The Smallest, Most Secluded City in Michigan: Home of the “Cursing Canoeist”
Others may refer to this town as Michigan's most hidden, isolated, lonely, sequestered, or solitary, but I prefer the term 'secluded'. And that's just what the village of Omer in Arenac County is. Whatever you wanna call it, Omer is known as the least-populated city in all of Michigan (keep in mind, it's the least-populated CITY - not village, town, community, area, burg, or hamlet). Omer is also commonly referred to in print as “Michigan's Smallest City.”
Omer was founded in 1866 along the Rifle River by George Carscallen and George Gorie. They constructed a sawmill and immediately began calling their new settlement 'Rifle River Mills'. In 1872, a post office was implemented with Carscallen as first postmaster; he wanted to change the village name to 'Homer' but thanks to another 'Homer' in Michigan, he simple dropped the “H” and it forever became “Omer”.
Although nowadays Omer sits in Arenac County, at the time of the town's founding, there was no Arenac County...the land was still part of Bay County. Arenac County was organized in 1883, with Omer becoming a part.
A blazing fire raged through Omer in 1914 and practically wiped out the entire town; forty buildings were destroyed. After two years of rebuilding Omer, a flood came through and eliminated the dam....which hindered further repairs.
You may remember from approximately the late 1990s or early 2000s the story about the man from Omer who fell out of his canoe while in the Rifle River. Sopping wet, he swore a blue streak in front of a woman and her young children. Thanks to an antiquated law still on the books, he was given a ticket and fined for cursing in front of the mom and kids. Not long afterward, the ACLU got the law taken off the books.
Also read about the legend of "The Witchy Wolf of Omer Plains"
Below are a few old photos of Omer and a few current ones as well.
The Smallest City in Michigan: Omer
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