Sherman is an
unincorporated community in
Wexford County in the U.S. state of
Michigan. It was one of the earliest permanent settlements in Wexford County and was the first
county seat.
Geography
Sherman is located at the point where four townships meet and portions lie within each of the townships. It is at the northwest corner of
Antioch Township, the southwest corner of
Hanover Township, the southeast corner of
Wexford Township, and the northeast corner of
Springville Township. It is situated on
M-37 near where it crosses the
Manistee River, just a couple miles northeast of the village of
Mesick.
History
The first known permanent white settler in the county, B. W. Hall, settled near Sherman in the early 1860s. A store was opened in 1867 and was at first known as Manistee Bridge because of proximity to the bridge over the Manistee River on the Newaygo and Northport State Road (built in 1857 and is approximately the route of present-day M-37 in the county) which connected
Newaygo
Newaygo ( ) is a rural city in Newaygo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,471 at the 2020 census.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. in ...
to the south with
Northport on the
Leelanau Peninsula
The Leelanau Peninsula ( ) is a peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan that extends about from the western side of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan into Lake Michigan. Leelanau County encompasses the entire peninsula. It is often referred to as ...
to the north. The road opened the area for settlement, as it was previously practically inaccessible. The settlement gained a post office in 1868 named Sherman, after the
Civil War General
William T. Sherman. Sherman was platted in 1869 and incorporated as a village in 1887.
[Wheeler (1903), pp. 269, 273.] Fires destroyed the business district and the village disincorporated sometime in the 1920s.
Sherman was the county seat until 1881, when, as a result of the so-called "
Battle of Sherman
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and forc ...
", the seat was moved first to
Manton and a short time later to
Cadillac
The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...
.
References
Further reading
*''Michigan Place Names'', by Walter Romig, L.H.D., Wayne State University Press: 1986 (hardbound) (softbound)
Wexford County Fact Sheet B2 HistoryWexford County Fact Book B2 HistoryChapter XVII Wexford County
in ''A history of northern Michigan and its people'' by Perry F. Powers ; assisted by H.G. Cutler. Powers, Perry Francis, 1857-1945. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1912. p. 404
External links
Michigan Historical Marker
{{authority control
Unincorporated communities in Wexford County, Michigan
Former villages in Michigan
Unincorporated communities in Michigan
1867 establishments in Michigan
Populated places established in 1867
Former county seats in Michigan