Just How Many Towns Named "Podunk" Were/Are in Michigan?

How many towns in Michigan are named “Podunk”? That number is debatable, as many little towns and villages refer to themselves as being ‘podunk’.

Semi-officially, there are two: One in Kent County, now called Oakfield Centre. It was settled in 1838 and named in 1849. A post office operated from 1850 to 1877. It was also called Oak Centre and nicknamed ‘Podunk’, and is located where Podunk Avenue meets 13 Mile Road.

The other ‘Podunk’ can be found in Ingham County. This one began life in 1815 in Leroy Township as Phelpstown (another nickname for Phelpstrown was ‘Shacksboro’). It became nicknamed ‘Podunk’ after a village by that name in New York.

Get our free mobile app

Other Michigan ‘Podunks’ include:

1) An area at Podunk Lake in Barry County
2) A nickname for Rogers City
3) The southeastern part of Manchester in Washtenaw County (the west side’s name was changed in the 1860s to ‘Manchester’ so it wouldn’t sound too backwoods)

Then there’s the former village of Podunk located at the corner of two isolated dirt roads in Gladwin County: Ziemer and N. Shearer, just off M-18, northwest of Gladwin, east of Harrison and south of Houghton Lake. If you ever take a drive through, you'd never know it was a former community. You'll see an old schoolhouse and a couple of houses at the intersection. And that's it.

This particular Podunk is listed as having railroad service but no sign of tracks going through. So what happened to Podunk, what was it and why did it vanish? It doesn't even show up on Google Maps. Was it an old lumber town that went kaput when the timber depleted? That would be my best guess.