Greilickville, Michigan

The area has had different names since first being settled, and was first known as "Norristown" and then "Norrisville", after Seth and Albert Norris who opened a gristmill there around 1853. In the mid-1850s, Bohemian native Godfrey Greilick and his sons built a small, water-powered sawmill. Greilick's original name was Gottlieb Greulich and he escaped furtively from his hometown of Chrastava in 1842, because he owed a lot of money. The Greilick brothers built a steam-powered mill in a few years. Until its destruction by fire in about 1907, the mill was one of the most important on Grand Traverse Bay, cutting eight and one-half million feet of hardwood lumber in 1883. Other industries in the nineteenth century included a brickyard (off today's M-22, north of Cedar Creek), brewery (on today's East Grandview Road), and tannery. When the Manistee and North-Eastern Railroad entered town on its way to Traverse City in 1892,[5] the station was called "Greilicks" and the surrounding community gradually took this name, although the U.S. Post Office continued as Norrisville until it closed on July 31, 1902.[6] In 1961, when Greilickville's population was about 900, a special election was held in sections 28 and 33 of Elmwood Township, including Greilickville, to decide a proposal regarding making those areas a home-rule village called Elmwood. The proposal was defeated by a vote of 238 to 88.

Greilickville is in the southeastern corner of Leelanau County and of Elmwood Charter Township. It is bordered to the south by Traverse City in Grand Traverse County and to the east by the West Arm of Grand Traverse Bay, part of Lake Michigan. The CDP extends north to the north end of Cedar Lake and west to Bugai Road.[7] Michigan highway M-22 runs through the east side of Greilickville along the shore of Grand Traverse Bay, leading south into Traverse City and north 14 miles (23 km) to Suttons Bay.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the Greilickville CDP has a total area of 7.1 square miles (18.4 km²), of which 4.5 square miles (11.7 km²) are land and 2.6 square miles (6.7 km²), or 36.47%, are water.[8]

At of the 2000 census,[1] there were 1,415 people, 624 households and 431 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 314.4 per square mile (121.4/km²). There were 677 housing units at an average density of 150.4 per square mile (58.1/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 97.95% White, 0.64% African American, 0.35% Native American, 0.07% Asian, 0.21% from other races, and 0.78% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.57% of the population.

There were 624 households, of which 21.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.5% were married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.8% were non-families. 25.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.67.

18.2% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 31.0% from 45 to 64, and 24.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.8 males.

The median household income was $48,269 and the median family income was $51,250. Males had a median income of $45,938 compared with $27,938 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $30,822. None of the families and 1.2% of the population were living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and 1.8% of those over 64.

• Clarke Historical Library, Central, Michigan University, Bibliography for Leelanau County

• Michigan Historical Marker