Step Back in Time: Profile of the first village in Otsego County

GAYLORD — In the fall of 1872, the village of Otsego Lake was established on the southeast shore of the five-mile long lake. The lumber firm of Smith, Kelley and Dwight offered a building lot to those men who were willing to move and establish their families in the new village.

Three of the first settlers to take advantage of the offer were George Finch, Adam Assal and Blackford Smalley. The Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad reached the Otsego Lake area about the same time; along with its track laying crews, which provided additional interest in a permanent settlement. The first homes were hastily erected but proved to be unsuitable for the severe winters the new settlers faced in the winter of 1872-73.

Sub-zero temperatures continued over a lengthy period, causing great hardship. The Assal family was involved in a near fatal accident during this difficult time. On Feb. 2, 1873, two woodsmen cutting down a large tree miscalculated their cut and the tree fell across the Assal cabin, flattening the roof and landing on the dinner table which was just being set. The family was fortunate to escape with only a few bruises.

Adam Assal, a graduate of Bern University in Switzerland, was employed as a bookkeeper for the Smith, Kelley and Dwight Lumber Company. Assal became a leader in the Otsego Lake community and maintained a diary of everyday life in the area. Only fragments of its contents remain and it is unfortunate that the rest of the notations are not available for study.

The boarding house in the village was operated by the J. M. Groat family who boarded many of the single men in the village. The summer of 1873 saw the arrival of many other prominent settlers including Col. Dickinson, W. S. Carmichael, Dr. Nathaniel Parmater, William and Thomas Wooden, Joe Jessup and William H. Smith. Many of the early settlers were Civil War veterans who took advantage of the Homestead Act, which provided them free land if they settled on it.

A newspaper account from the early 1900s indicated Mrs. Mary M. Smith recounted the family’s arrival to Otsego Lake Village on the afternoon of Aug. 29, 1873 and their first night’s lodging was in the log boarding house of the Smith, Kelley and Dwight Lumber Company. She recalled little in the way of buildings, with only the company store and the boarding house evident. Charles Brink’s hotel, the Otsego Lake House, was partially built. It was the first hotel in the county.

The following day Mr. and Mrs. Smith and their one-year-old daughter, Bertha, traveled on Otsego Lake to their new home on the north end of the lake. Mary M. Smith paints a vivid picture of the boat ride on the lake, surrounded by a dense forest of tall pines and hemlocks, interspersed between maples, beech and birch.

The panic of 1873; a nationwide depression, led to a decline of business activity and isolated the county. In 1874 the economy began to pick up and the first mill was established at the head of Otsego Lake by David Buell. By 1875 the village contained a saw mill, hotel, post office, a few small stores and a schoolhouse.

The first school was built in the spring of 1873. The record for the proceedings of district meetings for that particular year are as follows:

“To John B. Smalley:

Sir:

The school inspectors of the Township of Otsego Lake have formed a school district in said township, to be known as District No. 1, and bounded as follows - “description given.” The first meeting of said district will be held at the house of Jacob M. Groat in the village of Otsego Lake on the 28th day of April, 1873, at 3:00 in the afternoon.

Dated this the 18th day of April, A.D. 1873.

Adam AssalClerk of Board of School Inspection”

The district is still in operation today as the Gaylord School District. It was voted that school would be held three months during the summer and Lois E. Finch was hired as the teacher for $6 per week. In the summer of 1874 a large two-story schoolhouse was built at the north end of the village by J. C. Hooker. Other buildings constructed during this period were a saloon and the county’s first newspaper office, the Otsego Herald.

The success and development of the small village was dependent upon the lumbering industry. The prime targets of the logging companies were the great pines in the southern part of the county.

Some of the material for this article was drawn from “A History of Otsego Lake Village,” an unpublished manuscript by Laura Marlett and Beatrice Laux; “A Early History of Otsego County” by William H. Smith, and Mary M. Smith’s “Early Recollections of the County,” both unpublished manuscripts.

Bill Granlund was a retired Gaylord High School principal and an Otsego County historian.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Step Back in Time: Profile of the first village in Otsego County