The”Black Bear Capital of Michigan” – Curran, Alcona County

The more history you learn about our state, the cooler and more interesting it becomes...and that's a no-brainer. Learning about some of our old established towns is a good place to start.

Take the village of Curran, for instance. It can be found in Alcona County just north of the intersection of Baldwin/W. Tower Rd & M-72 in Mitchell Township. Like most old lumber towns, it was named after the men who owned and ran the lumber camps. This town was named after Phillip Curran, who had a lumber camp here in 1875. With ever-growing success, the village finally started to grow around 1886.

In 1890, along came the Loud & Sons Lumber Company, who built a narrow gauge railroad through the area. A post office began operating in April 1890; but it closed just five short months later.  It re-opened in October.

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Curran continued logging feverishly until the white pines were wiped out by the 1920s. The woods have re-grown, and walking through them, you'll see the stumps of the trees that were cut down well over 100 years ago by Curran and his company.

Once the trees were depleted, people began jumping ship and leaving to find work and a home elsewhere. By 1918 the population was down to 150.

Today, Curran is more of a 'shadow town' than a ghost town with a couple of churches, convenience store/gas station, post office, a couple of restaurants, and a few houses. A sign greets you as you enter town: “Curran, Black Bear Capital of Michigan”. Care to find out for yourself if that sign is correct?