Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, a French explorer who traveled the Great Lakes and was said to have stayed the night on Fisherman's Island during a harsh storm.

[5] Soon after its formation in the 1850s, the residents of Charlevoix entered into a short-lived conflict with Jesse Strang, leader and namesake of the Strangite Mormons, and then self-proclaimed 'king' of Beaver Island.

In 1853, a gunfight broke out between the two groups as the townspeople refused to hand over a man who was called for jury duty on the island, an event known locally as The Battle of Pine River.

[8][9] In 1866, early settler John S. Dixon completed plats of the entire town (then called "Pine River"), showing that he owned most of the land.

[13] Another transformative event came in November 1873 when rail operations arrived in "Bear Creek" (now known as Petoskey), 16 miles north.

At its height in the late 1800s, the company annually shipped out more than 40 million board feet of lumber before it stripped much of the peninsula.

Rail lines opened up formerly remote tracts of inland land and lakeshore to commercial, industrial, resort, and other real estate development, as follows: Charlevoix was also a popular destination for many lake passenger liners, including the Manitou, Alabama, North American, South American, Milwaukee Clipper, Illinois, and others.

In 1925, members of the Charlevoix Summer Resort Association decided their existing social club needed a golf course.

The members called on Scotsman William Watson, who was working across town as head pro of the Chicago Club.

In 1918, Albert Loeb, an executive from the Sears corporation in Chicago, built an experimental farm on the southern outskirts of Charlevoix.

The Colonial Club, a restaurant and gambling joint on the city's north side became known as a popular place for the Midwest's most powerful and influential.

John Koch, the club's owner, kept automobile license number "2", only second to the governor – a telling sign of his influence.

The converted lumber barge Keuka served as a blind pig and speakeasy and sailed nightly between Boyne City and Charlevoix, hosting its guests in relative comfort.

A murder aboard the ship and the pressure of US Treasury Department surveillance, however, forced the owner to scuttle the vessel in Lake Charlevoix.

)[46] In the early 1930s photographer and historian Bob Miles began a 42-year career documenting the city of Charlevoix and surrounding areas.

[52] Charlevoix suffered economically during the decades after World War II, due to industrial restructuring and changes in fashion, as people used automobiles and airplanes to travel to new tourist destinations.

The manufacturing base was displaced with jobs moved elsewhere, the train lines to the city ceased operating, and the larger tourist hotels closed due to competition from other locations.

The USCGC Sundew, stationed at Charlevoix, was one of the first vessels to arrive at the search area and played a pivotal role in that night's rescue of the two surviving crewmen.

On January 7, 1971, an unarmed USAF B-52C-45-BO, 54-2666, of the 9th BW, Westover AFB, Massachusetts, crashed into Lake Michigan near Charlevoix during a practice bomb run, exploding on impact.

The bomber went down six nautical miles from the Bay Shore Air Force Radar Site and close to the Big Rock Point Nuclear Plant.

Until 2013 the cement plant was a frequent port of call for the oldest freighter on the great lakes, SS St. Marys Challenger.

In 1965 the Loeb Farms complex that had been fallow since 1927, was turned into a medieval castle tourist attraction by John Van Haver [2].

WVOY was one of the first all-contemporary-hit-music radio stations in northern Michigan and featured Bill Vogel ("The Captain," formerly of Detroit's WDRQ), John Yaroch, Rick Durkin, and other major-market-quality talent.

Despite WVOY's limited signal, the station became extremely popular and gave northern Michigan listeners a taste of the "big city" radio sound.

In May 1980, former WVOY employee Tim Moore [58] started the WKHQ-FM "The Rhythm of the Northwest" radio station in downtown Charlevoix using TM Programming's "Stereo Rock" format.

In 1993 600 acres of the undeveloped Waller tract on the north side of town was transformed into an 18-hole golf course and residential development named the Charlevoix Country Club.

Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Joe Henry, who spent much of his childhood in Michigan, includes a song entitled "Charlevoix" on his 1990 album Shuffletown.

The station was first sited in 1898 on the south break wall of the Pine River Channel, leading into Lake Michigan.

During the early 1960s, the station was relocated to its present-day location along the Pine River Channel's Lake Charlevoix end.

Most television and radio stations are based in Traverse City and serve all of the Northern Michigan region including Charlevoix.