Ojibwa Island

IslandGNIS 638673

Coordinates

45.8369° N, 85.5868° WGoogle Maps: Ojibwa IslandDownload KML

Eras

Modern era

Concepts

environmentgeologysoilsforestsvegetationtreestoponymymaritimelighthousesModern era

Within

Beaver Island archipelago

Media

Plats of the outer Beaver Islands, 1930s

Summary

Ojibwa Island is a small (0.44 km²) island at the northern end of the Beaver Island archipelago, the most northerly member of the group. Known as Squaw Island on every historical chart, in the U.S. Light List, and throughout 19th- and 20th-century literature, it was administratively renamed in 2022 under a 2021 federal order targeting place names containing the word “Squaw.” The island is privately owned and carries a lighthouse built in 1892; its current private owner disputes the applicability of the rename to his property.

History

The island’s lighthouse, described in Scott’s 1902 Coast Pilot as a 48-foot red brick tower with a fixed red light varied by a red flash every 15 seconds, marked “the most northerly [point] of the Beaver Island group” and functioned as “a coast-light” for vessels turning into Lake Michigan.¹ Elizabeth Whitney Williams’ 1905 memoir likewise records “Squaw Island, which now has a fine light-house erected upon it,” among the islands visible from the dune above Beaver Island’s harbor.² The 2023 Beaver Island Master Plan dates the lighthouse to 1892 and identifies the island as privately owned, one of only two privately owned islands in the archipelago (with Trout Island).³

The December 1900 Squaw Island light-crew tragedy is a source-bounded episode in the island’s maritime history. The crew launched from the light after its seasonal closing; a squall capsized the unnamed sailboat, and three people died before the Manhattan rescued the two survivors.⁴

In November 2021, U.S. Department of the Interior Secretarial Order 3404 directed the replacement of the word “Squaw” across federal place names; per the OSM record for this feature, Ojibwa was “the predominant new name with most of these places” nationally, and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names’ replacement took effect in 2022. In April 2025, the island’s private owner, Joe Callian, was reported asking the Interior Department to correct what he called “a significant public misunderstanding”: that the federal renaming process, intended for federal land units, had been applied to his private property without notice to, or regard for, its ownership status, and that agencies including GNIS, the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers should be alerted to the error.⁵ This dispute over private-property status is reported from a single contemporary newspaper account and is held at probable confidence; it does not affect the well-established fact that “Ojibwa Island” is now the official GNIS/BGN name.

Geography

At 0.44 km², Ojibwa Island is one of the smaller named islands in the group, positioned at its northern edge. Its light-station, per Scott’s 1902 description, illuminated the entire horizon from a focal plane 57 feet above lake level, with a fog signal sounding 5-second blasts separated by alternating 20- and 40-second silent intervals — reflecting the island’s role marking the turning point between the Straits of Mackinac approach and the open water of Lake Michigan proper.

An 1849 GLO survey, using the historical source name recorded in this article’s name history, described the island as five to ten-and-a-half feet high, with its highest ground near the middle and slight lake-formed ridges. It recorded a stony, gravelly, and sandy shore; shoal water around the island, with a small-boat landing on the east side; and shallow sandy/stony soil with vegetable matter. The same field notes mention fishing shanties and report that the island had been burned over, leaving most timber dead and fallen, with aspen, fir, cedar, and white birch among the principal trees. These are 1849 observations, not a description of current conditions.⁶

Ecological profile

The 1849 GLO sequence gives Ojibwa Island a compact historical soil–shore–forest profile. The surveyor described shallow sandy and stony soil mixed with vegetable matter, broad gravelly and sandy beaches, lake-formed ridges, and limestone-like beach stone. A severe burn had killed and mostly felled the timber; the principal trees named in the post-burn description were aspen, fir, cedar, and white birch. Fishing shanties connect this environmental description to a dated fishery landscape, but the pages do not identify a current habitat, regeneration trajectory, species inventory, or present use. The crosswalk keeps the historical source name only for page provenance and does not infer an ecological polygon.⁶

Names

Ojibwa Island is the clearest case of superseded naming in the archipelago. Squaw Island was the name on every historical chart, in the U.S. Light List, and throughout 19th- and 20th-century literature and cartography; it is preserved in GNIS as an official/variant pair with feature 638673. In November 2021, Secretarial Order 3404 directed removal of the word “Squaw” from federal place names nationwide, and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names adopted “Ojibwa Island” (referencing the Ojibwe people) as the replacement, effective 2022. Any keyword search of historical sources, older charts, or the Light List for this feature must use the old name; searching modern sources for “Squaw Island” and historical ones for “Ojibwa Island” will each turn up nothing and look like an honest absence. The island’s private owner has publicly stated the renaming should not have applied to privately held land.

Significance

Ojibwa/Squaw Island is a working navigational landmark — its lighthouse dates to 1892 and it is the northernmost point of the archipelago — and a live case in the federal renaming of place names, with a documented private-property dispute attached.

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Added 28 July 2026 · revised 3 August 2026. Recent changes