The Overlooked Town of Atlas: Genesee County, Michigan

Now here's an interesting little town, if not by name only: the little town of Atlas in Genesee County.

The history of Atlas goes back to 1830 when land was first purchased by a man named Asa Farrar. Things really kicked off in 1831 when Norman Davison arrived and opened up some businesses: a sawmill in 1833 and a grist mill in 1836.

It didn't take too long for Atlas to become a local market and farm processing center. Even so, the growth of Atlas didn't really take off much after the 1870s and still remains small to this day.

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When a post office was established in 1837, it was given the name “Davisonville.” Seeing as the township was already called 'Atlas', the town decided to change its name to 'Atlas' in 1854.

Recently, in 2024, Atlas was hit by a tornado, causing multiple damages. It uprooted many trees, blew off a couple of garage doors, stripped a roof and blew out walls.

The gallery below features a few old photos of Atlas from 1900-1910s.