Local History

Early French traders in the area noted the rocky bed of its river and thus the village which developed around the site where Alvin N. Hart and his family settled on November 11, 1831 came to be known as the stone (in French, La Pierre).

The Pontiac Mill Company built a sawmill here on Farmers Creek also in 1831.  Jonathan R. White, who came in 1833, platted and recorded the village as Whitesville in 1834, but it was replatted and renamed Lapeer in 1836.  It was given a post office named Lapeer on July 3, 1833, with Dr. Minor Y. Turrill as its first postmaster.  The office was renamed Whitesville on January 11, 1834, but was changed back to Lapeer on May 3, 1836.  Incorporated as a village in 1858 and as a city in 1869.

Informational excerpts from Michigan Place Names, by Walter Romig, L.H.D.

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