[7] The community is approximately four square miles and contains a few hundred small parcels; however many of them are undeveloped.

African-American realtors Marion E. Arthur of Cleveland, Ohio, and Alvin E. Wright of Chicago, Illinois, platted the community as an all black resort town in 1923.

Marion and his wife Ella Auther used earnings from commissions on the lots they sold at Idlewild to make a down payment on the village's 200 acre lake.

By 1921, the Authers purchased most of the Brooking Lumber Company's parcels but still lacked enough money to finalize the deal.

Wilbur Lemon, a white businessman from Chicago, Illinois and one of the founders of the Idlewild Resort Company, aided them by purchasing the last remaining Brookings parcel.

[9] The area experienced a relative decline after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 opened previously all-white resort facilities to African-Americans.

[10][11] The area last had its passenger rail access to Grand Rapids and other mid-western cities in 1966 when the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway terminated service through nearby Bitely and other towns on the route from Traverse City to Grand Rapids.