Suttonsburg, Pleasant City and the History of Suttons Bay

In S-B once had 6,000 platted lots the Leelanau Enterprise presents a great look back Leelanau’s largest town, Suttons Bay:

Suttons Bay was founded in 1854 by Harry C. Sutton. He thought the bay was a perfect place for a dock where he could supply steamer ships with cord wood for fuel, think of it as a ‘gas station’ for ships with wood burning boilers. At that time the place was called Suttonsburg. Mr. Sutton and a few others built some homes. Mr. W.J. Sweet built the first store. According to the book “Suttons Bay Sesquicentennial Celebration 1854-2004” both Sutton and Sweet sold their property about 1870 or 1871 to Father Herbstrit, a new character in town.

An earlier edition of that book “Suttons Bay Centennial Celebration 1854-1954” has this to say about the father:
“In 1871 Father Andrew Herbstrit, a missionary priest and real estate operator, platted six thousand lots and laid out Pleasant City. His avowed intention being to establish a ‘National University’ on the bay, endowing it with one half the proceeds from the sale of lots.

Read on at the Enterprise for information about the 6,000 lots that were platted, how it might have been named Pleasant City and a cool old photo.

Photo Credit: Public School, Suttons Bay Michigan by UpNorth Memories – Donald (Don) Harrison. See more cool old photos in Don’s Suttons Bay slideshow and read more from Suttons Bay on the Leelanau Blog!