奥斯科达县简史
奥斯科达县成立于1881年3月10日. 以前, it had been Comins Township attached to Alcona County, which had been formed about 1869 when it was split from Alpena County. 在那之前, the area belonged to the Native Americans who ceded it to the United States Government by the Treaty of Saginaw in 1819.
As originally constituted, Oscoda县 consisted of three townships: Atherton, Mt. 平都斯和康明斯. 从那时起, 有多达9个乡镇, as the population ebbed and flowed with the lumbering & 铁路行业.
1881年的法案，建立了这个县, 也被指定为联合角, 在县城的西南角, as temporary county seat and directed an election to choose a permanent location. After a couple of attempts, Mio was selected because of its central location. 即使在那之后, several efforts were made to move the county seat to a different site, 但随着法院大楼的建成, 讨论结束了. The first courthouse was built in 1888 at a total cost of $3,754, including woodshed and out-houses.
Incredibly, a public water system existed between 1890 and 1910. The water was pumped from Wolf Creek by two hydrolic rams through a 4″ wooden pipe to a reservoir on the hill south of town. 六英寸长的木制主水管, with which the customers were connected by means of east-west branches, ran from the reservoir down M-33 as far as M-72.
Mio这个名字的由来并没有详细的记载. 1881年，当地报纸将其拼写为Mioe. This was the family’s name for Marla Deyarmond, an early settler. A visit to her house was termed “going to Aunt Mioe’s”. There being little else there at the time, Aunt Mioe’s became synonymous with the settlement.
有一段时间, Fairview was located a mile and a half north of its present site; at another, it was a mile north and a mile east of where it is now. Since there wasn’t much else to it, the town was wherever the postoffice was located.
位于卢塞恩, 在早期伐木时代定居下来的, 没有铁路, but it did have a sawmill and gristmill powered by a dam on Big Creek. This dam also stored water for running logs down Big Creek to the AuSable River. 位于卢塞恩’s zenith was reached during the 1890’s when for some years it was the site of an annual agricultural fair. The fair was held on the flat land at the northwest corner of present M-72 and County Highway 489.
在早期, McKinley – then known as Pott’s Headquarters – was the hub of the county’s lumbering industry. From there, narrow gauge railroads ran north and west for many miles. Most of the rails and rolling stock for this network was floated down the AuSable on rafts from Grayling. Even though McKinley grew to be the largest settlement in the county, 与教堂, 商店, 酒店, 以及其他业务, it remained somewhat isolated from larger settlements on Michigan’s east coast. The only way to ship anything to or from Lake Huron was by river or ox team.
Sometime in the 1890’s a narrow gauge railroad was put through from AuSable, 位于休伦湖沿岸, 对康明斯, a settlement in what is now Clinton Township. The presence of the railroad quickly established Comins as the new center of commerce for Oscoda县. 在它周围建起了一座银行, 一个酒店, 一个监狱, 商店, 轿车, 牲畜饲养场, 一记勾拳, 水箱, 还有很多住宅. About 1912, the railroad was widened to standard gauge and connected with the Detroit & 麦基诺厚铁路. Livestock and other products of the area were hauled or driven for shipment, and supplies were shipped in for distribution by team or truck to Mio and other parts of the surrounding country. As time went by, however, the railroad slowly lost its importance and became unprofitable. In 1928, the last train chugged off down the tracks taking with it Comins’ importance as a shipping center.
重建县政府办公大楼
5月4日, 2016年奥斯科达县法院, 始建于1888年, 当时, the oldest wood frame courthouse still in use in the State of Michigan, 被火灾损坏无法修复. Though no longer used as a courthouse, the building housed many of the county’s government offices. 火灾后, temporary mobile offices were erected across the street from the original location to allow demolition & 处置剩余结构. Construction of the new building officially began on May 20, 2019年，并于2020年2月完工. The following pictures document various stages of the construction process.
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All Photos Courtesy of Sandy Sposato Photography©