The community began about 1883 as a lumbering settlement with the operations of the S. C. Hall Lumber Company. Because of its elevation, it was called "The Heights" and a post office with that name opened on November 24, 1923. The post office was renamed "Houghton Lake Heights" in 1956.
According to Beulah Carman, in her 1979 book about Houghton Lake:
On September 13, 1913, four men from Mt. Pleasant, William Cooper, Charles F. Meyers, Morris J. Brown and Fred Russel, bought the 180-acre (0.73 km2) William Houghton farm on the east side of Mt. Pleasant Road for $5,000.00."
She continues: