Beebe took a number of photographs of the fire the resulting postcards were widely sold and can still be found today. On July 5, 1908, a fire began in the middle of the business block and burned most of the stores. Today, this line is part of the Great Lakes Central Railroad. In 1874, Kalkaska became a station on a new Pennsylvania Railroad line from Walton to Petoskey. The following year, on May 12, Abbott platted his land and became its first postmaster. Abbott arrived on the land set to become the village from his hometown of Decatur. The land on which Kalkaska sits has long been territory under the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi.
See also: History of Northern Michigan U.S.
