MICHIGAN SHADOW TOWN: Canada Corners, Muskegon County
This little intersection was a settlement at one time, with hopes of becoming a village.
This area in Muskegon County is called Canada Corners, named for three Canadians from Ontario who decided to settle here. The first was Alexander McInnis, who showed up in 1866; he was followed by D. Bartram in 1867 and Charles Fraleigh in 1868.
James Allen was a blacksmith who arrived in the area from Canada and began farming. He showed his son Freeman his blacksmith prowess, and sure enough, when Freeman turned 21 in 1891, he became the Canada Corners blacksmith. After a few years of that, he turned his attentions to the nearby town of Casnovia and opened a hardware store.
The new settlement got its own post office in 1880, which shut down in 1905. Canada Corners had a nice handful of businesses, as you can see in the atlases below…but once the P.O. was gone, others followed. Now all that’s left are a few residents but no businesses.
Canada Corners is not a Michigan community to be ignored, but should be stored and kept in your Michigan History banks. This former community is located at the intersection of Canada Road and Apple Avenue, Casnovia Township, in Muskegon County.
Drive-thru someday soon.