The townsite was selected by Joseph Fisher, just southwest of the confluence of St. Maries River and St. Joe River, to provide a location for a sawmill, first built in 1889.

The rivers and lake systems provided rapid transportation systems for floating logs to the mills and utilizing steamboats to transport finished products to market.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.10 square miles (2.85 km2), all of it land.

As of the census[3] of 2010, there were 2,402 people, 999 households, and 641 families living in the city.

31.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

As of the census[10] of 2000, there were 2,652 people, 1,061 households, and 675 families living in the city.

29.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There is also a planning & zoning commission that consists of four members and a chairman.

The lumberjack statue at the elementary school on Main Street was originally a Texaco "Big Friend," a Muffler Man from the mid-1960s.