38. Fishtown

Location: Old Harbor / Ox-Bow Lagoon
Date: 1840s-1960s

Above: Fishtown in 1870 with the Kalamazoo Lighthouse visible in the upper left corner.

From left to right: Fishtown in 1890 / Fishtown-born brothers Frank and Rube Sewers pose with a 156-pound sturgeon / The George Sewers fish market in 1944. Today the site is Saugatuck’s Coghlin Park.

Early non-Indigenous fishermen used Mackinaw-style sailboats to reach Lake Michigan. They wanted to be as close to the lake as possible so they built a rustic community of shanties, docks, net reels and dwellings immediately east of the Kalamazoo Lighthouse.

After 1906, when a new harbor channel diverted the flow of the Kalamazoo River, the fishermen relocated upriver to Saugatuck. By then, most were using motorized boats and their families preferred the convenience of living in town. Their children were significantly closer to school! The fishermen — it was mostly men with a few exceptions — used nets to catch lake trout, cisco, lake sturgeon and “Michigan’s money fish” the whitefish. Until about 1960, fresh Lake Michigan fish was available in the area. Today, there is no commercial fishing activity beyond charter fishing excursions.