN LOCAL HISTORY | April 5-11
A county-by-county sidebar for Northeast Michigan,
IOSCO COUNTY
April 11, 1945: Format combat training at the Oscoda Army Air Field to an end. A wartime history of the base says that on April 11, combat training at Oscoda ceased and operational P-47 training shifted to Selfridge Field, though the gunnery range at Oscoda remained in use until August 1945. That date marked a real turning point in the long military story of the field, whose roots reach back to the 1920s, when Army aircraft began using the Van Etten Lake area and Camp Skeel took shape.
ARENAC COUNTY
On April 6, 1955, voters approved creation of the county library by a margin of 1,551 to 1,142, a major public step for a rural county still building out shared civic services. That vote was more than bureaucratic housekeeping; it marked a countywide decision to invest in education, access and public life.
On April 10, 1929, Mrs. H. G. Smith of Standish Ward I became the first woman to have a seat on the Arenac County Board, a milestone in local representation. On April 8-10, 1983, Omer was celebrating the Rifle River Centennial Sucker Festival, an event important enough to produce a souvenir history-and-schedule booklet now preserved by the historical society. Together, these entries show both sides of county life: the slow opening of public office and the kind of quirky, river-centered festival culture that gave small-town Michigan its spring identity.
April 11 is especially busy in Arenac County’s historical record. In 1918, Capt. Bert Payea left Standish to take command of his Great Lakes boat, with John Serens expected to sail with him that season, a reminder of how deeply shipping and maritime work tied inland communities to the wider Great Lakes economy. In 1945, Felix Meyette of Standish Township became chairman of the Arenac County Board of Supervisors. In 1951, the old newspaper record noted that the perch run was on in the Pine River east of Standish.
OGEMAW COUNTY
April 11, 1881: The Lupton post office was established on April 11, 1881, originally under the name Lane. Levi R. Lupton as first postmaster. The name was later changed to Lupton, but that April date marks the formal postal beginning of a place that would become a recognizable stop in northeastern Michigan. In counties built up through timbering, rail access and scattered settlement, the opening of a post office was often one of the clearest signs that a community had truly arrived.
ROSCOMMON COUNTY
The Eggleston School, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 4, 1996.
CRAWFORD COUNTY
April 10, 1973: The Grayling Council on Aging was disbanded and the Crawford County Board of Commissioners established the Crawford County Commission on Aging. Local history from the agency says the change opened the door to federal, state and other funding sources and helped reshape senior services in the county. What sounds dry on paper was, in reality, a meaningful shift in how older residents would be served.
April 11, 1893: Peter and Laurine Nelson purchased a little over 88 acres on the east side of Portage Lake for $5.76 in delinquent taxes, a transaction later remembered as the beginning of Danish Landing. It is the sort of humble land deal that often sits at the root of a settlement story: cheap acreage, family initiative and the slow creation of a named place that local memory keeps alive long after the original paperwork is forgotten.
