The city of Singapore, Michigan, provides a…

The city of Singapore, Michigan, provides a large portion of the lumber to rebuild Chicago, so heavily deforested the area that the land will soon deteriorate into barren sand dunes and the town will be abandoned.

Its ruins now lie buried beneath the sand dunes of the Lake Michigan shoreline at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River in Saugatuck Township, near the cities of Saugatuck and Douglas in Allegan County.

Singapore had been founded in 1836 by New York land speculator Oshea Wilder, who was hoping to build a port town to rival Chicago and Milwaukee.

At its height, the town boasted three mills, two hotels, several general stores, a renowned bank, and was home to Michigan's first schoolhouse.

In total, the town consists of twenty-three buildings and two sawmills.