Standish, MI

Standish is the Arenac County seat, set a few miles from Saginaw Bay in Michigan's northeast Lower Peninsula. John D. Standish platted the town in 1871, and its first business was his sawmill. The place was briefly recorded as Granton before the legislature restored the Standish name. A railroad arrived that same year, bringing a depot, passenger trains, freight, and a strong connection north toward the bay country. Standish became a village in 1893 and a city in 1903.

The county seat still works as a supply stop for people heading up North. The historic depot hosts farmers markets, summer concerts, Depot Days, a vintage car show, and the Christmas parade, while the Arenac County Fair brings livestock, grandstand events, and local youth exhibits each July. Standish-Sterling Community Schools serve the area, and the county's rivers and Saginaw Bay keep fishing, boating, and canoeing close at hand. Standish's local scoop is the chain reaction: a sawmill drew a town, the railroad gave it a center, and the county seat kept the depot useful long after passenger trains left.