Typically a village begins when individuals and families decide to settle in a place, build homes, stores, and other buildings for their common good, and decide on a name for the settlement. Bellaire's story progressed in a different fashion: a building for the common good was required and a plat of vacant land was selected. Settlers came afterward. In 1879, Antrim County supervisors, meeting in a temporary courthouse in Elk Rapids, decided that inland...