Rust, a Drive-Thru Ghost Town in Montmorency County
A few years ago, I happened to come across this little village by accident. I was on my way home from Alpena and decided to take this little detour. What I found was this tucked-away community that is pretty much a ghost town. As I headed west on M-32, I came to Rust Road and turned south. When I reached a dead end street, I turned west again, and just a couple hundred feet down Cohoon Road I found what was left of the town of Rust.
There are just a few homes, and a handful of deserted ones. Rust has the Maple Grove Church and an abandoned building that looks like it used to be a restaurant (people have told me it used to be a party store), and that's it.
Rust was settled around 1903 as a station on the Boyne City, Gaylord & Alpena Railroad. It sits in Rust Township, Montmorency County, just a few miles west of the Alpena County line. If you head east on Cohoon Road, you'll hit the Rust Township Hall.
Other than what you just read, there is not much else recorded about Rust's history. Since it was a railway station, it must have been a lumber town at one time. Atlases show a landowner by the last name of 'Rust', so I'm assuming he was a lumber guy. Any more info on this little ghost town is most welcome. Although there's not much to say about it, it does make an interesting drive-thru, as I found out first-hand.
Take a look at the photos below and see what I mean!
PHOTOS OF RUST, MICHIGAN
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