Charlevoix, Michigan: History
Charlevoix is named after Fr. Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, a French explorer who traveled the Great Lakes and was said to have stayed the night on Fisherman's Island during a harsh storm. During this time, Native Americans were thought to have lived in the Pine River valley. The Odawa and Ojibwe lived throughout northern Michigan prior to European colonization.
European-American settlement of Charlevoix was initially by fishermen, who were there by 1852. Soon after its formation in the 1850s, the residents of Charlevoix entered into a short-lived conflict with James Strang, leader and namesake of the Strangite Mormons, and then self-proclaimed 'king' of Beaver Island. Relations between Charlevoix residents and the Strangites were often tense. In 1853, a gunfight broke out between the two groups as the townspeople refused to hand over a man who was called for jury duty on the island, an event known locally as The Battle of Pine River. Strang was assassinated on June 20, 1856.
The Homestead Act of 1862 brought many Civil War veterans and speculators to Northern Michigan. It sold 160-acre tracts of land for $1.25 an acre.
In 1864, settlers built a large dock at the mouth of the Pine River on Lake Michigan. Boats there were exposed to the harsh vicissitudes of Great Lakes weather, so local entrepreneurs sought to connect Lake Michigan to an inland harbor at Round Lake. The Pine River channel was dredged in 1869, connecting Lake Michigan to Lake Charlevoix.
In 1866, early settler John S. Dixon completed plats of the entire town (then called "Pine River"), showing that he owned most of the land. By 1867, Charlevoix had its first boarding house, the Fountain City House Charlevoix became the county seat in 1869 when Charlevoix County was formed. …