Antrim Iron Company

In 1882, an organization by the name of "John Otis & Company" built a large charcoal furnace on the site. The company also platted a town around the furnace, naming it "Furnaceville". Soon after this, the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad built a station in the town. The furnace flourished, and in 1886 a group of businessmen from Grand Rapids bought out the company, and renamed the company Antrim Iron Works and the town Antrim. A large blast furnace and iron works was built on the site, and the new company began doing business.

In the beginning of the corporation, timber was hauled in from various lumber camps around Northern Michigan to be used for iron products at the plant. After many years of buying material to create the iron with, the company decided to obtain its own timber, and in 1894 built a small railroad branch (named the Mancelona North Western Railroad)^[1] heading 2 miles west from the company site. With this spur line, the company logged its own lumber and hauled it in on its own railroad, proving to be quite self-sufficient. This lasted until 1907^[1] when the lumber ran out and other ways were developed to obtain the iron.

During World War II the company became extremely busy. With the vast need for materials for the war effort, the factory was working around the clock trying to produce enough products for the orders they were getting. This held true throughout most of the war.