INGHAM COUNTY CURIOSITY: Felt Plains, in Bunker Hill Township
Now here's a real curiosity.
There's a community area in Ingham County's Bunker Hill Township (established in 1839) that has been called by four different names: Felt, Felt's, Felt Plains, and Felt's Plains.
What do we call it? Ghost Town? Unincorporated Community? Lost village? Forgotten, isolated, disappeared? It's hard to put a label on it when there's no record of it ever having existed. Or is there?
I have checked the atlases from 1874, 1914 and 1939, but not ONE of those show any signs of a village that was once contained the name "Felt". It shows Bunker Hill and Fitchburg - both unincorporated communities but no Felt, Felt's, Felt Plains, or Felt's Plains.
BUT! I was able to uncover the following little nuggets of information:
1) Near the junctions of Catholic Church Road @ Meridian Road, and E. Scofield Road @ Meridian Road, there is an area called "Felt Plains".
2) The post office, which operated from 1851-1975, was named "Felt's".
3) The community was named after Dorman Felt, who settled there in 1847.
Currently, there is a Felt Plains Cemetery, the old Felt Plains church, and an old one-room schoolhouse (since converted into a home). No old shops, stores or businesses, but there are residences scattered throughout the countryside (SEE PHOTOS BELOW).
Was this community ever an official village or town? There is extremely little written about it, so I hope some Ingham County historians out there can shed some light on this area, once - and still known - as Felt(s) Plains.
FELTS PHOTOS
MORE 'LOST' MICHIGAN: