| M-206 is a former state trunkline route likely existing from July 12, 1933 until November 12, 1940. |
| Southern Terminu*s: |
M-129 at cnr Pine St & Front St in Eagle Harbor |
| Northern Terminus*: |
Eagle Harbor Lighthouse Point |
| Final Length*: |
0.4 miles |
| Maps: |
Route Map of Former M-206 |
| Notes: |
* The termini and final length for M-206 reflect the beginning and ending of the route and its length as of the time of its decommissioning in late-1940. |
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M-206 was a very short and short-lived state trunkline highway route in the community of Eagle Harbor in Keweenaw County that existed from mid 1933 until late 1940. It ran along the four blocks of present-day M-26/Front St from Pine St to North St along the Eagle Harbor Beach, then turned easterly along North St for two blocks to a northern terminus south of the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse. |
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M-206 can trace its existence back to numerous state trunkline routes. In 1926, it was the northernmost four-tenths of a mile of the Eagle Harbor Spur for M-15, back when there were three M-15 Spur routes in Keweenaw Co. (In the early days of the Michigan State Trunkline System, oddities such as three-legged routes and multiple same-numbered spurs off a single route were actually somewhat common.) When US-41 replaced M-15 in 1927, the M-15 Eagle Harbor Spur was designated as M-9, inclduing the last 0.4 mile of the route in Eagle Harbor. In 1928, M-9 had been designated M-64 when what had been numbered M-64 in the southern Lower Peninsula was redesignated as M-9. In another route flip-flop, the M-64 designation was sent over to replace the M-129 routing in Gogebic Co in 1931 and what was M-64 in Keweenaw Co became signed as M-129. Then in 1933, the present-day route of M-26 from Eagle Harbor to Copper Harbor was officially added to the state highway system—although construction on the route wouldn't wrap up until the summer of 1934—and M-129 was extended from Eagle Harbor easterly over to Copper Harbor to end at US-41 there. This left that four-tenths of a mile of Front and North Sts in Eagle Harbor as a state trunkline highway without a route designation: Enter M-206. It appeared on the official state highway map for the first time in mid-1935 and remained after M-26 replaced M-129 on the Eagle Harbor Cut-off Road and east to Copper Harbor later in 1935 and stayed on the first few official highway maps after M-26 debuted on the Sand Dunes Hwy route between Eagle River and Eagle Harbor in 1940, although this is believed to be a cartographer's error and M-206 likely ceased to be during 1940. |
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 While it was originally assumed M-206 utilized Lighthouse Rd from North St northerly toward the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse, upon inspecting aerial photography from the late-1930s, it appears Lighthouse Rd, if it even existed as a roadway, appears to not have been a much-used thoroughfare, while North St to the east of present-day Lighthouse Rd looks to have been a much more major roadway and the likely route for M-206 (and the routes of M-15 Spur, M-9, M-64 and M-129 before it). Click on the map at right for a larger version. |
| History: |
1926 (Oct 20) – The 0.4 mile of Front St from Pine St northerly to North St and North St easterly to its end on the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse point is established as a state trunkline route as an extension of the Eagle Harbor M-15 Spur and transferred to state control. Prior to that, the trunkline route ended at the cnr of Eagle Harbor Cut-Off, Front St & Pine St on the south side of the community. |
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1927 (May 2) – The new US Highway designations across the state of Michigan officially become effective today, with US-41 superseding the entire route of M-15 in Michigan and each of the former M-15 Spur routes getting new designation. The Eagle Harbor Spur is designated as M-9. |
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1928 (Oct–Dec) – The State Highway Dept replaces the M-9 markers on the Eagle Harbor Spur in Keweenaw Co with M-64 markers in the fall, with work likely completed by mid-December as the M-9 and M-64 designations are swapped with each other. |
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1931 (Aug–Sept) – By August or September, the M-129 and M-64 designations in the western Upper Peninsula are flip-flopped, trading places... for reasons which have not been made apparent to date. The Eagle Harbor Spur is now designated as M-129. |
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 1933 (Jul 12) – A new 13.8-mile long state trunkline highway is established from Eagle Harbor easterly along the Lake Superior shore to US-41 at Copper Harbor and is designated as an easterly extension of M-129, although final construction on the route itself will not be fully completed until the summer of 1934. The 0.4-mile segment of the former M-129 through Eagle Harbor along Front St and North St to the Eagle Harbor Lighthouse point is redesignated as M-206. |
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1940 (Nov 12) – A new 7.7-mile long state trunkline route is established running generally along the Lake Superior shore between Eagle River and Eagle Harbor in Keweenaw Co and is designated as the new route for M-26, with the former route along the Eagle Harbor Cut-Off being cancelled as a state trunkline route and its 5.0 miles turned back to county control. Official maps show M-26 running between Eagle River and Eagle Harbor as early as the summer of 1940, so the changes may have been posted in the field as early as that point. The ½ mile of Front St between Pine and North Sts along the Eagle Harbor Beach in Eagle Harbor—part of M-206—is incorporated into the new Eagle Harbor-to-Eagle River alignment of M-26, while it can be assumed the remainder of the 1926 established route along North St out on the lighthouse point is cancelled and turned back to county control, thus signalling an end to the existence of M-206.
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| Controlled Access: |
No portion of M-206 was freeway or expressway, existing largely before modern-day control of access principles are practiced. |
| Photographs: |
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| Weblinks: |
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