MICHIGAN FORGOTTEN TOWN: Fisherville, Bay County

The Bay County community of Fisherville doesn��t seem to appear on most maps, and it’s so close to Auburn, that travelers may think the two towns are part of one.

A little history about Fisherville:
At Eleven Mile and Midland roads, a sawmill was constructed. The year was 1866. The man who built the sawmill, a Mr. Spicer, named the area ‘Spicer’s Corners’ in honor of himself.

In the 1870s, the Hotchkiss & Mercer Company ran a sawmill and was responsible for the wooden plank road that led from Midland to Bay City. Also in the 1870s, Spence Fisher was a respected, prominent citizen of the village; he is said to have operated a couple of mills, manufacturing barrels and the accompanying barrel hoops & staves. In 1875 it was decided to re-name the town after Fisher, and ‘Fisherville’ was it. Spence Fisher went on to become a congressman from 1885-1889.

When the post office opened in 1892, somebody thought to give it the moniker ‘Laredo’. It closed in 1898 and re-opened in 1899. When it closed for good in 1906, the name ‘Fisherville’ was back. From then on, the mail was sent to Auburn.

Fisherville was also a station on the Michigan Central's branch line from Bay City to Midland.

Today, Fisherville has only a few old buildings left, surrounded by modern suburbia and cul-de-sacs. The one or two old town buildings offset the rest of the area, but it’s worth a short drive-thru to visit what was once an important Michigan lumber town.

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