A History of Elmwood Township

📜 Before Settlement Through 2026
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Before European Settlement

Native Nations of the Leelanau Peninsula

Before the arrival of European settlers and long before any township boundary was drawn, the lands that became Elmwood Township were home to the Anishinaabe peoples — including the Odawa (Ottawa) and Ojibwe (Chippewa) nations of the Three Fires Confederacy. These nations stewarded the Leelanau Peninsula for thousands of years, cultivating rich cultures, far-reaching trade networks, and a deep spiritual relationship with the land and the Great Lakes waters around them.

The Odawa — whose name derives from the Anishinaabe word meaning "to trade" — were renowned as the keepers of trade within the Confederacy, maintaining routes that extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The Ojibwe served as keepers of ceremony and song. Together, their nations filled these forests and shorelines with generations of life, language, and tradition.

The Grand Traverse Bay itself — which forms the eastern border of Elmwood Township — was a central waterway for Anishinaabe peoples. They fished its waters, paddled its shores in birchbark canoes, harvested wild rice, tapped maple trees in spring, and gathered at seasonal camps along the West Arm. Their presence is woven into every shoreline, every forest path, and every place name in this region.

In 1836 and again in 1855, the United States government negotiated treaties with the Anishinaabe nations, resulting in the cession of vast ancestral territories, including most of what is now Leelanau County. Though much of this land was subsequently taken in violation of treaty terms, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians — headquartered today in Peshawbestown, just north of Suttons Bay — persevered, and achieved federal recognition in 1980. Today the Band is a vibrant community with over 4,000 members, stewarding cultural heritage, environmental resources, and the living traditions of the Anishinaabek.

As Elmwood Township celebrates 250 years of American nationhood, we honor and acknowledge the Odawa, Ojibwe, and all Anishinaabe peoples as the original stewards of this beautiful peninsula. Their history did not end with European settlement — it continues.

1800s – 2026

Modern History of Elmwood Township

Elmwood Township's story is a classic Northern Michigan tale — of immigrant families carving homesteads from old-growth forest, of commerce built on lumber and brick, of a community that grew, adapted, and endured through every era of American life.

Early 1800s — First Contact & Frontier
French and American fur traders had long followed the Anishinaabe trade routes through Grand Traverse Bay. By the 1820s and 1830s, missionary activity and early American settlement began to press into the Leelanau Peninsula. The 1836 Treaty of Washington opened most of Michigan's northern lower peninsula for American settlement, though the Anishinaabe retained rights to occupy the land for several years. The region that would become Elmwood Township remained largely forested frontier through the 1840s.
1852–1858 — First European Settlers Arrive
The Greilickville area — in the southeastern corner of what would become Elmwood Township — was first settled in 1852 when brothers Seth and Albert Norris established a gristmill along the lakeshore. In 1858, Seth Norris built a tannery, and by 1864, Albert Norris had opened a brickyard on 40 acres. The early settlement, populated largely by the extended Norris family, became known as Norristown. Meanwhile, in the mid-1850s, Godfrey Greilick, a Bohemian immigrant and trained architect who had emigrated from central Europe following the revolutions of 1848, constructed a water-powered sawmill near Brewery Creek. It would become one of the most significant mills on all of Grand Traverse Bay.
1863 — Township Organization
On December 21, 1863 — just weeks before the Emancipation Proclamation's first anniversary — Elmwood Township was officially organized from the southern portion of Centerville Township, as Leelanau County established its own formal government distinct from Grand Traverse County. The township was carved to cover the southeastern corner of the Leelanau Peninsula, bordered by Grand Traverse Bay to the east and Grand Traverse County to the south. It began with approximately 200 residents.
1870s–1890s — Lumber, Brick & Industry's Peak
The decades after the Civil War brought industrial vigor to Elmwood Township. By 1883, the Greilick sawmill was producing an astonishing eight and a half million board feet of hardwood lumber in a single year. From 1882 to 1885, Markham bricks manufactured in the township were shipped to Traverse City to build the first wing of the Northern Michigan State Hospital — the largest single project ever to use Markham brick. Early families including the Grelicks, the Lautners, the Norrises, and the DeYoungs built farms, mills, orchards, and homesteads across the township's rolling terrain. In 1879, the Norristown post office opened. The 1870s also saw the formation of Solon Township, carved from Elmwood's western half.
1892 — The Railroad Arrives
The Manistee and Northeastern Railroad extended its line through the township in 1892, establishing a station called Greilicks in honor of the prominent Greilick family. The settlement soon took the name Greilickville. The railroad allowed local farmers to ship produce north to ships waiting in Northport harbor and south by land to larger markets.
1907 — The Mill Fire & The Turn to Tourism
In 1907, fire destroyed the Greilick sawmill, effectively ending the industrial era. As the Markham Brickyard also closed in subsequent years, the community began a transition from resource extraction to tourism and agriculture. Steamers began delivering guests to the Greilickville docks, inaugurating the waterfront as a center of seasonal recreation — a tradition that continues to this day.
Early–Mid 20th Century — Orchards & Community Life
Cherry and apple orchards spread across the township's inland hills, joining the dairy farms of families like the DeYoungs along Cedar Lake. The township maintained tight-knit community bonds through church congregations, grange halls, and local schools. In 1961, a special election to incorporate Greilickville as a home-rule village was defeated by township residents who chose to maintain their existing governance structure.
1987 — Charter Township Status
Growth pressures from neighboring Traverse City prompted Elmwood Township to seek additional governmental powers. In 1987, Elmwood Township was granted a charter, converting from a civil township to a charter township, allowing it to enact zoning and planning ordinances. Two years later, in 1989, the city of Traverse City annexed the southeasternmost corner of the township.
1995 — The Leelanau Trail Opens
In 1995, the Leelanau Trail opened along the historic right-of-way of the old Manistee and Northeastern Railroad. The trail runs the entire length of Elmwood Township, providing a safe corridor for walking, cycling, inline skating, and winter cross-country skiing, connecting the community from Greilickville all the way north to Suttons Bay.
2006 — Conservation Legacy
The DeYoung family partnered with the Leelanau Conservancy and Elmwood Township to permanently protect the historic DeYoung farm and Cedar Lake shoreline as the DeYoung Natural Area — a lasting tribute to the agricultural families who shaped the township's landscape and character.
2026 — The Semiquincentennial
Today, with 4,508 residents and counting, Elmwood Township celebrates America's 250th birthday as a thriving gateway community — honoring its deep roots while looking forward. From the Anishinaabe nations who first knew these lands, to the immigrant families who built its first mills and farmsteads, to the residents who steward it today, Elmwood Township's history is a small but vivid chapter in the great American story.
Early Founding Families

The Greilick & Lautner Families

Godfrey Greilick (also recorded as Grelick in some documents) emigrated from Bohemia — likely fleeing the turbulent European revolutions of 1848 — and settled in southeast Leelanau County in the mid-1850s. A trained architect and contractor, he brought Old World skill and New World ambition to the frontier shores of Grand Traverse Bay. His water-powered sawmill became the economic engine of the community, and by 1883 was producing millions of board feet of hardwood annually. The Greilick name became so embedded in the community that the settlement took the family's name — Greilickville — when the railroad arrived in 1892.

The Lautner family were among the early agricultural settlers of Elmwood Township, establishing homesteads and farms that contributed to the township's development as a productive agricultural community through the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their descendants joined neighbors like the DeYoungs, the Norrises, and other founding families in shaping the civic and cultural fabric of the township.

📸 For historical photographs of early families and township life, the Leelanau Historical Society & Museum in Leland maintains an extensive archive. Contact them at leelanauhistory.org or visit 203 E. Cedar St., Leland, MI.