Bitely is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Lilley Township, within

Newaygo County, Michigan Newaygo County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 49,978. The county seat is White Cloud. The county was created in 1840, and was organized in 1851. It was either named for an ...

, in the United States. It is within the

Manistee National Forest The Manistee National Forest is a national forest located in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. It has a total area of . It was established in 1938, and combined with the Huron National Forest in 1945 for administrative purposes, creating the Huro ...

. It is near Bitely Lake, Lamoreaux Lake, Isaac Lake, Houseman Lake and several smaller lakes. It was a station on the

Chicago and West Michigan Railroad (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(later the

Pere Marquette Jacques Marquette S.J. (June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Sainte Marie, and later founded Saint Igna ...

, then the Chesapeake and Ohio, now

Marquette Rail Marquette Rail is a short line railroad operating in Michigan. It is based in Ludington and operates of trackage north from Grand Rapids, Michigan, where connections with CSX and Norfolk Southern are located. It serves chemical, paper products ...

) in 1889, and given a post office on September 13, 1889, with Archer D. Martin as its first postmaster. It was named for Steven Bitely, who built a sawmill there, but due to a typographical error, the post office was initially spelled as Biteley. The Bitely Homecoming parade is held the third Saturday of every July.

References

Unincorporated communities in Newaygo County, Michigan Grand Rapids metropolitan area 1889 establishments in Michigan Unincorporated communities in Michigan {{NewaygoCountyMI-geo-stub