Saginaw County

Images of America: Michigan

by Roselynn Ederer

As part of the Northwest Territory, the Saginaw wilderness was not organized into a county until January 28, 1835. When Canadian, Scottish, German, and Irish pioneers began to settle along the region's many rivers, small communities developed-Burt, Birch Run, Bridgeport, Frankenmuth, Freeland, Hemlock, Merrill, St. Charles, Chesaning, Oakley, and Zilwaukee-in addition to larger towns such as Carrollton, Saginaw City, and East Saginaw. Using stories and photographs collected from life-long residents and historical societies throughout Saginaw County, this book documents the colorful lumbering, agricultural, and industrial past of these communities from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s.

128 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 2003

Reviews

[Mark]

I'm always fascinated to know how pioneers came into untamed wilderness and 'set up shop'. This book is comprised of old photographs and their captions, grouped into significant categories. There is no text otherwise. I'm disappointed to be unable to locate accounts of my adopted home, Shields, as there is no index and I haven't time to produce it. The TOC doesn't help.

[Paul Lunger]

Saginaw County Michigan is one of the big 4 counties in the Flint metropolitan area whose other 3 major counties are Genessee as well as Bay and Midland. Roselynn Ederer takes up this county for the Images of America series and offers up a decent look at the founding of the county & its major cities as well as getting into the details of transportation in the county which does depend at times on the rivers that become the Saginaw itself. As someone who has explored parts of this county over time and also regularly visit the county's most famous town of Frankenmuth it is nice to get a better understanding of some of the underlying history of this place in mid-Michigan as well as the additional tidbits of history throughout.