[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 3, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   TRIBUTE TO MILLERSBURG, MICHIGAN ON THE OCCASION OF ITS COMMUNITY 
                               CENTENNIAL

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                            HON. BART STUPAK

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, April 3, 2001

  Mr. STUPAK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Millersburg, 
a small community in my congressional district, the 1st District of 
Michigan. On Labor Day this year the people of Millersburg will 
celebrate the centennial of their village. The history of their 
community is rich and complex, a story of growth and decline and 
several major changes in the core industry of the community. Like other 
centennials, however, this date marks more than a chronology of events. 
It is a history of family unity and old-fashioned values, and the 
centennial is a wish and prayer for the future of this small village, a 
hope that it will endure another 100 years.
  Village president Bruce Doran and his wife Jo are assembling a book 
on the community as a reference for this historic event. Their account 
of the community's beginning tells how on the morning of September 23, 
1897, a party of land owners and railway men assembled near the spot 
where a primitive highway crossed the Ocqueoc River in Presque Isle 
County, Michigan, for the purpose of laying out a new town. Except for 
the openings along the river and along the highway, the unbroken forest 
extended for miles on every side. The line of the D&M Railroad was 
blazed on the trees, and in a few days the noise of railway trains 
would be heard for the first time in this primeval forest.
  Many towns have been laid out like this in Michigan, Mr. Speaker, 
but, according to the Dorans' research, Millersburg was probably one of 
the last Michigan communities deliberately planned in the forest. By 
noon the actual site was selected, and a gang of 35 choppers went to 
work. Axes flashed, and the mighty hemlocks, the giant elms, the 
majestic maples and the lofty basswoods were laid low, giving birth to 
the town of Millersburg.
  The community took its name from Mr. Charles R. Miller of Adrian, 
Michigan, president of the commercial Savings Bank there. Mr. Miller 
had traveled through the area on business and had become interested in 
this area of the state through business contacts. He watched the 
progress of the D&M Railroad with keen interest and decided to purchase 
a tract of land. With several logging branches planned, it was expected 
that the town of Millersburg would be the hub of activity.
  In 1901 Millersburg became incorporated as a village. It grew and 
developed, with a variety of important local businesses, including four 
sawmills, one stave mill, five general stores and a newspaper.
  But a town built in the forest and dependent on the forest can also 
be threatened by the forest. The decline of Millersburg as a lumbering 
town began with fires that swept the greater part of Presque Isle 
County in October 1908, inflicting a tremendous amount of damage. One 
fire threatened the village at the sawmills, and every available man 
fought to keep it from entering the town. Their efforts were rewarded, 
and the town was saved. But thousands of acres of timber were lost.
  By 1911 the population had dwindled to 850 from a high of more than 
1,000, and in July a fire burned the community's business section, the 
schoolhouse, the post office and numerous homes. Two sawmills and 26 
boxcars were destroyed. The business section was never rebuilt and many 
of the merchants and dealers, realizing that the era of large-scale 
lumbering was over, chose to leave to try their fortunes elsewhere. By 
1916 the town's population leveled off at 300, a figure which has 
remained relatively unchanged to this day. Agriculture became the chief 
industry in the township until the 1950s, when many of the farmers 
where forced out of business due to rising prices.
  Today tourism is becoming the mainstay of the community, marking the 
community's willingness to adapt to new economic opportunities. Many 
people have come to the area to enjoy its lakes, streams and snowmobile 
trails.
  One can look back over the community's history, Mr. Speaker, and 
acknowledge that, yes, the town once had more local industry and a 
greater population. But one can also say that Millersburg, strengthened 
by its trails by fire, is as vigorous and forward-looking a community 
today as it once was, ready to utilize its local assets for the 
advancement of its citizens.
  I ask my colleagues to join me in saluting the people of Millersburg 
and wishing them great joy in their celebration of 100 years as a 
community.

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