Deckerville was named after Charles Decker who started his lumber business here in 1870. Mr. Decker built a sawmill and a grist-mill which helped to populate the area. Deckerville was incorporated as a village in 1893. Charles Decker’s son, Martin, became the first postmaster in 1870. Decker became a station on the Pere Marquette Railroad.

There were a great number of forest fires in the Thumb area in both 1871 and 1881. Favorable side effects of the fires was that they cleared the land of trees and brush and made it possible to quickly become a highly productive farming area.

Over the years, Deckerville has had many industries such as lumbering, fur-trading, woolen mills, flax mills, brick making, a sauerkraut factory, and at one time cheese making was a thriving industry.