Wenona, Michigan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wenona was a historical village in the U.S. state of Michigan, located in what is now Bay City.
The village was founded in 1863 by Henry W. Sage (1814-1897), a merchant and philanthropist, who along with John McGraw also founded the Sage, McGraw & Company sawmill on the west bank of the Saginaw River. The sawmill, which was the largest in the state, was an early economic center of the community. The village was named after the mother of Hiawatha in the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
The fortunes created from the sawmil operation in Wenona and the lumber industry it supported formed the basis of important early gifts to Cornell University.
Wenona was incorporated as a village in May 1866 and then incorporated as the "West Bay City" in 1877. In 1905, it merged with Bay City.
There are historical markers on Midland Street in Bay City which commemorate sites in the historical village.
