The Ghost Town of Keno: Roscommon County, Michigan

One of the Michigan ghost towns that is easily accessible is the ‘town’ of Keno in Roscommon County.

There are a few scattered homes throughout the countryside, but the only remaining thing that shows there was once a town there is a decaying old structure alongside the road that could have been a hotel or saloon. I’m guessing it was a combination of both.

Keno can be found at the junction of N. St. Helen Road and E. Hudson Road, 12 miles east of the town of Roscommon.

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Keno got its start In the late 1800s as a community named 'Hard Scrabble'. There was no nearby post office until 1902, when one began operating a few miles north named ‘Herbert’. After a few years went by, in 1910 a family by the name of Hyde settled here and decided the name ‘Hard Scrabble’ was just plain dumb, so they eventually succeeded in renaming the community 'Keno'.

With the Herbert post office closing for good in 1925, Keno began its downslide. A 1916 atlas shows a school on the right side of the road, but the old building that is still there is on the left. Did the atlas make a mistake? If  so, the identity of this old remaining structure is still unknown. General store? Church? It sure looks like a hotel. Keno makes for a quick but interesting drive-thru.

Roscommon County was formed in 1840 as Mikenauk County and renamed Roscommon  in 1843. It was named after the county of Roscommon, Ireland.