From Michigan Place Names
Huron County: first known as Oliver Center, from its location in Oliver Township (named for pioneer settler John Oliver) when organized in 1877. The village was founded in 1886 by W. J. McGillivray, a blacksmith, who built the first house here; he named it to commemorate his killing a huge elk entangled in his wife's clothesline. Simon Hoffman became the first postmaster on Nov. 24, 1886. A station On the Saginaw, Tuscola & Huron Railroad. Incorporated as a village in 1897 [Edward A. Bumhoffer; PO Archives; Chapman]