Saranac

Saranac is a Michigan historical marker in Saranac, Ionia County, dedicated 1970.

460 Main St., Saranac

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In 1836, when Saranac was settled, the upper Grand River Valley was a promising but undeveloped area. The soil was fertile; Lake Creek provided water power; and the river was navigable to Grand Rapids. The town grew slowly until 1857, when the coming of the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad made Saranac a shipping center. Local products included such items as flour, lumber, hides, felloes, barrels, and staves. As the forests disappeared, manufacturing declined, and agriculture gradually became the dominant industry.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1819 · Ohio & Indiana (H. S. Tanner, 1819) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1836 · New Map Of Michigan. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1853 · Map of the surveyed part of Michigan (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1854 · A map of the surveyed part of Michigan / by John Farmer ; engraved by S. Stiles & Co. (University Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
1873 · Michigan. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

New Map Of Michigan, 1836, covering the location of Saranac, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — New Map Of Michigan, 1836, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Michigan History Center
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Saranac

Historical maps covering this location

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