Hart, Michigan
Hart, the county seat of Oceana County, had its
beginning when Wellington Hart built a trading post on Russell Creek. With
no road leading to the community, the settlement had grown little by 1863,
with just a sawmill and another home located there. Yet Lyman Corbin,
Hart’s father-in-law and the owner of the other buildings had grand
ideas. In 1864 he made a proposition to the supervisors stating he would
give the county a square of choice land in Hart and also give them $1,000
in cash for the erection of a courthouse if they would move the county
seat from the farmhouse in Whiskey Creek to Hart. The village of Middlesex
(Pentwater) was a thriving village, and the residents became furious that
they were being overlooked. Hart didn’t even have a post office, the
Hart mail was left on a fence corner and Robert McAllister carried the
mail on his back to Pentwater. But Mr. Corbin persuaded the board to set
up an election, and after a bitter fight, Hart won by a vote of 229 for
and 223 against. Both Shelby and Pentwater continued to protest, and the
controversy continued to the end of the century.
After being chosen as the county seat, the settlement started to grow. The
establishment of the newspaper Oceana Times inspired men of the township
to enlist in the Union army. Churches were organized, general stores were
established, followed by a hardware store, a flour mill, and a hotel. In
1867 a jail was constructed, and the permanent court house was built in
1874.
But Hart was not focused only on the commercial; social life flourished.
Hart boasted of several lodges, a veteran’s association, a literary and
debating society, an improvement club, the Chautauqua Circle, and a
Sportsman’s Club which planted over 16,000 trout in the mill pond.
Then in 1885 Hart was incorporated as a village, and it grew in importance
to the logging industry and to the farms surrounding it. It continued to
grow, adding two opera houses and an electrical plant. 1924 marked the
construction of a dam on the Pentwater River, forming Hart Lake and
providing power for the electric company.
During World War II a prison camp of mostly German soldiers was located at
the Oceana Fairgrounds. The prisoners worked at the local packing plant
and on some of the area farms. Apparently the prisoners learned to
appreciate our area, because some of them settled here after the war.
In 1946 Hart became a city.
In 1986 the month of September brought large amounts of rain to the area
causing Hart Lake to rise to the top of the dam. With the pressure of all
that water, the dam broke, emptying the lake and sending millions of
gallons of water rushing toward Pentwater. Fortunately the water was
contained in the lowlands, and the major damage was to roads and bridges.
A new dam was built, and Hart Lake was restored.
Hart is not only a beautiful city with the lake at its center, but it is
proud of its history. The Oceana County Historical & Genealogical
Society has its headquarters and research facility in the beautiful stone
Chadwick-Munger House. The Hart Historic District, with a church, a
school, a mill and other restored building draws many visitors.
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