A pivotal area of real estate along Keystone Road has come under the scrutiny of a retired teacher and avid historian.
Already a published author, Ellis Olson is focusing his research and writing talents to documenting a historical area that helped boost the Traverse City region into a regional powerhouse and is currently a cohesive neighborhood shaping the future.
The Cheboygan native gained not only a wife when he married Sandy nine years ago, but a neighborhood. Sandy had been living in her Keystone Road home for more than 25 years when Olson married her. Living amongst families who have known and supported each other for decades and beyond, piqued his interest in the neighborhood's history, which began with a railroad.
The nearby Keystone triangle, at the intersection of Keystone and River roads, held the area's first railroad station after the rails came through in 1872. This station opened the door to land transportation and greatly expanded trade in the region. The Keystone triangle area also boasted a saw mill, post office and brickyard, flourishing businesses that grew up along the vital railway.
"My history is going back to the first land patent here, which belonged to Perry Hannah," said Olson, who taught history in Cheboygan for 40 years. "The Keystone Railroad Station is the very first station in Grand Traverse County."
Olson believes he has solved the mystery of where the name Keystone originated.
"I determined it came from the logo of the Penn Central Railroad," he noted of the railroad from the Keystone state of Pennsylvania.
Passionately civic minded, Olson served as mayor in Cheboygan and was deeply involved in many capacities there. He can recognize and appreciate public spirit when he sees it and he sees it in spades in the Keystone neighborhood of today.
"When we stand in the front yard, you can see a neighborhood," said Olson. "You just kind of feel it, the presence of it."
During the 1980s, area families banded together to stop a proposed landfill that seemed like a sure thing. In addition, pioneering families such as the Lautners, Tezaks and Myers donated land for projects including Northwestern Michigan College's observatory, the soccer fields, a baseball diamond complex under construction and a future farming museum. The neighborhood also adjoins the 600-acre Grand Traverse Nature Education Reserve, which may become like a Central Park as the region grows.
"What we have here dropping right out of nowhere is a recreational and ecological niche that I don't think you'd find anywhere else in Michigan," he noted.
After years of effort, Olson estimates that 95 percent of his original research is completed. It's the last five percent that is causing trouble: he needs photos or information about the Beitner Mill, Beitner Post Office, Keystone Brickyard, Keystone Railroad Station and the Keystone Post Office.
"I'm mostly looking for pictures but I always like stories," said Olson.
Olson tapped the memories of a number of longtime neighborhood residents, who provided a wealth of information and context both past and present. He recorded interviews with them and sifted through documents they provided. He has also connected with members of the Grand Traverse Historical Society, the Railroad Historical Society of Northwest Michigan, Bob Wilhelm and Larry Wakefield for help with the book.
Once he has all the facts and photos in hand, Olson estimates that writing the book will be a matter of weeks.
"I'm a very fast writer but I will not even start the first sentence until I have all my research done," he said. "A long a tedious researcher but a very fast writer. I'm going to roll it all into one nice story."
Anyone with photos or information about the Keystone area is encouraged to contact Olson at 946-5449.