This Leelanau County town was originally settled in 1852 on the west side of Grand Traverse Bay, in a little inlet now known as Omena Bay.
Reverend Peter Daugherty had moved his Indian mission away from Old Mission to this new area, which he called “New Mission”. In 1858 the community received its first post office, and a few years later (1877), the town – now also a railway stop on the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad - was re-named “Omena P.O.”.
Daugherty built a Presbyterian church which he intended as the hub of town. The church still stands, as you will see in the photo gallery below.