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In 1889, Brookings began operations on Feb. 7. It was located on Brookings Lake, where a spur from the railroad at Brookings Station extended. Corrain S. Udell was the first Postmaster. The office was discontinued on April 29, 1892 and re-established Jan 28,1895 with Harman Young as Postmaster. The office was closed on June 8, 1895 with the mail going to Biteley. The history of Brookings is practically the same as the other lumbering towns similarly situated. In the heart of the pine country, for a few years it was the scene of industry. After the big trees had been converted into lumber and shipped away, it was abandoned as worthless and left until nature repaired the damage wrought by the saw and axes. The abstract of title to this property shows some interesting facts. The first transfer was from the U.S. Government to Eber B. Ward, who secured it on a homestead claim. He transferred it to Caroline B. Ward and she sold it to Thomas R. Lyon, a capitalist, who invested extensively in pine lands in Newaygo County. He paid $200,000 for the tract, thus making one fortune for the Wards. In 1894, Lyon deeded a right of way across it to the Chicago & West Michigan Railroad Co. and then sold the timber on the right-a-way to Hovey & McCracken, a large lumber concern of Muskegon for $380,000, thus nearly doubling on his investment. Hovey & McCracken established a large mill and began lumbering. The mill was built on the banks of Crooked Lake, which is really four lakes connected to each other by narrow channels. A boarding house, school, store, and the Brookings Post Office were built to accommodate the village which sprang up. The site was extremely beautiful. The village was built right on the banks of the lake, which has a fine sandy shore for bathing. For several years Brookings was one of the important lumber points of the state. After the village was abandoned, the land went back to the state for taxes and was finally purchased by George W. Bosman, who attempted to establish a farm and a stock ranch. It did not prove successful and it was bought by the Branch Brothers, a real estate firm of White Cloud. They sold it to Marion E. Auther, of Cleveland, Ohio, and Alvin E. Wright, of Chicago, real estate dealers. With the purchase of the land completed, the new owners platted the property into lots. They renamed the station Woodland Park and Crooked Lake was renamed Woodland Lake. The first railroad depot for Brookings was moved there from Parks City when the mills closed there, which was located a few miles south of Brookings just north of Ramona. |