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Situated in northern Bay County, the city of Pinconning, Michigan is surrounded by Pinconning Township.

The chief routes to and from Pinconning are M-13 (Huron Road) and Pinconning Road (5th Street), which intersect in the southern part of the city. Cities and villages within twenty-five miles of the city include Standish, Sterling, Omer, Bay City, Essexville, Auburn, and Au Gres, while the unincorporated communities of Woodville, Almeda Beach, Myers Beach, Mount Forest, Nine Mile, Linwood, and Whites Beach are within ten miles.

Pinconning was founded as a lumber settlement on the banks of the Pinconning River, a 15.6-mile waterway that begins in Mount Forest Township, and flows east through Pinconning Township and the city of Pinconning, before emptying into Saginaw Bay just over two miles east of the city.

George H. Van Etten and Henry Kaiser, of Van Etten, Kaiser & Company, are credited as the city's founders. They chose the area because of the abundance of trees, which included white pine, spruce, fir, cedar, oak, maple, birch, and elm, as well as the wild game, fish, and fertile agricultural land, particularly for potatoes. Pinconning is derived from an Ojibwa word meaning "a place where wild potatoes grow."

The company built a sawmill and a company store in 1872, and platted a hundred acres as a townsite. A post office was established on January 29, 1873, with Edward B. Knight as postmaster.

Originally, the Pinconning River was used to move logs to the bay but, later in 1873, the Pinconning and Kaiserville Railroad was built to transport lumber south, also serving as the main way in and out of the community due to a lack of real roads. A gravel road to Pinconning was built in 1918 and paved in 1920. The Pinconning and Kaiserville Railroad became the Glencoe, Pinconning & Lake Shore Railroad, then the Pinconning Railroad, then the Saginaw Bay & Northwestern Railroad, and was acquired by the Michigan Central Company in 1883.

Pinconning was incorporated as a village in 1887, and became a city in 1931.

By the late 1800s or early 1900s, the area's timber resources were depleted. In the early 1900s, dairy farming became an important factor in the area's economy. William Reid moved to Pinconning in 1907 to found the Pinconning Creamery, Kraft operated a cheese plant from 1936 to 1993, and Daniel Horn, a German immigrant, moved to Pinconning from Wisconsin, and created a new type of cheese that could be stored at temperatures over forty degrees. This new variety of Colby became known as Pinconning cheese, which is still popular.

Today, Pinconning is primarily a residential community, although it has substantial commercial activity, as well. Its peak population, thus far, was 1,430 in 1980, while its current population is just over 1,200.

The focus of this portion of our guide is on the city of Pinconning, Michigan. Appropriate topics for this category include online resources representing the municipality or any other governmental entities within the city, as well as local businesses, industries, schools, churches, organizations, events, attractions, entertainment venues, or recreational opportunities.

 

 

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