The Rise and Fall of Pere Cheney, Michigan

By Steve Ostrander, Michigan Historical Museum | October 20, 2009

Early Pere Cheney Residents, Identified as: (Left to Right) Waterboy, Dining Room Entertainment, Camp Supervisor, Bouncer and Chef

Booms and Busts

During the boom years of Michigan’s lumbering era, many mill towns were founded practically overnight. Cadillac, Gaylord and Grayling have all survived the decline of the logging era and are still alive today. Other towns flourished for a time, then succumbed to changing economic and geographic factors. Today, the ghost town of Pere Cheney exists only on old maps and only a few gravestones remain to mark what was once the seat of Crawford County.

Rise

On or about 1873, the Michigan Central Railroad Company granted a land patent to George M. Cheney for the purpose of establishing a fuel and water station, as well as a freight and passenger depot. Cheney also built a sawmill and, later, a hotel called “The Cheney House” to accommodate the increasing numbers of settlers, tourists and sportsmen who were flooding the area.

The village was platted and designated “Cheney Station” by the Mackinac Division of the Michigan Central Railroad in December 1874. The town began to grow as sawmills began operating and two hotels and a general store opened. Lumberjacks and teamsters came to work in the pine forests surrounding Cheney Station. Blacksmiths, millworkers, wagon makers and storekeepers came to establish secondary trades. Settlers brought their families and built homesteads from the lumber that seemed to be in endless supply. By 1885, Pere Cheney reached its peak population of one hundred residents.

A Group of Teamsters in Pere Cheney, Michigan

“…agricultural possibilities are unlimited…”

Hoping to lure more farmers to buy the cut-over timber lands, Crawford County published several promotional booklets featuring testimonials by Pere Cheney farmers, boasting that “…Crawford County possesses all the requirements in climate, soil, etc., to become the Best Fruit County in the State. Nine-tenths of its soil is rich and productive and agricultural possibilities are unlimited…The climate is for health and salubrity the best in the State.”

But life at Pere Cheney was not as easy as the lure books made it out to be. Farmers who were persuaded to buy the “rich and productive” land found sandy soils and a short growing season. Snowed in for months at a time, the boredom and loneliness were unbearable. What few roads existed were – more often than not – unpassable. Though wild game was plentiful, fresh water was not, and early residents had to drink from ponds and streams. Disease was common, and death was familiar to residents of Pere Cheney.

More Early Pere Cheney Residents

Decline and Fall

In 1874, eight and one-half miles northwest on the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw rail line, settlers established the town of Grayling. Grayling’s population grew steadily, while Pere Cheney’s began to decline, and by 1881, the county seat was permanently relocated to Grayling. Later that same year, the Michigan Central railroad chose Grayling as the location for the headquarters of its Mackinac Division—an economic blow to Cheney.

By the early 1900s, more people were going than coming to Pere Cheney. The town’s population declined from fifty-five in 1896 to twenty-five in 1901, then to only eighteen in 1917. The location of the Mackinac Division and the county seat at Grayling; and the inability to transform a dying logging economy to one based on agriculture were the causes of Pere Cheney’s death. Grayling and Roscommon were luring away many Cheney residents, having the advantage of a nearby river—the famous Au Sable—to power mills and drive logs; thus creating more jobs. Unlike Pere Cheney, Grayling was able to diversify its logging-based economy by manufacturing products such as hardwood flooring and paper. Grayling’s slow but steady growth enabled it to finish the race that Cheney had initially led. In 1912, the U. S. Post Office at Pere Cheney closed its doors for good. Pere Cheney could not recover from the loss of its human and natural resources.

Note on This Article:

This article was abridged from Steve Ostrander’s article in the May/June 1990 issue of Michigan History magazine. For information on Michigan History, click this link: Michigan History Magazine.