City of Harbor Springs City Map Poster

About City of Harbor Springs

The area is also known for its historic summer cottages, such as the Charles T. Fisher Mansion and the Henry Stryker House. The city was founded in 1881 by John W. Blodgett, who named it after his hometown of Harbor Springs, Michigan on Little Traverse Bay near Petoskey; he had been a lumberman there before moving to Chicago and becoming wealthy in real estate speculation during that city's rapid growth at that time (1870s). He bought large tracts of land along Lake Michigan north of Petoskey when they were still cheap from logging companies which had stripped them bare for their pine forests during the post-Civil War boom years (1860s–70s) until about 1880 or so; then he began buying up smaller parcels from private owners around what is now Harbor Springs to create a resort community with an excellent harbor protected by two small islands just offshore called "the Brothers".