Web Design in Holly, MI

Holly, Oakland County

Well-Known Places in Holly

Holly Recreation Area, Historic Battle Alley, Holly Hotel.

Holly Business Districts

• Downtown Holly / Battle Alley
• Saginaw Street
• Grange Hall Road

Major Employers in Holly

Holly Area Schools, Mount Holly Ski Area, Holly Township Government, Local hospitality and tourism.

About Holly, Oakland County

Holly is a village in northern Oakland County, Michigan, incorporated in 1865. First settled around 1830 and once called Union Corners, it grew as a lumber depot and railroad junction where Henry Crapo extended track north toward Flint. Its historic downtown centers on the Battle Alley district and the 1891 Holly Hotel, about 15 miles south of Flint.

History of Holly

• The area was first settled around 1830, with Nathan Herrick recorded as an early settler; originally called Union Corners, it was renamed Holly for the native holly-like shrubs in the area and incorporated as a village in 1865.
• The first train reached Holly in 1855; Henry Howland Crapo (later Michigan governor) extended rail track from Holly north to Flint, making Holly the first railroad intersection in Oakland County.
• On August 28, 1908, prohibition crusader Carry A. Nation came to Holly at the request of a local temperance committee and smashed liquor and clubbed patrons along Martha Street, now called Battle Alley, and was briefly held in the local jail.

The Holly Economy

• Holly began as a lumbering depot founded by Ira C. Alger and became one of Michigan's earliest railroad junctions, which later supported manufacturing and its downtown commercial district.
• Tourism anchors the modern economy: the Michigan Renaissance Festival runs from August through October on Dixie Highway grounds straddling Holly and Groveland townships, and the Mount Holly ski and snowboard area operates about three miles northeast in Groveland Township.

Community Life in Holly

• The Holly Dickens Festival, a Victorian-themed Christmas street festival, is held each holiday season in the downtown district.
• The Holly Hotel at 110 Battle Alley was built in 1891 by John Hirst (originally the Hirst Hotel) and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
• The Michigan Renaissance Festival recreates a fictional Elizabethan English village named Hollygrove, a nod to its grounds lying partly in Holly Township and partly in Groveland Township.

Local reference: en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org