Editing Bear Lake, Michigan (section)

=== Lumber boom years ===
On September 25, 1874, the original subdivision or plat map of the village was filed by the Hopkins family members including [[George W. Hopkins]], Ella Hopkins, David H. Hopkins, Maurice M. Hopkins, and Mattie E. "Martha" Hopkins. This plat was amended in 1877, including a slight change to the position of Stuart Street.

The village was platted with 299 lots, and included almost all of the land bordered by the lake on the north, Smith Street on the east, Potter Road on the south, and West Street (which originally ran due north from the current Potter Road – US-31 intersection) on the west. The southwest corner of this rectangle was added to the village as the Hopkins Addition in 1881 with 95 more lots. Most of the Hopkins Addition lots are now occupied by the school, and to the south of the school, owned by the village.

In 1879, prior to the Hopkins Addition, the Smith Addition, which was then owned by Harriet L. Smith, Elisha J. Richmond, and Clara Richmond, added 25 lots to the northeast of the Smith Street – Main Street intersection.

(Six additional plats, the most recent in 1949, expanded the village to its current size, adding all the land between Smith Street and Russell Street. Numerous other plats around the lake created lots for lakeside homes and cottages.)

The 1880 census shows 1,258 people living in Bear Lake and Pleasanton townships, growing by 1890 to 1,880 people.

In 1877, Tyler W. Richmond established the Richmond Drug Company, which, after his death, was run by his wife, children, and grandson until Carl Richmond's death in 1967. The store was in operation until 2020.

In fall 1893, the Village of Bear Lake was incorporated by action of the Board of Supervisors of Manistee County.

The 1900 census shows 2,087 people in the two townships, with 448 of them living in the village.

By June 9, 1902, all of the trees in the area had been cut. George W. Hopkins purchased over a hundred thousand acres in [[Florida]] (near [[Cape Canaveral]]) and he moved his business there, along with parts of the railway.<ref>Merrill, Uledene. "Railroad that Disappeared". Clarke Historical Library, Central Michigan University Term Paper, 1957. (Manistee)</ref><ref name="History"/>