About Petoskey’s historic districts

The picturesque architecture and charm of homes throughout Petoskey, Charlevoix and Harbor Springs can easily be taken for granted.
A team of locals didn’t want that to happen.

Back in the mid-1980s, then-Petoskey city planner Brad Leech initiated the effort to have Petoskey’s historic structures recognized by the State Historic Preservation Office.

Rick Neumann, a Petoskey architect and historic structures expert, was commissioned to help document the city’s gems.

“All the buildings within the city limits were surveyed, and photographs were taken of each building,” Neumann said. “There wasn’t any historic research; it was more of an architectural assessment.”

That initial effort was followed a couple years later with another documentation drive to earn National Register of Historic Places recognition for the city structures, including the downtown. The “multiple resource nomination” was a citywide endeavor, which resulted in two districts being added to the National Register: the downtown district (commercial structures) and the East Mitchell Street Historic District.

In total, Neumann, said the East Mitchell district encompasses 31 blocks in the northeast portion of Petoskey and 294 residential properties. It also includes St. Francis church and school and the former Petoskey High School, which was demolished a number of years ago when improvements to Central Elementary School were undertaken.

The downtown district consists of 102 commercial properties within 10 blocks. Other structures outside the districts are included as individually significant buildings. Also, in each district some buildings are considered landmark structures and others are contributing structures. Many of the homes and buildings have plaques displaying their historic status, and some include names and dates.

Neumann said the documents, stored at the Petoskey City Library and city hall, as well as with the state of Michigan, are a valuable look into the formation of Petoskey.

“It’s really an interesting historical background about how the community grew and why,” he said

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