Bitely, Michigan

Bitely, Michigan
Unincorporated community
Bitely Location within the state of Michigan
Coordinates: 43°44′49″N 85°51′42″W
Country	United States
State	Michigan
County	Newaygo
Township	Lilley
Elevation [1]	866 ft (264 m)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	49309[2]
Area code	231
GNIS feature ID	1619222[1]

Bitely is an unincorporated community in Lilley Township, within Newaygo County, Michigan, in the United States. It is within the Manistee National Forest. It is near Bitely Lake, Lamoreaux Lake, Isaac Lake, Houseman Lake and several smaller lakes.

It was a station on the Chicago and West Michigan Railroad (later the Pere Marquette, then the Chesapeake and Ohio, now Marquette Rail) in 1889, and given a post office on September 13, 1889, with Archer D. Martin as its first postmaster. It was named for Steven Bitely, who built a sawmill there, but due to a typographical error, the post office was initially spelled as Biteley.[3]

The Bitely Homecoming parade is held the third Saturday of every July.

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Bitely, Michigan
2. "Bitely ZIP Code". zipdatamaps.com. 2022. Retrieved November 30, 2022.
3. Romig, Walter (1986) [1973]. Michigan Place Names. Detroit, Michigan: Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-1838-X.