BUILDING A COUNTYDEMOCRATIC PARTY COALITION: Part Two

Cheboygan and the surrounding area have seen great boom times, as well as downturns since the start of the lumbering community in 1844. Along with lumberjacks and sawmill crews, immigrants came from Canada, Poland, and Sweden. They were bankers, teachers, doctors, shopkeepers, and farmers. The population explosion created a great demand for increased manufacturing and commerce. Boom and bust cycles continued through the 1900s.

In 2015, the City of Cheboygan and the entire county had been experiencing an economic downward slide. The hospital had closed. The once-flourishing, nationally branded paper plant closed and was reorganized in a much-diminished way. Several businesses had closed recently on Main Street, leaving 27 vacant storefronts in a four-block stretch. There was debris on the sidewalks, along with many cracks. Streets and roads were cracked and potholed, having a look of overall decay.