Reviving Lost History
From James Donahue’s Journal
My hunger for local history was well fed by one of the state editors who came up with the idea of having the bureau reporters research and write feature stories about all of the cities, towns and unincorporated villages in our reading area.
Sanilac County is the largest county in square miles in Michigan. It had four cities, about 10 villages and many little communities that had once been towns but then slowly eroded due to fires, loss of business and redistribution of residents over the years. I also had a large portion of neighboring Huron County to the north to work with.
I thoroughly enjoyed researching the origins and history of each town, talking to the older residents and then describing how each community had evolved over the years. This research led to yet another interesting series; how the towns in the area got their names.
Most of the stories were well received by our readers. But one piece I did for the little town of Applegate got me in some hot water. I chose a hot summer day to visit the town. The main businesses operating in Applegate included a liquor store, a bar and a grain elevator. There was a small antique store on the corner that was closed, at least on the day I visited, and there was a little business on the edge of town that sold used cars and another that manufactured and sold prefabricated sheds. There was almost no traffic moving through the town and I shot a picture of a dog sprawled out in the middle of the highway. I described Applegate as a “sleepy little town.” That offended members of the village council. It took a while to resolve that issue.
Most of the towns in the area were heavily impacted by the forest fires of 1871 and 1881. That is why some of the towns that once existed were no more than a thatch of a few houses and perhaps an old church or general store at the time I was working on the stories. But even those little bergs had interesting histories. That series of stories kept rolling into the newspaper for months before I had them all covered.
The series gave me the opportunity to revive the history of the area and meet even more of the people that made news in those towns.
From James Donahue’s Journal
My hunger for local history was well fed by one of the state editors who came up with the idea of having the bureau reporters research and write feature stories about all of the cities, towns and unincorporated villages in our reading area.
Sanilac County is the largest county in square miles in Michigan. It had four cities, about 10 villages and many little communities that had once been towns but then slowly eroded due to fires, loss of business and redistribution of residents over the years. I also had a large portion of neighboring Huron County to the north to work with.
I thoroughly enjoyed researching the origins and history of each town, talking to the older residents and then describing how each community had evolved over the years. This research led to yet another interesting series; how the towns in the area got their names.
Most of the stories were well received by our readers. But one piece I did for the little town of Applegate got me in some hot water. I chose a hot summer day to visit the town. The main businesses operating in Applegate included a liquor store, a bar and a grain elevator. There was a small antique store on the corner that was closed, at least on the day I visited, and there was a little business on the edge of town that sold used cars and another that manufactured and sold prefabricated sheds. There was almost no traffic moving through the town and I shot a picture of a dog sprawled out in the middle of the highway. I described Applegate as a “sleepy little town.” That offended members of the village council. It took a while to resolve that issue.
Most of the towns in the area were heavily impacted by the forest fires of 1871 and 1881. That is why some of the towns that once existed were no more than a thatch of a few houses and perhaps an old church or general store at the time I was working on the stories. But even those little bergs had interesting histories. That series of stories kept rolling into the newspaper for months before I had them all covered.
The series gave me the opportunity to revive the history of the area and meet even more of the people that made news in those towns.