Daylight only. This cache is in the Stittsville Cemetery just south of the town site. Please trod carefully.
Town Name: Stittsville
Reason for Becoming a Lost Town:
Timber ran out. The village never caught on as a farming community. Nearby Moorestown continued to flourish a little compared to Stittsville.
Town History:
The ghost town of Stittsville was originally settled in 1876 and was called Norwich, for the township. According to the 1897 Michigan State Gazetteer and Business Directory, the population was 35. The town included at least one saw mill, a blacksmith, two justices, a carpenter, a dressmaker, a millinery goods, a general store, a Methodist minister and was home to the township supervisor. It received mail three times a week from Lake City. Ten years later, the population had grown to 100, and boasted a second store, a hotel livery, and saloon, a restaurant, a lath and feed mill, and a school. The town also had a telephone connection at the general store/post office. The post office was established in 1893 and closed in 1933-34.
For a brief period, between 1898 and 1904, a narrow gauge logging railroad ran to Stittsville from Morey and Pioneer. This line was built by the Mitchell Brothers Lumber Company.
In 1912, the livery was razed. In 1916, the Dougherty Hotel was torn down and the lumber used to construct homes. In 1916 the bit store, owned by the Mitchells, was torn down. By 1917, the population was down to 40. Today, there is nothing left of the original town but the cemetery.
Notes of Interest:
The church that once stood in the vacant lot next to the cemetery was moved up to Wellington Farms, between North Higgins lake exit on I-75 and Grayling, on Military Road.
There is still one business at the town site. Bohning is a manufacturer of archery accessories and employs a few people.
Much of the information here was gleaned from Michigan Ghost Towns Volume II, by RL Dodge, copyright 1971.
