Early Escanaba 

Water and woodland - that is what our community looked like and that is what attracted native Americans and white settlers alike to our area. In 1851 a large watermill was built on the lower Escanaba River, and the next year a large amount of timber was cleared on Sand Point, the original Escanaba townsite. By 1860 the population of the Escanaba area was estimated at about 1,200 people. 

The Civil War years brought many changes to our country's economy. One result in Escanaba was the laying of a railroad line from the Jackson mine in Negaunee to Escanaba. The first iron ore was shipped from the port of Escanaba in the spring of 1864. That same year the original plat for the town was filed for record. 

In 1866 Escanaba was incorporated as a village. That fall 48 voters gathered to organize the first Board of Education. A teacher was hired for $45 a month; he conducted the four-month winter term in a rented building. 

Development continued and the Michigan legislature incorporated Escanaba as a city in 1883. The city's population was 4,335 in 1884. Writing in Celebration '87, published by The Daily Press in Spring, 1987, Dave Andrews pointed out the connection between those early years and the present: "Spawned by lumbermen and a railroad, the city of Escanaba was built on sand with a foundation of iron ore, steel and timber. From a beginning on Sand Point, the community has ridden the railroad, iron ore, and forest products industries throughout its 125 - year history on the shores of Little Bay de Noc."

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