page_title: Bay View, Michigan
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bay View, Michigan / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Cottages, Bay View, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1875, Bay View is a religious resort community, an early version of a middle-to-upper class American resort.
context_page_description: Bay View is an unincorporated resort community and census designated place in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Bear Creek Township, Emmet County on Little Traverse Bay and abuts the east side of the city of Petoskey along U.S. Highway 31. The ZIP code is 49770 and the FIPS place code is 06260. It was originally formed as part of the Methodist Camp Meeting movement and in 1886 the Chautauqua movement added. As of the 2010 census the population of the CDP was 133. Bay View is incorporated as a domestic nonprofit organization under Act 39 of the Public Acts of 1899, being MCL 455.51. Act 39 of the Public Acts of 1899 establishes Bay View as a body politic and corporate.
context_section_description: The Bay View Association of the United Methodist Church was founded in 1875 by a joint group of both synods of the Michigan Methodists Church Methodists to be a camp meeting. The group considered multiple locations, and eventually struck a deal with the citizens of Petoskey and the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, where the Petoskey citizenry would pay to extend the railroad line from their town to Bay View, the railroad would purchase the site, and the Methodists would agree to improve the location and hold camp meetings there for fifteen years. In 1876, the first group of Methodists travelled to the site, cleared an area of underbrush, and built a preaching stand and an audience area under the trees. On August 2, 1876, the first meeting was held at the site. Shelter at the time was only in tents. Construction of cottages began almost immediately, and by 1881 there were about 150 at the site.
  In 1879, an artesian well water system was installed, providing spring water. However, the pipes were laid very shallowly, and had to be drained in the winter months to prevent freezing. Now, the community is closed from November through April, during which time the residences must be vacated.
  A Chautauqua program, a series of educational of lectures, classes, entertainment, political speeches and music, began in 1886, and the community developed around these activities. These programs, along with programs for children and a variety of classes, took place in July and August of each year. The program was immensely successful, and the number of cottages in the community soared, with 200 in 1887, 400 in 1895, and 500 in 1901. Many of these newcomers were from other, non-Methodist denominations, and many stayed all summer rather than for only a few weeks of the year. In 1887, the Bay View Summer University opened. The University was associated with Albion College in 1919 until 1969.
  The Bay View Association was listed as a National Historic Landmark district in 1987 as one of the best-preserved examples of the Methodist Camp Meeting movement, as originally built in 1876, and adapted to the Chautauqua movement.
caption: Cottages in Bay View
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