Station: Onaway, MI

Onaway was first settled about 1882 and called Shaw. A village was platted and called Onaway in 1886. The town was incorporated as a village in 1899 and became a city in 1903. [MPN]

Onaway was served by two railroads. The major road was the Detroit & Mackinac railroad which came through here from Alpena enroute to Cheboygan. The D&M had many forest branch lines around the turn of the century around here. It also built a branch from here north to a gravel quarry near Black Lake.

Photo Info: Top, the D&M depot and freight house at Onaway. [Dale Berry collection], 2nd photo, a winter view of the depot in 1969. [Charles Geletzke Jr.]. 3rd and 4th photos, postcard views of the American Wood Rim Company in Onaway.

Notes

The D&M depot was at the end of First Street, north of Spruce in 1903.

The second road here was the Onaway & Northern which was a short line which ran north and south off and crossed the D&M at grade but the crossing was not interlocked in 1903. [MCR-1904]. The crossing was protected by a gate. [MCR-1911] The O&N brought hardwoods from the forest to the American Rim Co. and other industries in town. It reportedly used "dummy" locomotives, which are small switchers which hauled a tank of water over the boiler.

American Wood Rim used hardwood to make steering wheels and bicycle rims for the early auto and bicycle industries. It put Onaway on the map as "The Town That Steers The World". The plant burned down in 1926 and Onaway immediately lost about half its population.

Time Line

1888. Merritt Chandler of Shaw (later Onaway) has sold in the neighborhood of 8,600 acres of land in Presque Isle County to C.R. Miller of Adrian for $10,000, Chandler reserving the timber. [PHTH-1888-0517] Chandler and his brother-in-law Thomas Shaw arrived this new settlement. Chandler built what is now M-68 from Petoskey via Onaway to Rogers City and was rewarded with 40,000 acres of swamp land from the state. [PINO]

1898. Forty to fifty new buildings are going up at Onaway, the boom town on the D&M railroad in Presque Isle County. Two of these are hotels and four saloons. [DFP-1898-0531]

1899. Dan Gillis, a well-known resident was murdered at [Township] Supervisor David Bowen's farm, near Onaway Saturday evening. It is thought the murderer was waiting to kill Bowen on his return from the supervisors' meeting, and in the darkness mistook Gillis for Bowen and shot him dead. [SJH-1899-0506]

A sensation was created in Onaway by the reported confession of Mrs. Anna Bowen that she, and not Frank Morgan, did the shooting which killed Gillis at the Bowen farm in Forest Township. Morgan who was living at the Bowen farm, confessed to the shooting and was convicted in Cheboygan County Circuit Court for 2nd degree murder. He had appealed his conviction and was awaiting a motion for a new trial. It is believed that Morgan confessed in order to save the woman he loved. Mrs. Bowen has now declared that she has been without rest since the crime was committed and was haunted by the dead man, causing her to now confess. [BB-1899-1116]

1899. The Detroit & Mackinac railway arrives at Onaway, from Alpena. Some of the rail used on this extension was pulled up from the Vandercook Lane branch. The line is extended to Tower later in the year.

1900. January 22. Fatal Accident. An accident to a log train on the Alpena & Northern [D&M] railroad near Onaway resulted in killing Conductor William Dunlap and injuring William Greenfield and Lee Belnap, lumbermen. The injuries to Greenfield may prove fatal. The men were riding in the way-car when the car and the car of logs just ahead of it jumped the track. The brakeman jumped from the train, thus escaping injuries. Before the others could follow him the car and the flat car loaded with logs went down a twelve-foot embankment. The men were taken back to Onaway and a special train with physicians was sent from Alpena at once. The cause of the cars leaving the track is not clear. [DFP-1900-0122]]

1900. The marshal at Onaway isn't making any arrests nowadays because he has no place to put his prisoners. The village has a lockup, but the village fathers have failed to provide a stove to heat it, consequently it cannot be used. [HOM-1900-1205]

1901. A newspaper article notes that Onaway had a dozen buildings when first reached by the D&M railroad. Now, it has a population from 1,500 to 1,800 and is "up-to-date" in every way. A big plant for furnishing bicycle rims, etc., is now in process of erection and will employ 500 men. There is also a veneer works, three sawmills, two shingle mills, an ice delivery and a water works (from artesian wells). Onaway also has a public telephone system and other modern improvements. [DFP-1901-1027]

1902. Fire at Onaway destroyed the post office, telephone exchange and the large general store of Lewis Lane. The telephone exchange was owned by Postmaster J.D. Clark of Onaway and Paul Hoeft of Rogers City. [BHN-1902-0111]

1902. There was another instance of procrastination getting a man into trouble at Onaway last week. A man put off beating his wife until after she had gotten a divorce from him and now he is in jail awaiting trial for assault and battery. [DFP-1902-0228]

1902. The Huron Handle and Manufacturing Co. of Onaway has filed notice of dissolution. [LSJ-1902-0312]

1903. April 29. Fire threatening. The New York Times reported that forest fires threatened the destruction of the city. "In every direction the woods are ablaze." Citizens fought the flames to keep them from the lumber yards and plant of the Lobdell & Bailey Manufacturing Company, the town's principal employer. High winds from the southwest prevailed. Log trains were kept busy all night bringing in people rescued from the fire along the track. The smoke is so dense as to be suffocating and the sun's rays glow dimly through it, casting a yellow shadow. Burned cinders and charred embers fill the air. Unless night falls tonight, the result will be serious. [NYT-4/30/1903] Onaway telegraphed to Alpena for a fire engine and a quantity of hose. The fire is eating its way into an immense lot of logs right hear the city limits. [OT-1903-0501]

1903. An employee in the pesthouse and two of the inmates got whisky and made themselves hilariously drunk. The patients decided that life in the hospital was too slow, so they escaped and made a tour of the saloons. Officers drove them into a physician's office, and special deputies were sworn to keep them under restraint until they were marched back to the pesthouse. [NREP-1903-0403]

1903. Log trains on the Onaway & North Michigan railroad were kept busy all night bringing in people rescued  from the forest fire along the track. The smoke was so dense as to be suffocating, and cinders and charred embers filled the air. [LSJ-1903-0430]

1903. Merritt Chandler builds a substantial court house in Onaway and donates it to the county, hoping to attract the county seat to Onaway. Court was held in the building but Rogers City was designated as the county seat. The building, beautifully restored, is used as city hall, a library and museum. Chandler then tried to break off Onaway and nearby townships to form Forest County, but was unsuccessful. [PINO]

1908. Onaway had 17 saloons, two bakeries, nine churches, seven lumber mills, four doctors, two newspapers, four lawyers, an opera house, a horse racing track and three large hotels. 

1911. July. The section of Onaway known as Frenchtown was razed by fire. [LSJ-1911-0712]

1911.  October 29. The American Wood Rim company, of Onaway, has the distinction of turning out most of the steering wheels used by the [automobile] trade. This concern last year manufactured upward of 200,000 steering wheels. They finish them complete from the tree, ready for the machine, with either aluminum or brass spiders. For exceptionally fine cars they import mahogany and Circassian walnut.

The manufacture of bicycle rims is also a leading branch of their work, their output last year being nearly a million rims. They have a factory in France to which they export the material in the rough. Allied with the Rim company is the Lobdell & Churchill Manufacturing company, which operates an immense saw mill, handle and flooring factory. The combined company owns 20,000 acres of virgin timber land containing the finest maple in the world. They employ nearly 700 men in their mills and in the woods. [DFP-10/29/1911]

1912. Lobdell Emery and American Wood Rim had a single track engine house on their property, likely for O&N locomotives. [SBM-1912]

1917. The Michigan Commissioner of Railroads grants the D&M permission to remove their Black Lake Branch, connecting with the main line at Onaway. [MCR-1917]

1917. The Onaway-Alpena Telephone Co. had 1,440 subscribers, along with 2,258 miles of wire. 347,292 local calls were made as well as 5,370 toll calls. [MCR-1917]

1924. April. The D&M tracks are washed out and under water for miles. The river swept away a water tank and numerous small buildings; fences and trees were carried away on the swift current. [BCE-1922-0411]

1924. In a case before the MPSC, it was reported that the American Wood Rim Co. received inbound shipments of 7.8 million feet of lumber, 275 cars of coal and 6 cars of coke, 164,000 pounds of glue, 354,000 pounds of paint, 47,000 pounds of sand paper, 2.1 million pounds of iron castings. Outbound  freight consisted of 98 cars of lumber, 2 cars of posts, 2 cars of ties, 14 cars of bark, 2.9 million pounds of steering wheels and 1.6 million pounds of bicycle rims. It also shipped outbound by "express" (trucks?) 1.9 million pounds of steering wheels and 447,000 pounds of bicycle rims. [MPSC-1924 opinions]

1926. January 14. The American Wood Rim burns down. Most of the plant burns down, leaving the office building and some small buildings on the edges. Most operations were immediate moved to an empty war truck plant in Alma and about half of the town's population moved there. Four men perished in the fire and 800 jobs were lost. 

1927. The D&M had a daytime operator at the Onaway depot. There was one passenger train in each direction, daily except Sunday. [ETT-1927]

1953. Confesses Break In.  December 31. Raymond Smith, 17, who State Police said confessed breaking into the Onaway railroad station, was held in the city jail today for investigation of robbery. [Holland Evening Sentinel]

1979. Presque Isle County Sheriff Duane Badder is killed in a shoot-out near Metz. He was a resident of Onaway and a former city police officer. He was the first Michigan sheriff killed in the line of duty. 500+ law enforcement officers and 600+ residents attended his funeral. [PINO]

Industry

• American Porter - shingle mill - on D&M - 1907 on Main Street
• American Wood Rim - see Lobdell & Churchill. 1907-1926
• Ellenberger Lumber Co. - lumber and hardware. 1930's-2023
• Fusee Brothers - planning mill - (Cedar & Main streets) - 1907
• Gardner & Peterman - saw mill, hoop mill, stave mill -  on D&M - 1903, 1907. Not in use in 1915.
• Huron Handle Co. - moved from Alpena in 1900, employing 100 men
• Lobdell & Baily Manufacturing Co. - bicycle rims and flooring factor - 1903
• Lobdell & Churchill manufacturing company - 1907
• Lobdell Emery Manufacturing Co. - See other Lobdell entries. 1915
• M. Chandler - shingle mill - had a D&M siding - 1915
• M. S. Cate - saw and planning mill - not in operation - in 1907
• Onaway Elevator - west of old Onaway Iron Works and west of the D&M depot - 1915-1980s
• Onaway Iron Works - just west of D&M depot on Cedar Street - 1907
• S. B. Hutchinson - veneer works - 1903
• Standard Oil - on D&M (north side) near N. Third Street - 1915

Links

External Article: The History of Onaway

For an excellent history of Onaway at its 125th birthday, see Onaway Awakens, published by Presque Isle Newspapers, Inc. on June 27,2024.