Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Benzonia, MI

Benzonia is a village in Benzie County in northwestern Michigan, located within Benzonia Township at the southeast end of Crystal Lake, where U.S. Highway 31 meets M-115.

Benzonia began in 1858 as an educational Christian colony modeled on Oberlin, Ohio, founded under the leadership of Charles E. Bailey.

Benzonia was once the seat of Benzie County before the seat moved away, and the village incorporated in 1891.

In 1863, Grand Traverse College was chartered in Benzonia; it became Benzonia College in 1891 and then Benzonia Academy, a preparatory school that operated until 1918.

Civil War historian Bruce Catton grew up in Benzonia, where his father taught at Benzonia Academy, and he recalled the village in his book Waiting for the Morning Train.

Artist Gwen Frostic, a Michigan Women's Hall of Fame inductee, and Nobel Prize-winning economist Douglass North are also associated with Benzonia.

The 2020 census counted 551 people in Benzonia, up from 497 in 2010, when the village had 209 households — a rare decade of growth for a small northern Michigan village.

Benzonia's population last peaked in 1930 at 623 residents, during the era when its academy still anchored the community.

The village covers just 1.13 square miles, all land, at an elevation of about 817 feet.

Benzonia's Mills Community House, pictured in many guides to the village, is a landmark community building reflecting the village's educational-colony roots.