Andrew Mack

Mack was born in New London, Connecticut, and was a sailor as a young man, having sailed around the world three times.[4] In 1804,[N 2] he drove a herd of merino sheep that he had purchased in Spain westward to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he established a wool factory[3] and a hotel. In the War of 1812, he was the captain of a military company[4] and subsequently served as member of the Cincinnati City Council[5]^:534 and as a state senator in the Ohio General Assembly.[6] He ran for Mayor of Cincinnati in the spring of 1829, but lost to the incumbent Isaac G. Burnet.[5]^:584

President Andrew Jackson appointed him to become customs collector for Detroit in 1829,[7] a post he held for ten years. Upon his arrival in the Michigan Territory, he became involved with the local militia and gained the appellation "Colonel".[4] In 1831, Sheldon McKnight established the Democratic Free Press and Michigan Intelligencer (it eventually was renamed to the Detroit Free Press in 1866) and less than a year later, the newspaper was purchased by a consortium of citizens, one of whom was Mack. That group owned the business until 1837.[8]

Mayor Charles Christopher Trowbridge was elected in early 1834 during a cholera epidemic, but abruptly resigned. Mack won the ensuing special election on September 24 with 91 votes. In the general election the following year, Mack ran for re-election, but lost. He tried again in 1837, but also was unsuccessful.[9] In 1839, he represented Wayne County in the state legislature.[10] It is sometimes believed that Mack Avenue in Detroit is named after Andrew Mack, but that was actually named after John M. Mack, who was a supervisor of Hamtramck.[11][12]

Mack moved to St. Clair County in the 1840s. He purchased a sawmill, and the creek next to which it sat became known as Mack's Creek. He also set up a general store and a wood refueling station to serve the steamships sailing on the Great Lakes Waterway.[13] This stop, known as "Mack's Place", became popular enough to warrant its own post office, and Mack served as its postmaster until his death.[1] Mack and his wife Amelia were buried on his property, which is now the Marysville Golf Course. A model of Mack's home can be found at the Marysville Historical Museum in Marysville Park.[14] The house and mill were taken over by George W. Carleton and the creek subsequently became known as Carleton Creek, a name it still bears today.[1] The post office moved to nearby Vicksburg, which was renamed Marysville in 1859 to avoid confusion with Vicksburg in Kalamazoo County.[13]