Iosco County Historical Society

Iosco County Historical Society "Preserving Iosco's Past, Inspiring Its Future"

Did you know US-23 didn’t always hug Lake Huron? 🌊🛣️Before the 1930s, “Old US-23” took a totally different route through...
06/03/2026

Did you know US-23 didn’t always hug Lake Huron? 🌊🛣️

Before the 1930s, “Old US-23” took a totally different route through Iosco County. When it was first commissioned in 1926, there was no shoreline highway yet. Picture is Old US 23 connection Tawas and Oscoda.

The original Tawas City → Oscoda route:
👉 West out of Tawas on what’s now M-55
👉 Up to Whittemore, then north on M-65
👉 Through Hale and into Au Sable/Oscoda

It completely skipped the lakeshore towns we know today — no East Tawas, no Au Gres, no Greenbush.

So what changed?
1932-1936: During the Depression, MDOT built the scenic shoreline route we drive now. It was a jobs project + tourism push for the Great Lakes.

Key dates:
📍 1932 – Au Gres to Tawas City segment opened
📍 1936 – Au Sable River Bridge in Oscoda completed the Tawas → Oscoda shoreline link

After that, US-23 jumped to the lake. The old inland route just became M-55 + M-65 again.

You can still find pieces today:

M-55 west of Tawas City = US-23 until 1936
M-65 Whittemore to Oscoda = US-23 until 1936
Keep an eye out around Whittemore & Hale — old concrete roadbed still hides in the woods 👀
Locals still call M-65 “Old 23”
The highway you take to the beach was literally built in the 1930s for tourists. Pretty wild.

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Visit our museum this summer https://www.ioscomuseum.com/

🚂Headline: Meet the Paddy: The Homemade Locomotive That Put Hale — and Iosco County — on the Rails🚂Who actually brought ...
06/01/2026

🚂Headline: Meet the Paddy: The Homemade Locomotive That Put Hale — and Iosco County — on the Rails🚂

Who actually brought rail transportation to Iosco County❓
C.D. Hale. In the winter of 1878-79, this New York lumberman built and ran Iosco County’s first locomotive.

The story: 📖

Winter 1878-79 was an “open” winter — no river ice for log drives, and there was no way of transporting logs in this vicinity. So C.D. Hale improvised.

He and his crew laid maple timbers with iron strips nailed on top and built a homemade steam engine on the spot. They called it the “Paddy”.

Spring 1880: Going big
Hale pitched Tawas City investors on a 24-mile extension to the lumber camps on Tawas Bay. They bought two standard 11-ton locomotives and the line became the Lake Huron & Southwestern Railroad — the first commercial railroad in Iosco County.

That line didn’t stay his for long. Costs drove it into bankruptcy, lumberman C.H. Prescott bought it and renamed it the Tawas City & Bay County Railroad. It later became part of the Detroit, Bay City & Alpena Railroad, the foundation of today’s Detroit & Mackinac Railway.

Hale’s legacy:

Founded a town: His logging camp + railroad flag station became Hale, Michigan in 1880. Still unincorporated, ZIP 48739, and home to the Iosco County Fair.
Ended river-only logging: The Paddy proved rails could move Iosco’s white pine when the Au Sable was frozen or too shallow.
Started the D&M: The Detroit & Mackinac’s roots trace directly to Hale’s pole-road in the winter of 1878-79.
No photos of the Paddy survive — it was scrapped once standard engines arrived in 1880. But this is what it likely looked like: crude, smoky, and built because the lumber had to move. Picture is a representation.

Got Hale family pictures?
We’re collecting accounts of early Plainfield Township, logging camps, and the first trains. Drop them below or message us. If you have old plat maps showing Hale’s holdings, we’d love to see them. Like, follow and share for more great Iosco County rewinds...

Lost places of Iosco County: Remember Siloam?Did you know there was once a little community called Siloam right here in ...
05/31/2026

Lost places of Iosco County: Remember Siloam?

Did you know there was once a little community called Siloam right here in Reno Township?

From 1889 to 1923, Siloam had its own post office and sat at what’s now the corner of Carpenter Rd and N. Britt Rd. To the Detroit & Mackinac Railroad it was known as Cooper’s Crossing — a flag stop on the old Rose City branch. The tracks are gone now, but if you follow the power lines running northwest/southeast through there, you’re basically standing on the old rail bed.

Back then, Siloam was a lifeline for farm families. My grandmother and her sisters lived a couple miles west. On Mondays they’d catch the train at Siloam to Tawas City for school, rent a room in town, and stay the whole week.

About a mile up the tracks was Taft, with two general stores across from each other.

Like a lot of tiny Iosco County spots, Siloam faded when the lumber was cut and the railroad quit running. The post office closed in 1923, and the name slowly fell off the maps.

Today Reno Township is still here — 632 people, Whittemore nearby — but Siloam is just a memory, a power line right-of-way, and stories. Some of the old buildings are still there.

Anyone else remember hearing about Siloam, Cooper’s Crossing, or Taft? Got family stories or photos from the old D&M line? Drop them below 👇

MAY QUEEN FOLLOW-UP: NEW PHOTOS FROM THE DEPTHS OF TAWAS BAY 🌊⚓You asked for more on the May Queen wreck, and the lake d...
05/29/2026

MAY QUEEN FOLLOW-UP: NEW PHOTOS FROM THE DEPTHS OF TAWAS BAY 🌊⚓

You asked for more on the May Queen wreck, and the lake delivered.

A Short History
The May Queen was a two-masted wooden lumber schooner built in 1855 in Milwaukee. She measured 114 ft long, 25.2 ft across, and 246 tons. For four years she hauled grain and lumber across the Great Lakes. On November 21, 1859, she was bound for Buffalo with a load of lumber when a violent gale drove her ashore near Tawas Point. The crew survived, but the May Queen was declared a total loss. Today, her remains rest in the shallows of Tawas Bay, just yards from the Tawas Point Lighthouse.

New Look at an Old Wreck
Special thanks to Carol Garlo for sharing these incredible underwater photos with us. Her shots capture the May Queen’s ribs and timbers in stunning detail. The wreck is shallow enough to see on calm days, but Carol’s images give us a look most people never get. We’re adding these to the Iosco County Historical Society preservation database so future generations can study and appreciate her.

Got History in Your Camera Roll?
If you have photos of shipwrecks, historic sites, or artifacts from around Iosco County, help us preserve them forever. Send your images via Facebook Messenger or email them to [email protected]. Every photo helps tell our story.

Newman Street Beach. East Tawas. 1967! ☀️🌊Look at this crowd — and that lineup of cars! This was teenage life in Iosco C...
05/26/2026

Newman Street Beach. East Tawas. 1967! ☀️🌊
Look at this crowd — and that lineup of cars! This was teenage life in Iosco County during the “Summer of Love.”

Tawas teens in ’67 were all about:
🎵 Motown + The Beatles on the radio
🕶️ Cat-eye sunglasses & madras shorts
🚙 Mustangs, Impalas, and wood-paneled wagons

Help us fill in the blanks:
👉 Were YOU there? What do you remember?
👉 What was your beach day essential in 1967 — a transistor radio, inner tube, or a cooler of Vernors?
👉 Who taught you to drive that year, and in what car?

Tag a friend who loves Tawas history! ❤️

This Memorial Day weekend, we pause to remember the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country and the...
05/24/2026

This Memorial Day weekend, we pause to remember the men and women who gave their lives in service to our country and the freedoms we enjoy today.

Among them was Cpl. Allen Stephan of Iosco County — the first known casualty from Iosco County during World War II. Cpl. Stephan was killed in action in New Guinea on November 22, 1942, during the brutal New Guinea Campaign in the Pacific Theater. That campaign became one of the most difficult and important battles of the war, fought in unforgiving jungle conditions as American and Allied forces worked to stop the advance of Imperial Japan.

Behind every name carved into history is a son, a brother, a friend, and a hometown forever changed by loss.

Memorial Day is more than the start of summer. It is a time to honor those who never came home, to reflect on the sacrifices made by generations of Americans, and to ensure their stories are never forgotten.

This weekend, we remember Cpl. Allen Stephan and all of Iosco County’s fallen heroes. Post your friends and family stories or pictures that have served or fallen.

Who are they? The faces behind Iosco County’s Lumbermen’s Monument 🪓🌲Ever driven past that 14-foot bronze statue at Lumb...
05/21/2026

Who are they? The faces behind Iosco County’s Lumbermen’s Monument 🪓🌲

Ever driven past that 14-foot bronze statue at Lumbermen’s Monument and wondered who those three men actually are?

In 1931, a group of lumber mill owners raised $50,000 to honor the men who built Michigan’s timber industry. They hired New York sculptor Robert Ingersoll Aitken, but Aitken insisted on using local woodsmen as his models.

He sculpted the monument in clay, then cast it in a 4.5-ton, 14-foot bronze statue. It was built in New York, shipped by train to Tawas City in 1932, and dedicated July 16, 1932.

Meet the three men:

Center - The Timber Cruiser
Robert I. Aitken himself — compass in hand, scouting the forest for the best trees to send to the mill owners. The sculptor became part of his own work.

Right - The Sawyer
William “Bill” Taylor — he and his partner were the ones who actually felled the massive white pines.

Left - The River Rat
Alexander “Emil” Wargstrom — he directed the logs down the Au Sable River to Lake Huron, then on to the Bay City lumber mills. Fun fact: Emil and I are cousins.

Next time you visit the monument off River Road, you’ll know their names.

Special Thanks to Ted Reinke a Iosco County native for the information!
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🚗From the Archives: The Model T Arrives in Iosco County, c. 1910–1915 🚗This photograph, taken in Iosco County, captures ...
05/20/2026

🚗From the Archives: The Model T Arrives in Iosco County, c. 1910–1915 🚗

This photograph, taken in Iosco County, captures a pivotal moment in local history: the arrival of the Ford Model T. The car pictured is an early brass-era Model T touring, identifiable by its carbide lamps, flat windshield, and right-hand steering — features common before 1915.

For Iosco County residents, the Model T redefined distance. A trip from Tawas City to Oscoda (16 mi) dropped from roughly 4.5 hours by horse and wagon to just over 1 hour by auto. Tawas City to Whittemore (14 mi) went from a half-day journey to under an hour. Tawas City to Hale (16 mi), home of the Iosco County Fair since 1944, became an easy day trip instead of an overnight commitment.

The automobile didn’t just change travel times. It reshaped our economy, spurred the improvement of roads like what would become M-65, and connected farm communities across the county in ways previously impossible.

Photo: Iosco County, MI. Date estimated 1910-1915. Do you have family photo's of with Model T's?

Do you have photos you want to preserve? Click on the link below find out how the museum can help you make that happen

https://www.ioscomuseum.com/photo-scanning--printing-services.html

Time Sensitive! Don't miss this opportunity! Your pledge must be sent to iosco.history@gmail.com
05/18/2026

Time Sensitive! Don't miss this opportunity! Your pledge must be sent to [email protected]

📚 New to our local history shelf: Camp Maqua by Kathryn A. Baker 📸Local author alert!Did you know Iosco County was home ...
05/17/2026

📚 New to our local history shelf: Camp Maqua by Kathryn A. Baker 📸
Local author alert!

Did you know Iosco County was home to generations of summer memories? From 1924-1978, Camp Maqua on Loon Lake in Hale welcomed thousands of girls through the Bay City YWCA.

Local author Kathryn Baker has captured it all in Camp Maqua, part of Arcadia’s Images of America series. After her family purchased the main lodge in 1987, Kathryn spent years interviewing 300+ former campers and digging through YWCA archives. The result: 128 pages packed with 100+ candid photos, camp committee minutes, directors reports, and stories from over 250 campers.

This is our history - the summers, songs, and friendships that shaped Iosco County kids for 50+ years.

👉 Snag a copy and support local history: proceeds help the Great Lakes Bay Region YWCA, who shared their archives for the book.
📍 Available at girlsofcampmaqua.com
Or email Kathryn at [email protected]

Were you a Camp Maqua girl? Tell us your favorite memory in the comments! ⛺️

Address

405 W Bay Street
East Tawas, MI
48730

Opening Hours

Thursday 11am - 3am
Friday 11am - 3am
Saturday 11am - 3pm

Telephone

+19893628911

Website

https://www.instagram.com/iosco.history/

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