A Brief History of Banks Township

         Settlement by Europeans in the southern part of Michigan began in the early 1700’s. As more Europeans came into the state, they gradually moved northward, seeking property and a way to support themselves and their families.  They found the north was one huge dense forest, entirely inhabited exclusively by native Americans. By the mid 1800’s the northwest section of Michigan was beginning to see an influx of some of these Europeans. Then the Civil War happened. The Homestead Act of 1862 was enacted which allowed adult citizens who had never borne arms against the U.S. to claim 160 acres of surveyed public land for a small fee and five years of continuous residence . Union soldiers could deduct their military service time from the residency requirement, making it easier for them to meet the conditions, and so they came. 

            Banks Township, is located in the northwest section of Antrim County, which is in the northwest section of Michigan’s lower peninsula. The original inhabitants of the area were native Americans known as the Anishnabeg. Settlement by Europeans into Banks Township was gradual, beginning around 1859 or 1860 in Antrim City, which was located along the shore of Lake Michigan.  Land was cleared and homesteads established. Homesteaders used the timber cleared from their land to build their cabins and much of their furniture. The township was officially organized by the Michigan Legislature on March 11, 1863.

            The lumbering industry prospered in early Banks Township with the building of saw mills throughout the township. In 1867, the firm of Wood, Pearl & Co. in Antrim City built a pier out into the bay for shipping timber to other ports along Lake Michigan. Many of the homesteaders worked in these sawmills. Many sawmills continued until around 1900, although the mill in Antrim City, as well as the community of Antrim City failed. It was discovered that the bay at Antrim City, was too shallow for the docking of large ships.

            The soil in Banks Township proved to be very fertile and good for growing crops, especially fruit trees. More settlers came and eventually moved inland from Lake Michigan. The village of Atwood, two miles east of Lake Michigan, had its origins when Richard Knight homesteaded there in 1862. Atwood was started as a lumber camp and post office. The village did pretty well for a brief time, incorporating a flour mill, general store, three churches, schoolhouse, and several other stores. As the timber depleted, so did Atwood's population, and by 1905 the residency was down to 75 people.

            Word spread about this good land in Banks Township via letters to relatives and friends back East, and people came. Many new homesteads were established throughout the township. In 1866, Lois Hardy accidentally discovered the area that was to become Ellsworth while taking a walk through the forest. In 1870 she secured the land and built a cabin in the center of what was to become the village of Ellsworth. Several settlers gradually secured property in and around this fertile, forested area. Early entrepreneurs built sawmills to accommodate the growing lumber industry. Sawmills were being built at several locations throughout Banks Township.

            One such sawmill was built in 1881 by Augustus Davis and his nephew Erwin A. Dean at the mouth of Orr Creek (now Skinner Creek) where it emptied into Intermediate Lake (now Ellsworth Lake). At the time the area was called Ox Bow because an oxbow wetland is a meander of a stream, river or creek, that has become separated from the flow of water and stores excess water. Another sawmill was built a little further up the creek by Russell T. Sleeper in an area known as Needmore.

       By 1882, Dodatus O. Parks owned most of the property north of the present day Center Street, and Falle H Skow owned the property south of this line. Frederick Meech also owned some land north of Center Street. Skow, being a wise entrepreneur, realized that this was a desirable location so he  encouraged Parks and Meech to have their land surveyed by Frederick L. Church.  Church was hired and the streets and lots were plotted. People came and bought lots and then built homes and buildings for businesses. In 1884 Lewis DeLine, Augustus Davis, Erwin Dean, Sam Brown and Henry Brown entered a petition to the state of Michigan for a local post office. Mr. DeLine chose the name “Ellsworth” for this community, naming it after the colonel he served under in the Civil War. He was then appointed as the first postmaster of Ellsworth.