Another Michigan Ghost Town: Bolton, 1860-1955

The former lumber town of Bolton has been around ever since the 1860s. Between 1905 and 1955 the town began to dwindle, with businesses closing down and the proprietors packing up and going elsewhere.

At one time, the town had a church, depot, dry goods store, general store, grocery, post office, saloon, sawmill, school and shingle mill. The church seems to have been demolished. The railroad tracks have been torn up. There is a brick building still standing next to the empty tracks, that I’m guessing may have been either a post office or possibly a depot. An old building, that looks like it may have been a general store, was still around in the early 2000s but is now torn down.

Across the road from where this building once stood, is another old original building that looks like it is now a residence. That, and the brick building, are the only remnants of any downtown establishments that were once in Bolton.

Get our free mobile app

Bolton can be found 12 miles northwest of Alpena next to the abandoned tracks of the Detroit & Mackinac Railway in Maple Ridge Township, Alpena County. The town was named after businessman Henry Bolton who owned a general store in Alpena in 1866; after socking away enough money, he began operating a lumber firm with Donald McRae in 1871, specializing in cedar. With more businesses booming and the population growing, the town soon boasted all the above-mentioned businesses.

In 1894 there was a wreck on the railroad tracks near Bolton, completely wrecking six long timber cars.
In 1900 Bolton was just about completely destroyed by fire.
A few miles north, there were several million feet of hemlock logs which caught fire; the Alpena fire department extinguished the flames before the town was reduced to nothing.

By 1905 the town's population was 250; timber became depleted, the income dropped, and people began leaving to pick up their lives elsewhere. By 1910 the population was down to 150. The post office, which began operation in 1880, shut down for good in 1955.

See the photos of the remains of Bolton in the gallery below.